Project to save land for trails is hailed

Jace Radke

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 10:28 a.m.

As graders and bulldozers cleared desert land for a housing development nearby Thursday, Sen. Harry Reid and other officials hailed a deal between government and business that ensures 1,200 acres of ridgeline at the western edge of the valley will remain undeveloped.

The land, located northwest of the Las Vegas Beltway and Russell Road, will become a system of trails thanks to a land swap between the Howard Hughes Corp. and the Bureau of Land Management that was completed as part of the Clark County Public Lands and Natural Resources Act of 2002.

"You hear so much that is negative about corporate America, but you don't hear enough about the corporate citizens that make these kinds of things possible," Reid said. "It may take a long time for the county to put in the trails and other amenities they have planned for this new park, but we know we have it and it will remain undeveloped."

The land was given to the county as part of a land exchange between the Bureau of Land Management and the Howard Hughes Corp., which previously owned the 1,200 acres.

In exchange for the park land the developer was given 998 acres around the new park site. The BLM also received 1,071 acres that Hughes Corp. owned near the entrance to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area off Charleston Boulevard.

"Growing up in Las Vegas we always thought that these kinds of pristine areas would be available for hiking and barbecues," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "Who knew that the development would get up here?

"Now we know that this area will be protected for generations to come."

There is no timetable for the start or completion of planned trails through the area, Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa 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.

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