Trails park to be built on 1,200 acres in southwest

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

Twelve hundred acres of desert southwest of the Las Vegas Beltway and Russell Road will become a system of trails from which hikers will be able to look down on Las Vegas -- someday, Clark County officials say.

The park is scheduled to be dedicated by Sen. Harry Reid and county officials on Thursday, but there is no timetable for the start or completion of the trails planned for the park, Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said.

"The key is that we have this land and that we know it won't be developed," Pappa said. "There are some ridges there that are going to afford what we think will be some unique views of Las Vegas."

Specific plans for trails and the park have not yet been determined, county officials said.

Ridges and desert terrain make up the future home of the trails complex. It was given to the county by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the Clark County Public Lands and Natural Resources Act of 2002.

The law also provided for a land exchange between the BLM and the Howard Hughes Corp., giving the company 998 acres around the new park. The BLM received 1,071 acres of land that Howard Hughes had purchased that abut the conservation area near Charleston Boulevard and the Las Vegas Beltway.

"It gave us a chance to extend the conservation area on its eastern edge, and also create a park that will increase the popularity of the conservation area," BLM spokesman Phil Guerrero said.

The Howard Hughes Corp. plans to develop the land around the new park, but has not determined what will be built there, officials said.

Jane Feldman, conservation chair for the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Sierra Club, said that the addition of parks and open space to Clark County is always welcome.

"Here in Las Vegas we have fewer acres of open space per capita than most large cities," Feldman said.

The act, which was signed by President Bush in November 2002, added 444,000 acres in Clark County to the national wilderness preservation system.

Among other key provisions, the legislation:

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