Editorial: Natural resource plan is worthy

Friday, July 21, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

A successful workshop session is one that produces a free flow of ideas. We think state natural resource planners may have struck gold when it was suggested repeatedly at one such Las Vegas workshop that Nevada develop an educational plan to teach our children about the fragile desert environment.

There is a definite need for public education when one considers the magnitude of man-made and natural threats to the desert. Anyone who takes the time to explore our surroundings is bound to stumble upon evidence of illegal garbage dumping, destructive off-road vehicle activity and graffiti-laced Native American petroglyphs. Those perpetrators undoubtedly could have used a lesson in environmental protection.

Development and urban growth also impact desert plants and wildlife, as do such natural calamities as drought, flooding and high winds. There is more than enough potential material about the desert to fill a textbook.

It would be foolhardy to allow a new generation of schoolchildren to grow up to be adults who have no respect for Southern Nevada's natural beauty. One of the many side benefits of environmental education would be an increased emphasis on the teaching of science.

The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources intends to spend the next three years preparing a natural resources plan. We hope the planners are wise enough to include a provision that enables children to learn about our fragile desert environment.