This Is Nevada...

In the belly of Mummy Mountain (photo by Kurt Kuznicki)

Prepping Lye Creek Campground For Youth Stewardship Work

Over a dozen volunteers headed up to the Santa Rosa Range to prep Lye Creek Campground for youth stewards and complete general campground maintenance under blue skies and green mountain peaks.

Volunteers sanded and prepped 14 picnic tables to be painted by the 6^th-8^th grade students who will be participating in Nevada Outdoor School's Adventure Camp II from July 9th-14th. The week-long program aims to build kids’ confidence while introducing them to recreation opportunities and outdoor skills.

Lye Creek Campground is one of the only developed recreation sites in Humboldt County, and maintaining it is a high priority for Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Nevada Outdoor School.

In addition to prepping the picnic furniture for painting, volunteers also constructed 50 feet of trail.

The team also cleaned up one mile of the fence encircling Lye Creek Campground. The fence prevents grazing cattle and sheep from disturbing campers.

There are still opportunities to get out into wild Nevada in the Santa Rosa Range, including July 13-15 and for National Public Lands Day on September 14-16. Visit www.NevadaWilderness.org or contact brenna@nevadaoutdoorschool.org for more information about volunteer opportunities in the Santa Rosa Range.

All photos by Graham Stafford.

The Zappos Family and KEEN Footwear: Improving Mt. Charleston for Everyone!



One hundred volunteers arrive at Mt. Charleston ready to work!

Crowning our Blue Helmet Volunteer, Elyse B.!

Team Clean BBQ versus...

Team Cleaner BBQ!!

Team Paint represents!

Show that grill who's boss!

After a day a trail clean-up, the team at Sawmill Trailhead is tired but smiling!

All photos by Jose Witt.

The Zappos Family and KEEN Footwear: More Smiles and Stewardship

Sharing a stewardship smile with Ray and Jerry!

Loving some Dutch oven cake!

Repainting the picnic furniture at Old Mill Picnic Area

Temple mugs for the camera!

"Look how dirty I am!"



Smiling for the wild!

All photos by Kurt Kuznicki


The Zappos Family and Keen Footwear in Mt. Charleston: The Video

The Zappos Family and Keen Footwear: Sunshine, Stewardship, and Smiles

Volunteers from the Zappos Family and KEEN Footwear headed up to Mt. Charleston to improve three popular public picnicking areas.

Our Zappos Family Blue Helmet winner, Elyse, represents!

Ready to work!

Scraping off the old before painting the new - volunteers painted over 20 tables and benches

Repurposing outdated calendars into greeting cards and envelopes while enjoying the fresh air

Dutch oven demonstration

A bonding moment in neon for Southern Nevada Program Director Kurt Kuznicki and Stewardship Program Director Pat Bruce

Smile!

Keeping fueled!

Sampling a Dutch oven delight, courtesy of Stewardship Program Director Pat Bruce

Teamwork works best!

Giving the public barbeque grills a fresh coat of paint! A dozen grills were cleaned out, scraped
off, and re-painted.

Everybody say wild!

Check back for more pictures from the event in the coming days!

Friends in the News: Teaming Up with the Zappos Family and KEEN Footwear

The Conservation Alliance blog has a great post on the project we're doing tomorrow with KEEN Footwear and the Zappos Family! This is the third year we've partnered together to clean up recreation areas in the Mt. Charleston Wilderness, and you can read about it here.

The Conservation Alliance brings businesses and nonprofits together to keep our country wild, and has generously supported the efforts of Friends of Nevada Wilderness in restoring and protecting the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.

Sheldon Fence Crew 2012: Up and Running!

The 2012 Sheldon Fence Crew - from left: Paul Wood, Evan Lantto, Allen Gibson, and crew leader John Coleman - have begun their three-month stay on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. The crew will be pulling barbed wire fence full-time this summer and living in a cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. (photo by Brian Beffort)

Paul handrolls wire while Allen clips in the background. Last year's crew got 76 miles of fence down, and the 2012 crew is tasked with removing the remaining 59 miles of barbed wire, along with assistance from volunteers and the Fish and Wildlife Service. (photo by Brian Beffort)

Badger Camp's namesake shows its curious face! (photo by Brian Beffort)

Join the crew on the Sheldon Refuge this summer - check out www.NevadaWilderness.org for trip dates!

Friends in the News: Gold Butte

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has an extensive piece on Gold Butte and the data Friends of Nevada Wilderness collected via a poll of Clark County voters, done by independent information-gathering agency Moore Information. You can read the whole article here!

The poll showed that 66 percent of Clark County voters support the establishment of a national conservation area between Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument just across the Nevada border in Arizona. Just 20 percent of those surveyed opposed the idea. 

