Ill-fated plants to be given new life

Kris Hill

Friday, Dec. 15, 2000 | 10:18 a.m.

Volunteers for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve say they will devote much of the next four years to rescuing plants that otherwise might be destroyed by earth-moving equipment throughout the valley.

Much like rescue groups that save dogs and cats from certain euthanasia, the volunteers and preserve staff salvage the native plants on construction sites.

The process began earlier this week when staff and volunteers spent a day digging up about 200 plants in the first transplanting for the planned environmental and cultural project at Las Vegas Springs.

The site that was salvaged was a parcel near the Las Vegas Beltway that is the future site of apartments.

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is under the umbrella of the Las Vegas Valley Water District. The water district has been working the preserve's foundation for much of this year to raise money for the future park. The preserve almost became part of the U.S. 95 expansion, but now water district officials plan to make it Las Vegas' own Central Park by May 2005.

It will reflect the desert environment the city grew up in. The location, near Alta Drive and Valley View Boulevard, was the primary source of water for the city until 1970, when the valley began drawing water from Lake Mead.

In addition to gardens that will use the salvaged plants, the preserve will have a 30-acre wetland called Cienega, a visitor's center and museum.

It is important to the preserve staff to obtain native plants, particularly older plants such as the ones dug up earlier this week, Von Winkel, restoration ecologist for the preserve, said.

"Because desert vegetation grows so slowly, it's important to obtain specimens of this maturity for the preserve," Winkel said.

The preserve's staff recently began working with Focus Commercial Group on another project when they asked if the company owned any sites where plants could be harvested.

The company agreed to allow them to pull up plants at the first site on Wednesday and are in the process of giving permission for the same to be done at other sites it owns in the Las Vegas Valley.

Focus executives John Ritter and Andy Flaherty agreed to the harvesting because it's a no-cost way for the company to give back to the community.

The developer has 20 sites with plants that the preserve staff could harvest.

The preserve is also seeking partnerships with other organizations or developers that have undisturbed land or native plants on them, Winkel said.

About four or five species of cactus were salvaged on Wednesday, but Winkel is also looking for other plants such as Joshua, mesquite and acacia trees, as well as a variety of other native species.

Winkel points out that people can't just go out and pull up plants wherever they want to in the desert. Staff from the preserve obtained permission from the land developer as well as permits from the state, he said.

He has been working for the preserve for the past six months but has been a restoration ecologist for 15 years, including working at the Nevada Test Site for 10 years.

Pulling up the plants is relatively easy, particularly the cactus, but when pulling up trees, workers have to be a little more careful, he said.

"When we salvage trees, we will hold them in big wooden boxes because they are more sensitive," Winkel said. They need to have some of the soil they were in to maintain the root system, then the trees are watered as needed until they are planted at the preserve.

Winkel expects that a majority of the plants will survive because of the care the workers take.

There is a limit to how many plants will fit in the preserve's gardens, but Winkel said that limit is somewhere above 10,000 plants.

The preserve is seeking more volunteers to help with the effort, Winkel said. Not only do they help save the preserve money with their labor, but they also spread the word to others.