Columnist Susan Snyder: Kids are working at the plant

Friday, Oct. 24, 2003 | 8:33 a.m.

Sixty children are plotting some shady business at Clark County Wetlands Park on Saturday.

They're going to dig big holes and get their clothes all dirty.

Then they're going to plant trees -- 100 cottonwoods.

"It's an interesting bunch of kids. They're all home-schooled." said Lisa Calderwood, Nevada Division of Forestry's Las Vegas community forester.

"It's a good opportunity for us to create some urban forestry where they can visit, since they don't have a school building."

Members of the Nevada Shade Tree Council invited the 60 children to help kick off Nevada Shade Tree Week, which starts Saturday and runs through Nov. 2. The program promotes the proper planting and benefits of shade trees.

Plantings are planned throughout the state Saturday, including one at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City. Members of the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee also will plant about 2,500 shrubs and trees in a remote section of Wetlands park not yet accessible to the public.

The Nevada Shade Tree Council donated $1,000 to the project, and Clark County came up with a $2,000 match. A group of Boy Scouts from Boulder City will wrap fire mesh around the trunks of the trees to ward off the local beavers.

Beavers?

"There are two feisty beavers out there that eat the bullrushes and cattails," Calderwood said. "Cottonwoods are like the icing on the cake for them. And we don't want to provide 100 desserts for beavers."

There are more than two, Bruce Sillitoe, Wetlands Park director, said. They live in the wash and in the uppermost pond of the preserve that abuts it.

"We didn't plant them or anything. They came all on their own," Sillitoe said.

But people probably have a better chance of winning Megabucks than seeing one. It's hard to find a beaver at night in Las Vegas, and this Colorado River variety is nocturnal.

They also leave few visible signs. They don't build dams or mounded mud dens in the middle of ponds. Before we dammed and rationed it, the Colorado River flooded often and destroyed traditional beaver dams and dens, Sillitoe said.

So Colorado River beavers learned to burrow into the muddy banks of rivers, ponds and, in this case, the Las Vegas Wash.

Saturday's tree-planting is as good a reason as any to visit Wetlands Park. People who haven't ventured out there might be surprised by this teeming oasis. It stretches six miles and encompasses 2,900 acres along the Las Vegas Wash, just east of Boulder Highway and north of Henderson.

Take Boulder Highway to Tropicana Boulevard and turn east. Wetlands Park Lane veers off to the left 1 mile up the road. Follow Wetlands Park Lane to the end.

The cottonwood planting will be near the Upper Pond. Follow the paved footpath to the left from the parking lot. The walk is about 1 mile each way.

For those who want to plant trees, the wash committee still needs volunteers. Call J.C. Davis of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, 822-8584. Leave a message. He'll check for them through Friday evening.

And don't forget to look for the beavers. You might hit a jackpot.