Summit planned on problems at Mount Charleston

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

Federal, state and local officials will host a summit meeting Tuesday in an effort to find solutions to the overcrowding, environmental problems and other issues affecting the Mount Charleston area.

Clark County Commissioner Chip Maxfield, who represents the area, is scheduled to join Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign for the meeting, which will include panel discussions on four key topics: recreation, transportation, fire management and species management.

Mount Charleston is home to a few more that 900 people just an hour outside of Las Vegas, but its elevation brings it winter snow, cool summer rains, trees and wildlife. Those attributes also bring thousands of hikers, skiers, sledding fans and other visitors throughout the year.

The visitors bring parking problems, trash, the threat of wildfires and other issues. In the winter, cars and drivers ill-equipped to deal with blizzard conditions can find themselves sliding off roads. In the summer, the visitors can overwhelm U.S. Forest Service facilities.

"You don't have to live in Southern Nevada long to realize that Mount Charleston and the Spring Mountains are Nevada treasures that need to be protected and preserved for future generations," said Reid, D-Nev., the Senate minority leader.

"Fire, litter and lack of public facilities are among the concerns the area faces, but we have tremendous opportunity to address these issues through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act."

The 1998 act sponsored by Reid and Ensign, R-Nev., has auctioned off more than 10,000 acres around Las Vegas and generated almost $1.4 billion to be used mostly for purchase of environmentally sensitive land in Nevada, restoration of Lake Tahoe and other environmental and recreational projects.

In the latest budget proposal from the White House, however, President Bush asks to divert 70 percent of land-sale proceeds to the federal government. The entire Nevada delegation, Republicans and Democrats, have said they will fight the proposal.

Maxfield said he hopes to be able to tap into the sale proceeds to tackle work on Mount Charleston.

"There are a lot of areas of concern," Maxfield said. "We need to be able to protect the residents that live up there while providing the access for recreational users.

"The issues have been growing every year. The visitor volume has increased every year. The facilities, the roads and parking, have not been able to keep up with demand.

"Now we have an opportunity to flesh out the issues and work together to find some solutions."

Agencies and community groups hosting the event or expected to attend the four-hour meeting include the Outside Las Vegas Foundation, the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, the Nevada Division of Forestry, the Regional Transportation Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and Mount Charleston residents.

The meeting is not open to the general public but will be taped for broadcast over Clark County's Cable Channel 4 service.