Letter: Desert deserves better than club’s mentality

Monday, May 6, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

So what is Melissa Shepard's point in her May 3 letter, "Off-road folks care for the land they use"? The reason her respectable and environmentally conscientious off-road club does desert clean-up runs is because trash doesn't get carried out in the middle of nowhere on the backs of wilderness hikers. Refrigerators and couches get carried out there in the same vehicles they say do so much good for the desert.

Let's consider her statement: "We give back a lot more than we take." Regardless of what one gives back, you can't restore the naturalness of an area spoiled by a new road through plant and wildlife habitat.

Here's a new idea for Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts and every other off-road club: Try taking nothing but pictures, leaving nothing but footprints, and spending nothing but time. There is no better way to protect the processes of nature than by wilderness designation.

Her "logic" continues: Since their races used to run where Spanish Trail now sits, then new races and new roads should be made anywhere someone can blaze a trail. After all, a new development will be built there within a couple of years. The logic: Since expansion is inevitable, 4x4 vehicles get the first run on it.

The desert surrounding Las Vegas deserves better than a 4x4 club's conscience: It is worthy of wilderness protection before it is ruined by that conscience.

TOMMY DERUSHA