Ground is broken for Spring Preserve project

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.

Officials broke ground on the $200 million Las Vegas Spring Preserve project Tuesday.

The project will include a history museum, a venue for outdoor concerts and events, an interpretive trail system and an 8-acre botanical garden featuring regional plants. Officials including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Clark County Commissioners Chip Maxfield and Bruce Woodbury used shovels to formally turn the earth and inaugurate the project, which is scheduled to open in early 2007.

The 180-acre preserve is owned by the Las Vegas Valley Water District, which works with the independent Springs Preserve Foundation and Board of Trustees to operate the preserve.

The site, about three miles west of downtown Las Vegas, nourished plants, animals and early human inhabitants with natural springs.

In 1978 the Springs Preserve was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Jesse Davis, Springs Preserve spokesman, said roughly $35 million of funding for the project comes from money returned to Las Vegas from the sale of federal land in Clark County. Another $60 million comes from revenues raised through the sale of state bonds to support conservation and recreation projects, he said.

Contributions from the Water District, government grants, private and corporate donations cover the rest, Davis said.

Davis said the groundbreaking is an important milestone.

"This is the next step in the progression of turning what was once just a concept into a reality," he said. "All of the remaining elements, including funding, are coming to fruition."