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November 10, 2009

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El Rancho to live on in wash

Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

The El Rancho hotel, which a decade ago sank into the gutter of despair on the Las Vegas Strip, will live on -- appropriately as part of a large environmental gutter.

Imploded earlier this week, the concrete from the longtime eyesore will be used by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to reinforce an erosion control structure that spans the Las Vegas Wash channel.

The Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee says the once financially plagued and long fenced-in and boarded-up El Rancho now will play an important role in protecting one of Las Vegas' "most sensitive environmental resources."

"Stabilizing the Las Vegas Wash channel is the first step to restoring the (once-abundant) wetlands," said Kim Zikmund, Las Vegas Wash project team manager. "You can't create and sustain vegetation until you stop erosion, and that is exactly what these structures are designed to do."

The wash coordination committee, a regional panel of government agencies, environmental groups and the general public, is implementing a plan to manage the Las Vegas Wash and increase the amount of wetlands that surround it.

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