George Peterson, Wilderness Monitor

Make a difference like George.

George Peterson a Las Vegas local, who loves to hike the Mt Charleston Wilderness. George makes a difference for the Wild Places every time he goes hiking by being a Wilderness Monitor. George takes a simple monitoring form with him records campsite locations, trail conditions, trail encounters and anything worth noting. On one cold windy day George may have even saved a persons life, when he talked an ill prepared hiker into turning around because of the nasty weather conditions on the summit of Mt Charleston. If you like to hike and you want to make a difference in the Mt Charleston Wilderness or else where in Wild Nevada. Call (775) 324-7668 in the north and (775) 745-3119 in the south...thanks George!

Leave No Trace 'Train the Trainer Class" Nov '09

Friends of Nevada Wilderness hosted its first Southern Nevada Train the Trainer Class in the Spring Mountains NRA in early November. The class was well attend by folks for the BLM and volunteers from the Red Rock NCA. Each student gave 15 minute presentation on one of the seven Leave No Trace Principles. What are the seven LNT principles you ask....

Plan Ahead & Prepare

Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Dispose of Waste Properly

Leave What you Find

Minimize Campfire Impacts

Respect Wildlife

Be Considerate of Other Visitors

We will be hosting another class in the spring. I hope to see you there.

BTW- I love the virtual campfire.

Spring Mountains NRA

Brrrr....waking up to a chilly, but beautiful sunrise near the Bonanza Trailhead in the Spring Mountains. See there are trees in southern Nevada.

Muddy Mountains Wilderness

I thought I'd share a few photos from one of southern Nevada's Wilderness jewels the Muddy Mountains....Good Stuff

Fall in the Toiyabes

Photo by John Fiske

Bonanza Extravaganza 10/31/09

Happy Nevada Day!!!

A fun group of Wild southern Nevada volunteers got together to celebrate Nevada Day by getting some trail work accomplished on the Bonanza Trail in the Mt Charleston Wilderness. The highlight of the day was when we got to break out the two person crosscut saw and remove a down tree that was across the trail. WooHoo...good folks, Nevada Day, crosscut saws, double headed axes it just doesn't get any better than that.

Special thanks to all of the volunteers that gave up their Saturday to help take care of their Public Lands.

South McCullough Wilderness

Friends of Nevada Wilderness's board member John Hiatt checks the map on a recent Wilderness monitoring trip to the South McCullough Wilderness.Do you have a favorite area? Would you like to adopt a wild place and become its guardian on the ground? All you have to do is visit your adopted wilderness a few times each year - on your own schedule. You'll get to know its hidden side and report to us if something seems wrong or out of place. Or celebrate its wildness with stories and photos to share with others on our website. Call, we’ll help get you started. (775) 324-7667 for northern Nevada or call (775) 745-3119 for southern Nevada.

Just click on the link below for a very simple monitoring form to take with you.

http://www.nevadawilderness.org/items/document_WildernessMonitoringFormStnd0204.pdf

National Wildlife Refuge Week at the Pahranagat NWR

We've done some cool projects here in Wild Southern Nevada, but I think this project is one of my favorites. Although all these hardworking folks were from different backgrounds and places from around the world ( Kenya, Tanzania, Panama and of course the USA) we all share the same love and concern for the wild places and wildlife. We planted 600 native plants in an effort to control invasive weeds and got a very cool tour of the refuge by Refuge Manager Chivia Horton.

Special thanks to the awesome volunteers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Pahranagat NWR Rocks!

Henderson Trails Day Event

We had a very successful day of Wilderness Outreach at the Henderson Nevada National Trails Day Event. We spoke to a lot of folks, signed up some new members, and recruited some more volunteers for the Spring Mountains NRA. We even had the pleasure to pose for a photo with Mohave Max...it doesn't get any better than that.

Special thanks to uber volunteer Kathy Ujifusa and board member Hermi Hiatt for giving up their Saturday to make a difference for Southern Nevada Wilderness.

Hoo-rah for Wilderness

Volunteers cross shovels to celebrate another successful project in the Mt Charleston Wilderness
from left to right, Bill James, John Hiatt, John Bialecki, John Oreshack.

Why is this guy so happy?

Because National Public Lands Day is finally here!

National Public Lands Day - Gold Butte

National Public Lands Day at Gold Butte,

This year event was co-hosted by the Friends of Gold Butte and the BLM. Friends of Nevada Friends of Nevada Wilderness was honored to be able to support Friends of Gold Butte & the BLM in their efforts. Volunteers from many user groups came together to build a post and rail fence, and restore and naturailze and old route. Volunteers also planted 50 native plants ans took a little bit of time to explore the awesome Gold Butte backcountry.