Southern Nevadans Improve Public Lands Yard-By-Yard

LAS VEGAS - Volunteers in southern Nevada once again showed their commitment to improving the area’s public lands by participating in 12 th annual National Public Lands Day events held September 17 and 24, 2005. More than 300 volunteers picked up a total of 128 cubic yards of litter at three separate clean-up events. The Southern Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program, a project of the UNLV Public Lands Institute, coordinated the events with the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service.

The northeast corner of Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area was littered with trash as small as broken glass and as large as an old golf cart. A total of 57 volunteers spent four hours on September 17 picking up those items along with shotgun shells, bullet casings, and building and car parts. They filled more than three 20-yard dumpsters for a total of 70 cubic yards of litter.

On September 24, 114 volunteers headed south to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and another 160 went northwest to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to tackle the litter challenges there. Participants included several large groups, such as Albertsons, Bank of America, HSBC, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, UNLV’s Labor of Love, and several area Girl Scout troops.

Volunteers cleared a one square mile area of litter and debris at Lake Mead’s Hemenway Harbor, filling a 20-yard dumpster. It is estimated that nearly 500 pounds of broken glass was removed from the beach and desert areas. Community members also cleared 1.5 miles of road and trail in Red Rock Canyon’s Cottonwood Valley and another 1.0 mile of trail in Bird Springs Valley. When the volunteers were done, a 38-yard dumpster was full of litter, debris, electrical wire, cable reels, car parts, and tires.

“In total, community volunteers contributed nearly 1,500 hours over the past two Saturdays to beautify our public lands for the benefit of all Nevadans,” said Nancy Flagg, director of the Public Lands Institute. “On behalf of our federal partners, we extend our thanks to the volunteers and sponsors for their hard work and community involvement.”

Event sponsors included the Southern Nevada Interpretive Association, Friends of Red Rock Canyon, Starbucks Coffee Company, Albertsons, Republic Services of Southern Nevada, Boulder City Disposal, Las Vegas Boat Harbor, and the Desert Princess.

To volunteer for future events, visit the Get Outdoors Nevada website at www.getoutdoorsnevada.org. More information about the UNLV Public Lands Institute is available at http://publiclands.unlv.edu.

UNLV is a doctoral-degree-granting institution with more than 27,000 students and approximately 2,800 faculty and staff. More than 200 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees are offered. Founded in 1957, UNLV is located on 337 acres in dynamic Southern Nevada. The university is ranked in the category of Doctoral/Research Universities-Intensive by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.