Friends of Gold Butte Director Speaks To MV Chamber

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

Recent events at the nearby Gold Butte National Monument were the subject of conversation at the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon on Wednesday, December 19 in the Old Overton Gym.

The guest speaker for the occasion was Sara Husby the current Interim Director for the non-profit Friends of Gold Butte (FOGB) organization. Husby stopped through Overton during a visit to the area from her home base of San Diego, California.

Husby explained that the former FOGB Director, Jaina Moan, has recently taken a new job with the Nature Conservancy. So Husby had stepped into the Director’s role for a time until a candidate can be found to fill the position permanently.

“Ideally we want to have someone who is more familiar with the communities to fill the permanent role,” Husby told Chamber members. “We are hoping to have a new director in place by mid-year 2019.”

In the meantime, the FOGB has been making significant strides with some exciting projects, Husby said.
A new Mesquite office had been opened by the organization in September. This gave the FOGB a Mesquite presence, whereas before their headquarters had been in Las Vegas, Husby said.

The office is also meant to act as an unofficial Visitor’s Center for the National Monument.
“The BLM doesn’t have an office out here and so there is no official welcome center for Gold Butte National Monument,” Husby said. “Our office is meant to temporarily fill that role.”

Maps of the monument are available at the office located at 12 W. Mesquite Blvd. Suite 106 in Mesquite. In addition the center offers displays and information about the geology, history, archaeology, plants, animals and other resources of the monument, Husby said.

Husby acknowledged that many in the conservation community had expressed frustration that the planning process for the new monument had not yet begun.
“People are asking, ‘What is going on? Where is the plan?’” Husby said. “The answer is that it is not being worked on. The Trump Administration is currently looking at the size of the monument. There have been proposals to reduce its size so they are waiting on the plan for a final decision on the monument size.”

Husby said that FOGB had written and received a $20,000 grant through the Nevada OHV Commission for additional directional signage in the Gold Butte region. Around two dozen new signs had already been placed in various roadside locations in the monument. Many more were being developed for placement as part of the project, Husby said.

In addition, the FOGB is currently working to provide volunteers to assist with improvements to the main road accessing the monument from the Riverside area. Clark County and the BLM will be providing a small amount of cold mix pavement material. The county also provides two road workers for two weeks to make the repairs. The FOGB volunteers will work with the county workers to patch as much of the road as is possible. This project is expected to take place in the first weeks of 2019.
“So there will be some volunteer opportunities out there for people if they want to come out and help with that,” Husby said.

Inquiries about volunteering opportunities may be made at www.friendsofgoldbutte.org. Local resident, Brenda Slocumb, is on the staff of FOGB and is in charge of volunteer coordination and organizing special events.

“No matter what our background is, there is one thing that we all have in common,” Husby said, “we all love the land. So it is good to see a lot of different people come out and help to protect and preserve it.”

At the end of the meeting, Chamber member Larry Griffiths, Moapa Valley Resource Program coordinator, gave a brief presentation about an upcoming event. The program will be organizing a Community Resources Fair which will be held on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at the Fine Arts Building on the Logandale Fairgrounds.

The event is being held to provide information to local residents concerning available resources through non-profits, state and federal agencies that can offer assistance. A growing list of vendor booths will be available where people can learn of these resources and opportunities.

Griffiths said that a number of local volunteers will be needed to help coordinate and put on this fair, which is intended to be a major event for the public.
“We hope that you will consider signing up to help with things like logistics, transportation, publicity and other details involved with putting this event on,” Griffiths told the Chamber members.

Information and registration to help in this effort is available at JustServe.org.