Columnist Susan Snyder: Protecting canyon must be a priority

Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 | 8:21 a.m.

At the edge of the one of Henderson's fastest-growing areas this morning, a posh ceremony officially placed Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area on the map.

The centerpiece of the celebration was a spot the 300 invited dignitaries wouldn't actually visit -- a remote, narrow slot canyon in the McCullough mountains southeast of Anthem that is embellished by more than 1,000 petroglyphs up to 1,000 years old.

Sloan Canyon became the Bureau of Land Management's 14th national conservation area on Nov. 6 when President George W. Bush signed the Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002.

The estimated 300 panels of protected petroglyphs are inside a small wilderness area set aside within the 48,000 acres of the new national conservation area.

It's a double-edged sword. Once a place is named and placed on a map, more people tend to visit, increasing chances of overuse and vandalism.

"Some people were afraid that if more and more people had knowledge of that area, some idiot would go in and deface the petroglyphs," BLM spokesman Philip Guerrero said last week.

"We just didn't tell anyone about it. So far, that's what's been done" to protect it, he said. "But now that it is a national conservation area there's no way to keep people out."

There never has been a way to keep people out. And without such designations, proponents say, officials have no way of monitoring visitors' actions or prosecuting those who vandalize.

"It's definitely a good thing," Jeremy Garncarz, of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, said. "The site's not a secret anymore, and this designation is not going to heighten that. It's already experiencing increased usage, so we need a good management plan."

That plan will emerge from a process that includes public hearings and meetings, yet to be scheduled.

Still, BLM officials and wilderness proponents don't envision Sloan Canyon becoming another Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which sees upward of 1 million visitors a year. There is no plan for a paved highway or picnic enclosures.

"(Sloan Canyon) is not the easiest place in the world to get into," Guerrero said, referring to the rather long hike to the petroglyphs.

"But that's the kind of thing we need to protect -- that heritage," he said. "Native Americans still use that as a sacred site. It's worthy of protection, and it's worthy of respect. It's absolute sacrilege to touch, deface or walk on these areas."

Garncarz knows new trails will be blazed, but predicts the outdoor experience in Sloan Canyon likely will remain a primitive one that will attract fewer visitors than Red Rock.

"People are going to know that that's where the city ends," he said. "You can't get people to want to protect a place unless they go see it for themselves."

He recalled returning to the Las Vegas Valley earlier in the week aboard an airplane that flew over the new conservation area at night.

"That was the only black spot in the valley," Garncarz said. "It was kind of cool because you knew that it was going to remain black."