Interest shown in LV Springs license plate

Monday, May 3, 1999 | 9:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- About 200 people have already expressed interest in buying a special automobile license plate that will help establish a preserve at Las Vegas Springs.

Gov. Kenny Guinn on Thursday signed Senate Bill 204 to allow the Las Vegas Valley Water District to raise money for the restoration of the area called the "Birthplace of Las Vegas." The state must have 250 requests for the special license plates to begin making them.

The plates will cost $35 in addition to the regular registration costs, with $25 going to the preserve. Annual renewal fees for the plates will be $20, with $10 going to the project.

Las Vegas Springs, on 180 acres of water district property at Valley View Boulevard and U.S. 95, provided water to travelers as many as 10,000 years ago. Until the 1950s it was the primary source of water for the city.

While the artesian wells no longer bubble, the area is still a habitat for unique Mojave Desert plants and animals including the buckhorn cholla, desert mistletoe, gray fox, the red-tailed hawk, the side blotched lizard and the white-tailed antelope squirrel.

The license plate will be a "valuable fund-raising tool" and "allow people to get involved in the birthplace of Las Vegas," J.C. Davis, water district spokesman, said.

The water district's graphics staff will start working with the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety to design the plate, he said.

He said he hopes the Las Vegas Springs plate will equal the success of the special license plate for Lake Tahoe, which already has sold 12,000.