Service First is Key to SNAP Wilderness Teams Successes

Service First (SF) authority was instrumental in the Team’s planning accomplishments thus far, and is a key vehicle needed to allow the completions of the remaining six interagency Wilderness Management Plans. The first interagency Wilderness Management Plan in the nation was completed, under SF authority, for the Muddy Mountains Wilderness, which is jointly managed by the BLM and the NPS. SF also allowed completion of joint plans for North McCullough, South McCullough and Wee Thump-Joshua Tree Wilderness Areas, Planning is underway for other jointly managed areas such as El Dorado, Ireteba Peaks, Spirit Mountain, Pinto Valley, Jimbilnan, Black Canyon, Bridge Canyon and Nellis Canyon and the remaining six designated Wilderness areas – Mt. Charleston, Rainbow Mountain, La Madre, Jumbo Springs, Lime Canyon and Arrow Canyon.

Work continued throughout the year to complete the remaining Wilderness surveys.  The NPS is in the home stretch with the eight Wilderness areas within the Lake Mead NRA.

Boundary Surveys to Provide Management Tool as well as Legal Wilderness Maps

Wilderness boundary surveys/maps and legal descriptions are ready for agency signatures for all of the 18 Wilderness areas designated by the 2002 The Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002 (PL 107-282).  The purpose of these surveys is to create and file, with Congress, Wilderness legal boundary descriptions and maps, as mandated by the Act. 

SF allowed an agreement concerning the BLM providing federal cadastral surveying services to the USFS and to the NPS. 

SF will aid in the efforts underway by the Team to create 18 individual Wilderness guides with the legal map on one-side and Wilderness definition, regulations, and points-of-interest, and Leave-No-Trace information on the other side.  The maps will provide use, interpretation and educational information.  The maps will provide a management tool to increase public awareness about Wilderness and Wilderness related issues, increase resource protection and improve the visitors experience in designated Wilderness areas in Southern Nevada.  The maps will be finalized and available for distribution as the boundary survey is completed for a given Wilderness. Guides for the Mt. Charleston, La Madre Mountain and Rainbow Mountain Wilderness areas are anticipated to be produced next year.

Listening to Nature Remains a "Hit" 

Through SF the Wilderness Team is continuing interagency acoustic monitoring in Wilderness areas to develop a database of natural sounds. Tripods and solar powered microphones were operated between June 2008 to May 2009 and April to September 2009 in remote areas of the Ireteba Peaks, Spirit Mountain and North McCullough Wilderness Areas. Hearing the sound of coyotes howling or wind whistling through the pines is part of the experience people expect in wilderness areas. Documenting actual sound levels and their sources is the first step in planning a strategy to maintain this important character of wilderness and evaluating future threats such as noise from nearby developments. To date, acoustic monitoring has been completed in 12 Wilderness areas with the goal of collecting baseline data in all 18 Wilderness areas in Southern Nevada.

Friends Step Up to the Wilderness Challenge

The Wilderness Team took its first steps in stewardship when Friends of Nevada Wilderness (Friends) and the SNAP Wilderness Team partnered to implement elements of the Wilderness Stewardship Challenge as a pilot project.  Since the beginning Kurt Kuznicki, from Friends, has led almost over 400 volunteers on wilderness stewardship projects. These projects have included dismantling fire rings, scrubbing graffiti, removing user created trails and picking up litter.  With each volunteer event, Mr. Kuznicki mobilizes more and more volunteer stewards to help protect opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation within Wilderness areas of Southern Nevada. 

Wilderness Stewardship is on the Rise

The Wilderness Team began using volunteer-stewards to assist in Wilderness management actions. The Wilderness Team supervised over 250 hours of volunteer time during four restoration projects which included graffiti removal, rebuilding 10 feet of trail, and cleaning out 12 water bars to prevent trail erosion. Other projects included removing 128 feet of PVC pipe and picking up 15 bags of trash, naturalizing over 520 feet of user created routes and 19 campsites to improve solitude of the Wilderness area.

Population growth is leading to increased impact to public lands, but this growth also provides a larger pool of people from which to draw individuals to steward public land resources. Today, a growing number of people are making informed choices in their daily lives, work places, and communities that are good for the environment, for their finances, and for overall quality of life. These actions are inspiring – and evidence of an emerging societal commitment to environmental stewardship. Thus, the Wilderness Team is developing a volunteer-based, Wilderness-stewardship program to managing Southern Nevada’s Wilderness lands and helps galvanize collaborations with a broader range of stakeholders.