Letter: Keep wilderness access open

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

In response to Tommy Derusha's May 6 letter, in which he questioned the wisdom of Melissa Shepard's May 3 letter that defended off-road enthusiasts: I saw the point of her views.

As a member of the Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts, she has worked on the small-game watering systems that support wildlife. As president of Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts, I know that Shepard has been on several desert cleanups that have removed everything from stolen cars to hiking boots from the Southern Nevada landscape.

Melissa is a member of the same outdoor club that has received the national conservation award for its work with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. The club supports the Bureau of Land Management's wilderness plan for Southern Nevada.

I also didn't have a hard time understanding Derusha's point. He wants to keep most everyone locked out of the Southern Nevada back country by turning it into wilderness. I do agree that there are untouched roadless areas that need to be left in their wilderness states. I don't agree that just about every acre outside the Las Vegas Valley be turned into wilderness whether it fits wilderness criteria or not -- just to control the growth of Las Vegas and stifle our local economy.

Not everyone is capable of hiking in the back country, so do we keep them excluded from the outdoors? As a third-generation Nevadan I enjoy taking my 72-year-old father to the same spots he took me to as a child and his father took him. I don't want to find a sign in the middle of the road saying that it is now a wilderness area and there is no more access for my family.

KENNY FREEMAN