Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Decision is delayed on conservation boundaries

The Bureau of Land Management is postponing the setting of boundaries for a proposed conservation area in the northern Las Vegas Valley that would be off limits to development in order to protect rare plants and prehistoric fossils.

North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Clark County officials will have to wait until next May to see what land is available for development, but everyone involved appears to agree that the area needs protection.

The question is how much of the Upper Las Vegas Wash will remain natural.

Tuesday night, after 13 groups representing environmentalists, developers and government agencies spent more than three hours discussing information gathered in a 10-month process, the BLM announced a change in its approach.

Instead of a draft environmental assessment by the end of September, the bureau plans to release a set of alternatives outlining several sizes, scopes and boundaries of the conservation area along the Upper Las Vegas Wash.

As many as five or six alternatives could be offered to preserve paleontological sites and Las Vegas bearpoppy and buckwheat, the BLM's Jeff Steinmetz.

The bearpoppy is already listed as a rare plant by the state.

As for buckwheat, the Nevada Division of Forestry will take public comment from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sept. 28 at its 4747 Vegas Drive regarding whether to put the plant on the state's protection list.

Protection of the Upper Las Vegas Wash and the plants and prehistoric sites could help avoid federal government listing of the rare plants as endangered. Such federal action could stop development of the area.

Late last year the BLM identified a conservation area of 5,000 acres that would remain natural and off limits to development from any future federal land auctions, said Gayle Marrs-Smith, a BLM botanist and manager of the project.

Too many roads, utility corridors or development could threaten the rare plants and fossils, including the skull of a baby mammoth, which is an extremely rare find, advocates of the protection said.

The Upper Las Vegas Wash Committee has suggested boundaries ranging from 3,000 acres to up to 10,000 acres.

The alternatives for preserving the wash will take into account the wishes of environmentalists, developers, utility companies, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County, officials said.

A draft environmental assessment is expected by November with a 45-day or even 60-day comment period, Marrs-Smith said. By spring a final environmental assessment should be ready and a preferred alternative selected by BLM will be designated by May 2006, she said.

Recreational users, utilities and conservationists said that regardless of what boundaries are finally set, a group of environmentalists, scientists or other interested parties should ask Congress to declare the area a National Conservation Area, similar to Red Rock Canyon west of Las Vegas or Sloan Canyon south of Las Vegas.

Some want to connect a trail for walkers and horses through the Upper Las Vegas Wash to the Las Vegas Wetlands where the county is developing a wetlands park.

Securing a National Conservation Area from Congress could take two to five years.

"Some people mention timing," said Ed Dodrill, representing recreation interests. "Those sites have been there for millions of years. Another three to five years isn't going to hurt."

Environmentalists also proposed protecting the wash by extending the Desert Wildlife Refuge, which would block development north of the sensitive wash area.

"It's very simple: Save what you have," said Hermi Hiatt from the conservation group.

By saving more acres, rare plants, the natural wash and paleocultural resources would be protected, Hiatt said.

Alfreda Mitre of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe asked that a one-mile zone extend north and east of the Snow Canyon Reservation, 4,000 acres set aside for the tribe.

"We are very concerned with city development moving up near the reservation," Mitre said.

Mitre said the tribe would be flexible and discuss a half-mile restriction around the reservation.

However, the cities are concerned that preserving too many acres could impede growth.

Funding and staff to protect the area are in short supply at both the federal and local levels.

And if the BLM gives up its role protecting the wash, it is unclear whether the cities could respond to emergency medical calls in the area or find funds for securing the protected area, said Jan Schweitzer of North Las Vegas.

By examining voluminous information gathered by the working group, the BLM is trying to chart a course that will allow a balance between development and preservation, Marrs-Smith said. "If it turns out impacts (from development) are significant, we would have to do an EIS (environmental impact statement)," she said.

The BLM is trying to cover all concerns in its environmental assessment, said Steinmetz of the BLM, who is working with Marrs-Smith. A more detailed environmental impact statement would take up to two more years, he said.

The Upper Las Vegas Wash is unique in that development could one day surround the area where mammoths, bison, camels and horses left their bones, Marrs-Smith said.

The BLM plans to find an out-of-state university with no political ties, but with expertise in planning where wilderness and urban areas meet, to help study and evaluate the impacts under various alternatives, Marrs-Smith said.

Until preservation boundaries are set and a management plan is adopted, the Bureau of Land Management will remain as caretaker for the lands.

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