Wilderness Wingding 2009

Thanks to all who attended Friends' big party
A big thanks to those 150 members and friends who braved deep snow to attend the 2009 Wilderness Wingding celebrating our volunteers and our Nevada Wilderness.

For more pictures and more fun click on the link below on the and slideshow in the sidebar.

http://www.nevadawilderness.org/items/enews/09_1215.html

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Make a difference, be a volunteer

When the call for volunteers goes out John Bialecki always answers. John loves the outdoors and Southern Nevada Wilderness, his big smile has been seen on many a volunteer trip. Why does John volunteer? Because he know by volunteering once a month he can make a huge difference for southern Nevada Wilderness and for future generations of Nevadans (not to mention have a lot of fun too) So if you want to give back to the outdoors and have some fun, volunteer with Friends of Nevada Wilderness today. See the side bar for upcoming projects and information.

Petroglyphs

Petroglyhs love Wilderness

Rain Tree Project

Some folks go to the Mt Charleston Wilderness for enlightenment, others go there to get a from it all, some to esacape the summer heat or enjoy the winter snow, and some folks go there to build things, like wind structures, they're everywhere, on top of peaks, in windy saddles ( am I missing something???) or at the foot of one of the oldest if not the most famous tree in the forest. Wind structures take away from the undeveloped character of the lands and cause damage to the resource. So fight that construction urge if you think you have to build stuff...go buy an erector set or some legos but please leave the Bristlecone alone. Even the stuff that looks dead as door nail it could be 1000's of years old and that old stump could still be alive. Some wonderful volunteers from Friends of Nevada Wilderness hiked up to the Rain Tree via trail Canyon and removed some of the downed Bristlecone from around the area where the Raintree holds court.

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.

National Public Land Day, Black Rock Desert

Night skies on the Black Rock are about the best anywhere. We could see the Milky Way with our eyes and got to look at Jupiter and its four moons with a telescope one of our volunteers brought. A fine potluck with some awesome cooking topped off a warm work day out on the playa. The Nevada Outddor School provided fun kid activities while the parents worked. There were even a couple pet goats with their long beards hanging around camp with glow sticks around their necks.

Cave Springs, Mt Charleston Wilderness

Working for Wilderness
Six volunteers hiked up Trail Canyon armed with shovels, rakes, a pick and of course a couple of cameras to get some stuff done at a beautiful spot named Cave Springs. Now you Charleston locals you know that Cave Springs is one a few places that you can get water along the trail . A few folks have been camping too close to the springs and user created trails are sprouting up everywhere. Someone has hooked the piping back up to one of the springs but some of the old used piping was sticking up and laying exposed. The old pipes were plugged up, and sticking up out of the ground like giant alien bug antennas from a 1950's horror movie... a real eyesore. So Friends of Nevada Wilderness volunteers hiked in and removed the old pipe (we left the one piping system that still works, so water still flows to the trough). Volunteers also removed the campfire rings and naturalized four of the campsites that were right on top of the springs. Volunteers also concealed some of the other spring piping to keep the area looking natural. I suppose that some backpackers don't realize that we're not the only ones that need water; animals need water too. Camping at a spring not only deprives animals of much needed water , but it also increases the probability of lots of human waste & trash will eventually damage the spring area (yuck!). I know that no one wants to do the wrong thing, we just need to get the word out to folks. Please pack out your trash, bury your waste properly, and camp at least 1/4 mile from any spring. The animals will love you for it.

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Special thanks to John, Bill, Carl, Pat, Mike and John, who made the long hike up the trail and made a huge difference for all the wildlife that call the Mt Charleston Wilderness home.

Keeping it Wild in LV

Making a difference.

Sometimes we ask ourselves, "what can I do?" Well if you were to ask Bill James, John Hiatt & John Bialecki they would say "a lot." We were all sadden to hear of the graffiti in Fletcher Canyon, one of the prettiest canyons in the Mt Charleston Wilderness. I heard comments from a lot of folks, about the graffiti and how somebody needs do something about it. Well when these three guys heard about it they asked, "when are we going up there to clean it up?" Thanks to the partnership between Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the good folks at the US Forest Service we got our opportunity today. It took about 6 good hours of hard scrubbing but these guys made a real difference...Fletcher is Wild once more. If you want to get involved, if you want to make a difference on your public lands, please join us on a Friends of Nevada Wilderness stewardship project. We would love to team up with you to Keep it Wild.