State looking to the future to save its past

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- It's hard to promote historic preservation in a town where the implosion of old hotel towers is cause for a party.

The observation was part of an 18-page report that lays out Nevada's eight-year plan to address saving historic buildings for future generations.

The report, released Tuesday by the state Historic Preservation Office, stresses the importance of educating the public on the threat to losing many cultural treasures.

Las Vegans interested in preservation "expressed dismay at the festive atmosphere accompanying the implosion of older hotel casinos along the Strip," the report says.

The plan, which sets goals for preservation efforts through 2011, was submitted to the National Park Service with an application for a continued grant of more than $500,000.

"Urban growth was identified as the most pressing issue facing historic preservation efforts in Nevada," Alice Baldrica, a planner with the Historic Preservation Office, said Tuesday.

One goal is identifying historic properties in areas most threatened by development and population growth, particularly areas within and near the Las Vegas Valley.

Already many landmarks have been lost, Ron James, director of the office, said.

"The Whitehead House, a National Register property of Las Vegas, was lost to arson in 2000, after receiving funding from the Commission for Cultural Affairs for its rehabilitation and reuse.

"In 2003 arson also claimed the Moulin Rouge, a National Register property and African-American landmark that was Las Vegas' first integrated casino. The Moulin Rouge had an organization devoted to its rehabilitation and reuse that had applied for funding but was unable to act before the building burned."

One goal is for reauthorization by the Legislature of bonds to preserve and restore historic sites.

James said the $20 million bond program that covered the past 10 years expires this year. He said the 2005 Legislature will have to approve a new bond issue.

With these funds 29 rehabilitation projects have been completed on historic buildings, almost all of them listed in the National Register.

The report said, "The buildings are now open as museums, theaters, archives, and art galleries in every part of the state." The plan says that almost $19 million is contributed annually to the state's tourism economy from these projects.

The plan said there are 68,273 recorded archaeological sites that include such things as early camps, food processing sites, tool stone manufacturing sites, hunting blinds and painted and etched rocks. Of those 6,739 are in Clark County.

Most are on federal lands, but only 7.1 percent of the state has been surveyed for these sites, James said.

But urban growth is threatening many. The growing population is demanding additional recreation areas. This has led to the increased use of all-terrain vehicles, more acts of vandalism to rock art, historic mining districts and "illegal 'pot hunting' of previously inaccessible archaeological sites," according to the report.

"The use of off-road vehicles is particularly troubling to those respondents from Southern Nevada," the report said.

The preservation office said the early inhabitants "all left their mark on the landscape in rock shelters, rock art, ranches, mining towns, railroads, courthouses and casinos," it said.

"These places connect us with the past and speak to the adaptation of people to a harsh environment with limited resources -- and it's a fascinating story that can be lost without preservation of these physical links.

"These places provide visual testimony of people's skills in surviving and thriving in Nevada and they are worth saving for tangible as well as intangible reasons," the plan said.