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March 29, 2024 3:24 am
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Pitching In To Improve The Land

By NICK YAMASHITA

Moapa Valley Progress

Volunteers work to repaint the restroom facilities near the campsites at Logandale Trails during a Public Lands Day project held on Saturday. PHOTO BY NICK YAMASHITA/Moapa Valley Progress.

High winds hindered but didn’t stop the Public Lands Day projects which took place in the region on Saturday, Sept. 28. Despite the windy weather there was still a lot that got done. Projects were completed both in the Logandale Trails area as well as in the Gold Butte National Monument.

The windy conditions did dampen the attendance at the Logandale Trails project. Instead of the usual 100-130 people attending the service project of cleaning up the area, there were only about 50 participants. Despite the low turnout, there were still plenty there to accomplish a lot of work.

Volunteers came from all over to help at the trails, including a couple who came all the way from Oregon. Michelle Coon from Oregon stated how this was a great way to give back to such a lovely place that they have been able to enjoy.

Volunteers set campsite posts in the Whitney Pockets area of the Gold Butte National Monument as part of a Public Lands Day project held on Saturday. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRENDA SLOCUMB.

Coon said that she didn’t know about Logandale Trails until a couple of years ago. She came across the local website for the Chamber of Commerce and saw some information about the BLM Recreation area. So she decided to check it out.
“We have been back every year since!” she said.

The majority of volunteers were from the Las Vegas area. That included Kevin Bailey, Hump ‘N’ Bump even chairman and President of the Vegas Valley 4-Wheelers.
“Logandale has become our backyard and we’ve got to keep it clean,” Bailey said. “This helps getting together as a community to make sure that this area is here for generations to come”.

Bailey and his organization has provided multiple assistance to Logandale Trails, including financial donations every year which help with the upkeep of the area as well as new improvements.

Bailey mentioned that the next Hump ‘N’ Bump event will be held on Oct. 31 through Nov 2 this year. As in the past, trail rides will be at Logandale Trails. But the entire event will be staged out of the Clark County Fairgrounds.

Volunteers were busy all morning and for part of the afternoon as they took a trailride throughout the red rocks, the endless sand dunes and the gorgeous landscape collecting trash, repairing trail markers, repainting bathrooms and so much more.

Even though there was less attendance this year, the day was still considered a success, according to Elise Mcallister, Logandale Trails and Partners in Conservation Administrator.

While Logandale Trails was being spruced up, another group of volunteers met at the Riverside Rd turnoff to Gold Butte Road bright and early on Saturday morning. Led by members of the Friends of Gold Butte organization, about thirty people divided up into two work parties and set out on the long journey across the desert to make some improvements to the National Monument.

One group assembled at the Whitney Pockets camping grounds. There the crew worked all morning to set 88 posts into the ground to delineate appropriate camping areas. The post holes had already been dug into the ground in advance by BLM crews using power equipment. The volunteers just had to set the posts in the holes and then back fill each hole.

“It just creates a barrier for the large camp vehicles to stay within at the camp sites,” said Friends of Gold Butte coordinator Brenda Slocumb. “People can still walk or ride a horse or motorcycle through there. It is just trying to keep the camping areas contained to the existing sites.”

The other work party travelled further into the Monument, pushing on nearly to the historic Gold Butter town site. They stopped at an area that had been damaged in the Tramp and Fork wildfires back in 2005. Here they went to work planting 200 seedlings of native plants for the area. When the plants are grown, they will provide shelter and shade to wildlife that frequent the guzzlers in the area, Slocumb said.

Slocumb said that the volunteer force that turned out for the projects came from various stakeholder organizations. These included the Dunes and Trails OHV club from Las Vegas, the Kokopelli ATV Club from Mesquite, the Desert Fossils Hiking Club also from Mesquite, personnel from the BLM and the NEvada Department of Wildlife.

“We appreciate all of the collaboration that we received from various groups that don’t normally partner with us,” Slocumb said. “We got a lot done with everyone’s help.”

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