By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials held a series of open house meetings last week to solicit public input on management plans for two wilderness areas in the Gold Butte complex. Meetings were held in Bunkerville, Overton, Mesquite and Las Vegas.
BLM Las Vegas Field Office Manager Bob Ross explained that the wilderness plan under discussion was a component of a much larger Resource Management Plan which is currently under development which will set forth broad management plans for the entire region including 3.4 million acres of public land in southern Nevada.
The two wilderness areas in the Gold Butte region are the 23,233 acre Lime Canyon area and the 4,631 acre Jumbo Springs area. Both areas were designated as wilderness by Congress in 2002 as part of a larger bill that set aside a total of eighteen wilderness areas in southern Nevada.
According to the federal Wilderness Act, a wilderness area is defined as “…an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” No motorized or mechanical transport or equipment is permitted inside of a wilderness area.
BLM Wilderness Planner Mark Tanaka-Sanders explained that both Lime Canyon and Jumbo Springs represent the epitome of wilderness area. “There is no recorded roads or trails in these areas,” he said. “It is just completely undeveloped federal land which provides opportunities for real solitude. In designating it as wilderness, we have been charged to preserve it that way for future generations.”
Residents at the Overton meeting on Tuesday night pointed to the inherent inconsistency in the idea of developing a management plan for a wilderness area.
“To say ‘let’s manage a wilderness area’ kind of flies in the face of the whole purpose of wilderness doesn’t it?” asked Logandale resident Dustin Nelson. “I mean if it is wilderness, the plan would be to just let it be wilderness.”
“The very act of taking a pen and drawing a line around an area on a map and calling it special; that just calls attention to it,” said Logandale resident Gene Houston. “It is kind of contradictory to the idea of wilderness.”
“I am for Wilderness where appropriate.” Houston continued. “But wilderness is, by definition, just what it is. ‘Let it be’ is the approach that I would take. Not to say: Look at this, it is really special!”
Ross agreed but responded that the BLM had been tasked with creating a management plan for the wilderness areas. “These things sometimes do make us scratch our heads a bit,” he said, “and we wonder what is there to do out there. But we have to ask the question and sometimes the answer is: nothing.”
Tanaka-Sanders added that there is always some stewardship required in the area. “We must consider the range of activities from just leave it alone to actively protecting certain elements,” he said.
Tanaka-Sanders brought up the subject of weed infestation and fire suppression in these remote areas as a topic that might be addressed in the plan document.
BLM Wilderness Planner Sendi Kalcic suggested that the plan might “set the sideboards” for possible management action in the wilderness areas.
“(The plan) could project that if certain invasive weeds are found out there at some point, here are the tools we can use to treat them,” Kalcic said. “It could list a range of tools that could be drawn upon in certain situations.”
“But there are only a few ways to effectively fight weeds in such a large area,” said Nelson. “And none of them can really be done in a wilderness area.”
“I cringe to talk about managing fire on thousands of acres of wilderness all by hand with people on foot carrying in shovels,” said Logandale resident Lindsey Dalley. “It would take a lot of resources to do it that way. I’d rather you focus those resources somewhere that it is going do some good. If you can’t go into the wilderness area and really make an impact, why bother spending the resources on it?”
Dalley also brought up the difficulty of maintaining water features for wildlife in the wilderness areas. “There are feelings in the rural areas that wilderness areas are not being managed enough for wildlife,” Dalley said.
Dalley emphasized the importance of small natural springs to wildlife in the remote areas. “One year you might have no water coming out of a spring at all; but then another year you might have water seeping up there,” he said. “But even if it is a few drops every minute, it is enough to sustain wildlife in that area. Those springs need to be cleared (of invasive plants) and managed so that the wildlife can get in to them. If they aren’t taken care of, then the wildlife disappears from that area.”
A good deal of the discussion in the meetings turned to management practices in the areas adjacent to the two wilderness lands.
At the Mesquite meeting on Wednesday evening the discussion turned to existing roads and trails that end at the boundary of the wilderness area. BLM officials asked how the public would like those end points managed.
Tanaka-Sanders pointed out an instance near the Lime Canyon area where vehicles had pushed about 70 feet past the carsonite sign indicating the road ending.
Mesquite resident and Friends of Gold Butte president Nancy Hall suggested that some kind of barrier should be placed to prevent such things from happening.
“No matter where the road ends, and you place just a carsonite sign; how are you going to stop people from pushing out another 70 feet or so past that?” she said.
Hall suggested that additional signage be placed earlier along the road informing people that the road is coming to an end up ahead. She also suggested that barriers, such as pole fencing, be placed in the road. She emphasized, though, that steel posts with chain barriers across the road should be avoided.
BLM ranger Deb Sullivan stated the view that, wherever possible, natural barriers should be used including large rocks or other natural materials. “These barriers do a good job,” Sullivan said. “And it doesn’t look like we have placed them there. It is best if we make it look like it has always been there.”
In connection with this, Sullivan reported that recent efforts in managing road use in the greater Gold Butte area seem to be paying off. In follow up to the roads designation process, the BLM has put new signage and other infrastructure in place in an effort to keep people from veering off of designated roadways and doing damage to the desert.
“In general we have been pleased with the results of signing and other efforts,” Sullivan said. “It has been amazing how well people are adhering to the directions of signs. I’ve been happily surprised at how well that has gone.”
Ross stated that the BLM had sought and received SNPLMA funding to complete a broader plan for the management of the overall Gold Butte region. This process has already begun and BLM staff will be out in the rurals holding meetings and seeking public input later this summer, he said.
On the subject of wilderness management, Bunkerville resident Don Paff recommended that the BLM stay flexible and open ended in its planning documents. “I’d say you should keep very soft perameters,” Paff said. “Keep your plan general and just recognizing the basic elements in there. Don’t make it so specific that you can’t provide solutions when conditions change. Remember that it will never always fit.”
The public comment period for the wilderness plan will be open through August 12.
BLM Southern Nevada District Manager Mary Jo Rugwell stated the importance of the public input. “We are always asked if what people tell us really matters and do we listen to them,” Rugwell said. “The answer is absolutely yes! We are coming to you to get feedback not, necessarily because we have to, but because we want to.”
Public comments can be made by email to lvwilderness@nv.blm.gov. Or they can be mailed in writing to Mark Tanaka-Sanders; Bureau of Land Management; 4701 N. Torrey Pines Dr.; Las Vegas, NV 89130.
