Columnist Dean Juipe: Lake Mead deserves attention

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

The tendency of Las Vegas newcomers is to visit the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, see its many amenities, maybe return a time or two for an outing or a paddleboat dinner cruise, then all but forget it's really there.

It's as if the longer you're here, the less apt you are to visit the expansive park and waterway. Sportsmen and naturalists break that pattern of course, yet for many of us, the lake recedes into the backdrop of our daily lives.

It's receding in more ways than one, as we're all aware. As the water lines on the rocks indicate, the lake at full capacity as it was when it was formed in 1935 is not the lake that is here today.

Saddle Island, in fact, is now more peninsula than island.

And the lost city of St. Thomas, a group of primitive buildings constructed entirely of stone that was once completely submerged, is now visible to its foundation.

And Las Vegas Bay seems to have lost its bay, or at least misplaced it.

Lake Mead remains a wonderful place to visit and I'd highly recommend refamiliarizing yourself with it, yet it is not without its troubled areas.

"It's as if the fish are jumping from pond to pond," an angler complained Monday at the Red Rooster in Overton.

He was exaggerating, but doing it for effect; the lake's decline in elevation has left pockets of good fishing amid areas that are now more marsh or swamp up near the shore.

Asked how he fared on this hot day, he said he came back empty-handed. He boated eight catfish but threw them all back in, and didn't land a single striped or largemouth bass, let alone a 20-pounder that once contributed to the lake's allure.

"There's more turtles biting than anything else," he said, adding that they were taking the lures "out of desperation."

An oldtimer next to him said the lake "would never be the same."

And yet Overton is doing OK, if its real-estate prices are any indication. And there are people coming and going up and down State Routes 166 and 187 that run a stone's throw from the lake as they wind from Boulder City to the Valley of Fire exit.

But there is an area of neglect that the park service could correct, and it's the sadly underused and overlooked Boulder Beach. Years after complaints that the beach -- which is more rock than sand -- was littered with such debris as dirty diapers, pop cans and wrappers, those same indefatigable items can be found there in revolting abundance (in spite of numerous trash receptacles nearby).

Why not import some decent sand and assign a work crew to regularly pick up after the inconsiderate fools among us? Granted, the swimming pools at the Strip resorts will always have the inside track when it comes to landing sun worshipers, yet an attractive waterfront beach would give Lake Mead an additional -- and welcome -- calling card that it does not currently possess.

This is a lake and a park that has realized all but a tiny fraction of its incredible potential. It is, for the most part, a clean and wonderful playground.

But it needs constant care and attention, from park workers and visitors alike. It needs to be appreciated.

For anyone who has taken it for granted, discovering it again may be the first step in that process.