By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
A large parking area at Whitney Pockets filled up with cars early in the morning as volunteers gathered to participate in several projects to celebrate National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 25. In attendance and overseeing the event was Bob Ross, Field Manager of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las Vegas Field Office. Ross applauded the volunteers in attendance for their willingness to be involved in caring for public lands.
“All of you are great stewards of public lands every day of the week,” Ross told a crowd of over 60 people. “If not for the public taking care of our public lands, we would never get done what all needs to be done out here.”
After a brief coordination session, the volunteers divided up to participate in three separate work projects.
The first project was in the parking area where everyone had gathered. This area had, over time, become a large camping spot and a staging area for ATV riders before hitting the trail. The project was to create barriers to prevent the further expansion of this camp area.
“No final decision has been made about the fate of this area,” said project coordinator Micah Doughty. “But we’d like to prevent it from expanding further into the surrounding desert.”
Heavy wooden posts had been cut and were stacked nearby and post holes had already been prepared along the edge of the camping area. Volunteers went to work setting the posts in the ground to create a subtle barrier meant to discourage people from riding off of the existing roads into the desert from the spot.
Another project took place at the nearby ‘Falling Man’ area. This was the continuation of an ongoing project to restore a closed road in the final approach to the ‘Falling Man’ area. The road was being restored from a two track ATV road to a single track walking or equestrian path by planting new vegetation.
BLM officials and volunteers expressed gratitude to Nancy Hall, President of the Friends of Gold Butte (FOGB) organization, for her coordination efforts and for obtaining funding for materials on these two projects.
“This area is so important to all of us here today,” said Hall. “It desperately needs to have more focus on conservation and preservation. Our organization (FOGB) is committed to the idea that this needs to be an NCA (National Conservation Area) in order to better manage visitation and to bring increased funding for better management and preservation.”
The third project had been coordinated by Dustin Nelson of Logandale and members of the Public Lands Conservation Committee (PLCC). It was to begin an inventory of historic sites in the Gold Butte complex that were significant to residents of the area. About two dozen volunteers spent the day traveling to their favorite historic destinations in the Gold Butte region. They were asked to photograph the sites, record some information about the conditions at the sites and what may be seen there, and provide a brief overview of their historic significance.
Nelson, who is the creator of a blog called SaveGoldButte.com, encouraged volunteers to send their entries to him by email through his blog site. He said that he plans to post each of the entries on a new registry website which will be available to all who wish to know about the history of the area.
“This will be the beginning of the first documented inventory of many of these historical sites that are such an important part of our heritage,” Nelson said.
PLCC member, Elise McAllister explained that the project was born of a reaction to recent BLM actions at the historic Treasure Hawk Mine area of the Gold Butte complex. Through an oversight, the mining claims had been allowed to expire and the BLM immediately began dismantling the site.
“Suddenly it was gone and a big part of our history literally disappeared overnight,” McAllister said.
McAllister eventually expressed disappointment to Bob Ross about the action. “He was somewhat apologetic and said that they didn’t even realize that we cared about it,” McAllister said. “Once the permits were gone the structures that were left at the site were just viewed as clutter to the BLM. I suddenly realized that unless someone says ‘this is important’ the folks at the BLM don’t really get that it is important.”
Noting the extensive documentation which has been done of all the ancient petroglyph sites, McAllister began to wonder if the same could be done to preserve some of the rich ranching and mining heritage in the area. “We felt like we should do the same thing with our own history as has been done with the ancient native cultural sites,” she said.
Bob Ross immediately recognized the importance of the cataloging project. “Having this kind of information catalogued will help the BLM know what is out there and how important it is to the people,” Ross said. “My take-away from the (Treasure Hawk mine) experience was that we need to listen to people a little better. We need to find out what is important in the heritage of this area. That kind of information can guide us in our resource management planning or it can be a guide if the area ever becomes an NCA. That why this project is so important.”
The historic documentation is an ongoing project. Those who know of significant historic spots in the Gold Butte area may send documentation and information to Dustin Nelson through the web at www.goldbuttehistory.blogspot.com .
