Mountain summit addresses the effects of increased use

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

The snow painted an appealing cover over Mount Charleston on Tuesday, but the troubling facts were clear to those attending a mountain "summit" of politicians, agency officials and residents: Too many visitors are overwhelming one of Southern Nevada's recreational jewels.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., opened the summit on the mountain to discuss the increasingly troubled present and potential future solutions to problems that include natural catastrophes such as forest fires and avalanches and the unnatural catastrophes caused by thousands of people crowding into a fragile environment.

Speaking at the Mount Charleston Hotel, Reid and Ensign joined Clark County Commissioner Chip Maxfield; Assemblyman Chad Christensen, R-Las Vegas; Las Vegas Paiutes Tribal Chairwoman Alfreda Mitre; and Regional Forester Jack Troyer of the U.S. Forest Service, among other elected and agency officials.

Alan O'Neill, executive director of the Outside Las Vegas Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting and preserving federal lands around Las Vegas, introduced the speakers to an audience that overflowed the hotel conference room.

An "exploding population" in Las Vegas is bringing many more people to the Spring Mountains and Mount Charleston, O'Neill said. With the thousands of visitors have come problems, conflict and sometimes tragedy.

"We can solve these problems and I believe come up with something we can all be proud of," O'Neill said

Maxfield said the issues have to be addressed now, before they get worse.

"I believe Mount Charleston has become Clark County's most overloaded natural resource," he said. Thousands of cars -- forest rangers counted 6,600 cars on New Year's Day -- are causing traffic jams in what most visitors and residents would like to think of as a still-pristine alpine forest.

Trash and litter are overflowing trash cans or worse, dumped on the side of the road; restrooms are few and far between; campgrounds are also insufficient, Maxfield said. Add to all the problems are direct threats to public safety, such as forest fires or the avalanche that killed a teenager earlier this year.

Ensign and Reid said they have heard the issues and are determined to protect Mount Charleston and the Spring Mountains.

"This year, more than any other year, we've seen the problems exacerbated," Ensign said, with a wildfire last summer and this winter's avalanches and floods of snow-seeking visitors.

Many visitors to Las Vegas and perhaps many residents are unaware of what the mountains can offer, but that is changing, he said.

"As more and more people hear about it, when they come up here, if they don't take care of it, it's not going to be here," Ensign said.

Reid and Ensign compared the summit to similar, annual meetings now held in an effort to preserve Lake Tahoe. the bipartisan duo worked on the Lake Tahoe effort as well, and the multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional effort has been credited with slowing the degradation of the lake's famous water quality.

Reid said it would not be an easy job. Competing interests complicate the task: developers are looking at building thousands of homes at the base of the mountain, environmentalists want to protect the natural environment, businesses want visitors, residents want peace and respect for their property and visitors want continued access.

Federal, state and local agencies also are competing, Reid said.

"The only way to save it is to work together," he said. "There is so much that needs to be done."

The senators and other speakers said one resource exists, at least for now, that could assist the effort to preserve the mountain and balance the competing interests. The Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act of 1998 has auctioned 10,000 acres of formerly federal land around Las Vegas and generated $1.4 billion, most of which is slated for environmental and recreational needs in Nevada and Clark County.

However, the Bush administration has proposed taking the lion's share of those proceeds top put toward deficit reduction. Reid and Ensign vowed to fight and defeat that proposal.

"We can't let Washington take that money away from the purpose for which it was intended," Reid said.

Ensign, who said he has expected and feared an effort to redirect auction proceeds for some time, agreed.

"We will lay down in front of any train," he said. "They will not touch our money."

Ensign warned that because of the White House's proposal to redirect the auction proceeds, modifying the 1998 act would not be easy to do. Some of those attending the summit suggested putting money into an interest-bearing account, for example, to generate much needed income for ongoing costs associated with maintenance and operations.

"If we open it up, they can come after the funding," he said. "We won't do it if we risk losing the money."

There is good news for friends of the mountain. Ensign said he is pushing for $50 million to be used on Mount Charleston, including $44 million for new infrastructure and $6 million for what he called a critical program -- reducing the amount of fuel, particularly dead trees and fallen wood, on the mountain before a catastrophic fire occurs.

Some residents of the mountain have concerns about infrastructure. Stephanie Myers, a Lee Canyon resident for a decade, said the lack of reliable phone service is a problem for her and her neighbors.

"It's been a real challenge this winter especially," Myers said.

Other conflicts include ongoing hunting and trapping of game in the mountains, which can be a threat to residents, visitors and their pets, she said.

All of the issues are on the table for discussions that will continue locally and among the federal agencies, participants at the summit said. One opportunity for public input is coming up next month.

The forest service, which oversees the land outside of the private holdings on the mountain, is developing a plan to manage the approach areas to Mount Charleston. The management plan, which is now in the process of development, will be the subject of a public meeting scheduled for March 29, from 4 to 8 p.m., at the forest service offices at 4701 North Torrey Pines Drive in Las Vegas.