Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
• Editorials - the Sun's viewpoint.
• Columnists - local and syndicated writers.
• Letters to the editor - readers' views.
Have your own opinion? Write a letter to the editor.
Designating the Gold Butte area as a federal wilderness area or wildlife corridor will not help Mesquite financially, nor will it attract hordes of visitors, as a small vocal group of environmentalists claim. It would bring more restrictions and problems to the area. Due to the desert tortoise listing, driving is restricted in some areas, and should you venture onto the wrong undesignated trail, you can be subject to fines of up to $100,000. Wilderness means no roads.
Gold Butte is not a mecca in the desert. For someone to state the area has abundant archaeological resources, including rock art, caves, agave roasting pits and camp sites dating back at least 3,000 years is a gross exaggeration. There is very little to see at the Gold Butte town site or Whitney Pockets; no water, trees or shade. There is some water at Juanita Springs (privately owned) and water at tanks maintained by the Bundy Ranch.
The petroglyphs near Whitney Pockets are definitely not awe-inspiring when you consider the trip is approximately a 250-mile round trip into the Gold Butte area from Las Vegas and about 100 miles round trip from Mesquite on not the best of roads.
As for wildlife, you will see more at the bar in the CasaBlanca casino.
Obama could put a windmill farm and solar power plant there
I suspect the writer must have spent more time at the Casablanca Casino than he did exploring Gold Butte.
Evidence is on the letter writer's side. There is a long established US Congressional process to legally declare Gold Butte wilderness special. So far all who should have, would have, could have-- haven't. And there was/is no rush on their parts, with several having the opportunities, to do so.
CarmineD
"I suspect the writer must have spent more time at the Casablanca Casino than he did exploring Gold Butte."
LOL good one, Jim.
Seriously, the desert is full of wildlife. But actually seeing the animals is a matter of good timing and luck.
There really are a lot of nimrods in Nevada such as the person who wrote this letter! Designating a wilderness will not hurt your goofy life, nor will protecting a few tortoises. And when people see a wilderness, they go there and they spend money in local communities. Duh! Eco-tourism has a big potential in Nevada, but idiots who have a kneejerk reaction every time they hear the word tortoise will shoot their own foot off to prove a point. Gold Butte is small and protecting it won't make you stop riding your ATV fercrisakes. Plus the Bundy's don't know how to graze cattle worth a damn. They kill off a lot of their livestock by being cheap about moving them around. There are actually smart people who know how to run livestock, and that is not the Bundys.
"In wilderness is the preservation of the world" -Thoreau. I say round up Bunker's cattle put him in the big house and declare it so !