Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.
The Bureau of Land Management is doing a cleanup of areas in and near the Sloa' Canyon National Conservation Area Saturday. For information, call Jim Cribbs,' BLM volunteer coordinator, at 515-5234. For information about Sloan Canyon or the new management plan, contact the BLM at 515-5000.
Media attention might be fine for older, more established conservation areas such as the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, but Charles Carroll is still working to put together the management plan and law enforcement presence to protect the 48,000 acres set aside for permanent protection around Sloan Canyon in 2003. Media inquiries mean more stories that bring more people to the conservation area.
And with the people come tons of trash to litter the fragile desert area, Carroll says.
Old car bodies. Computers and computer screens, filled with potentially dangerous metals and chemicals. Refrigerators. Chairs, couches, beds. Industrial detritus. All of it litters the desert floor on the dusty roads leading into the conservation area.
The trash is an ignoble ornamentation for the gateway to a conservation area that the BLM, hundreds of local volunteers and Nevada's political delegation hope will one day rival Red Rock. The effort to clean up the area is never ending. A huge cleanup effort last November collected seven industrial Dumpsters of heavy trash.
Today, the trash has returned. Larger pieces have been blasted with hundreds of shotgun pellets and bullets of all calibers. Thousands of shotgun shell casings litter the ground.
Officials with the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency overseeing the conservation area, have been aware of and concerned about dumping and vandalism within the area since before the designation two years ago. Carroll, who has been with the effort to create the conservation area since the beginning, says the problems get worse when there is media attention.
It is almost as if the stories in local papers and television serve to invite the scofflaws to the conservation area, he suggests.
"This area has been wide open BLM land for generations," Caroll says. "People have been using it more and more. Media attention -- it increases the number of people who come out here."
That will be a good thing when the management plan is in place. The BLM is taking comments on the proposed management strategies until June 23, and is expected to have a final plan in place later this year.
One element of the plan that is already moving forward, Carroll says, is an increased presence for BLM and local law enforcement. Until earlier this year, when BLM rangers found people on or near the conservation area dumping or shooting, the people were likely to get just a warning.
Those warnings are escalating to fines and even the possibility of jail time, Carroll says. He adds that many of those who are using the BLM land around the conservation area don't seem to be taking the warning seriously.
He says about 150 warning signs have been stolen from the land.
"What we're trying to do right now is enforcement," Carroll says. While the BLM and law enforcement allies cannot now respond to every call of motorized vehicles, shooting or dumping, they can catch many of them, and soon will have full-time patrols, he says.
"What we're trying to do is establish the borders, literally and figuratively," he said.
During a recent visit to the conservation area, Carroll saw a trio of young people in a sports-utility vehicle pull out an impressive arsenal of weapons, including three assault rifle-type weapons, a shotgun and a sidearm, for some target shooting.
He paid the group a visit. The individuals declined to identify themselves, but assured the BLM officials that they would not shoot in an off-limits area. They said they had asked a police officer or ranger a few weeks earlier if it were legal to shoot in the area, and had gotten the go-ahead.
They also agreed to pull up and move to another area for shooting.
Carroll says such responses are typical.
Carroll says he has little patience with those looking to use the public land to dump garbage, but has some sympathy for those looking for a place to shoot. It was legal at the site at the entrance to the conservation area until last year, he notes.
Carroll adds that he's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. He's not opposed to shooting, he just wants it away from the conservation area.
But a call to the BLM offices will help shooters steer clear of a fine and a brush with the law, he said.
Erika Schumacher, the BLM top ranger for the state, says people need to know that penalties are in place and the agency will enforce rules against dumping and shooting in and near the conservation area.
The penalties can be significant. Discharging a firearm in the area -- which until last year was legal -- can now bring a $250 fine. Fines for dumping trash begin at $150, although law enforcement has the option of taking the issue to the courts and asking for stiffer penalties.
Much of the trash that is being dumped, however, could contain potentially toxic materials. Computers, for example, have to be disposed of as hazardous materials. Polluting the ground or water with those materials or flammable waste could mean hundreds of dollars in fines more, or even potential prosecution as a felony.
Schumacher notes that finding a place to shoot around Las Vegas is not difficult. While in and around the conservation area is off-limits, there are a lot of wide-open areas within 45 minutes of the urban area where it is still legal to shoot. A call to the BLM offices can keep people out of potential trouble, she adds.
Schumacher and Carroll say the BLM rangers are increasingly getting help from local Henderson and Metro police.
Still, many people just shrug off the potential penalties, said Bill James, vice president of the group Friends of Sloan Canyon.
"Right now, we do have a big problem," James says. While much of the trash is ending up near the entrance to the conservation area off of Las Vegas Boulevard south, James says the biggest problem he sees is in the northeast corner of the Sloan Canyon area, near Horizon Ridge Parkway.
People have been dumping and racing through the area for years on motorcycles and off road vehicles, James says. But with the designation to conservation area, 15,000 acres also was designated as wilderness, off limits to motorized vehicles.
"People don't seem to be getting the message that it has a different status now," he says. "We have done some massive cleanups up there."
James and Carroll say they are grateful for one thing -- as of yet, the hundreds of petroglyphs in the interior of Sloan Canyon, evidence of American Indian life dating back 800 years, have mostly avoided damage at the hands of vandals or collectors.
They warn that anybody caught damaging the petroglyphs would face federal felony charges. Besides being a member of Friends of Sloan Canyon, James is a "site steward" of the petroglyphs. He and dozens of other volunteers have made protecting the sites their focus.
"We have a little bit of training," James says. "We make a commitment to go out through the year, to adopt a petroglyph site, to photograph the site and report any damage.
"We're well briefed on how to contact the authorities."
Susan Potts, conservation director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, a conservation group, shares many of James' concerns. She agrees that what is needed is more enforcement.
"The BLM is underfunded and understaffed," she says. "They don't have a lot of staffing. They need more."
The resource management plan now under development will help, Potts believes.
"They are really trying to protect the conservation area, as well as do a good job of interpreting it, guiding people through it," she says.
James and Potts point out that there are other threats to the conservation area. Development continues to come closer to the designated area, and the need to provide access has to be balanced with the goal of protecting the wilderness and cultural artifacts.
A long-simmering dispute over the location of a new helicopter pad for tours to the Grand Canyon also has them concerned. A proposed location off of Las Vegas Boulevard would take flights right over the heart of the wilderness area, they say.
Despite all the present and potential threats, the BLM officials and local conservation area supporters say they believe that with cooperation, some education and law enforcement, the future of the conservation area and the wilderness is bright.
Carroll cites last November's cleanup that brought hundreds of volunteers out, among them off-road vehicle enthusiasts, environmentalists and many others.
"It was an incredible story of cooperation," he says.
He walks through the desert near the mouth of Sloan Canyon and points out what he hopes will one day be a visitors center that could include an interpretive area, a place for American Indians to practice ceremonies, a research component and other assets for visiting scientists of all kinds.
"Most people are respectful," Carroll insists even after touring huge piles of debris dumped in the desert. Educating the rest is the tough part of the job.
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