Longtime conservationist John Hiatt is on the board of directors for Friends of Nevada Wilderness, [an] advocacy group that sponsored the poll. He's hoping the survey results finally spur some action.

"We've been hearing for months if not years now that legislation is imminent, but it never seems to quite get there," Hiatt said.

WE DID IT!!

At 3 pm today we reached our goal of $1,500! That's $1,500 for wilderness trails in just one day! This money will go directly to maintaining Nevada's trails through on-the-ground stewardship and training volunteers. We couldn't do it without our wonderful supporters like YOU!!

Where Do I Like To Hike? A Poem by Brian Beffort

Where do I like to hike?

Anywhere that’s big,

Wild,

And removed from the noise and frenzy of civilization,

Where I have entire mountain ranges to myself.

Where the only sounds I hear are insects,

Birds,

The breeze,

A burbling stream,

And my own breaths and footsteps.

Where the rhythm and moments of the day render clocks not just useless,

But absurd.

And where I can catch glimpses of life’s unbounded genius.

Twive and Receive - Competing for Nevada's Hiking Trails

We're almost there!!!

UPDATE - thanks to a generous donation from Marge Sill, Mother of Nevada Wilderness and founding board member, we have reached $1,500! Marge had this to say about hiking in wild Nevada: 

My favorite place to hike in Nevada is up Henry's Creek to Mt. Moriah. I love the feeling that you're on top of the world when you reach the plateau of bristlecone pines and you can see forever!

Twive and Receive - Healthy Mind, Body, and Trails

Friends of Nevada Wilderness is dedicated to keeping our state’s hiking trails maintained, well-marked, and litter-free. But we can’t do it alone – we need the support of volunteers and members like you to make it possible! Twive and Receive is a 24-hour nation-wide giving contest that allows top earning nonprofits to win additional money for their cause, up to $15,000! Your donation could result in Friends of Nevada Wilderness receiving a significant extra financial boost to help Nevada's wild trails.

Donate to Austin, NV - Maintaining Nevada's Wildland Hiking Trails with Friends of Nevada Wilderness at Razoo

This Is Nevada...

SCA Intern Jesy peaks around Mosquito Arch in southern Nevada (photo by Kurt Kuznicki)

26th Annual Desert Conference in Bend, Oregon

September 20-22, 2012

Bend, Oregon

The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) and Friends of Nevada Wilderness are excited to announce the return of the Desert Conference this fall, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Sierra Club. The Conference provides a forum for land-managers, conservation organizations, academics and advocates alike to educate and inspire one another, and collaborate on critical desert issues.

Panel topics include: Sage-grouse management and conservation, beaver recovery and stream restoration, public lands stewardship, renewable energy and habitat conservation, and much more.

For more information and to register, visit www.onda.org/desertconference

Volunteers Attack Invasive Thistle in Mt. Rose Wilderness

Project lead and Friends of Nevada Wilderness Stewardship Technician Renee Aldrich leads the charge against invasive musk thistle! Eight volunteers joined her, and the team removed approximately 8,000 thistles, clearing 99% of the project site of the noxious weed!

A long line of hard-working volunteers!

Gearin' up to hit the Hunter Creek Trail, where the team worked in the Mt. Rose Wilderness.

Long-time volunteer Barry Morgan battles a large thistle. A single musk thistle flower head can produce over 1,000 seeds for the wind to disperse.

Musk thistle seeds can germinate up to a decade after they have fallen from the flower head, making them a particularly difficult species to eradicate.

Removing the thistles involves more than just yanking them up - if roots are left, the thistle just re-grows. Volunteers dug out the thistle roots to ensure progress against this destructive weed.

All pictures by Graham Stafford.

This Is Nevada...

Copper and Bronze Light on the Arch Trail in the Muddy Mountains Wilderness by Kurt Kuznicki

Shirts Are Here!

Friends of Nevada Wilderness has a stylish new shirt, modeled here by the folks at the Reno Patagonia Outlet! You can order the new shirts - in black, gray, or sage! - by clicking here for the order form.

This Is Nevada...

A perfect day in the South McCulloughs by Kurt Kuznicki

Friends in the News: Pat Bruce Wins National Volunteer Award

Our very own Pat Bruce, Stewardship Program Director, received the prestigious "Making a Difference National Volunteer Award" this May for his work with the Winnemucca District BLM.

Pat Bruce poses with BLM Director Bob Abbey after the ceremony. (photo courtesy of BLM)

The Silver Pinyon Journal and FoxReno.com carried stories about this event!

Our agency partners at the Winnemucca District BLM nominated Pat for his continued devotion to the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Pat leads at least a dozen trips per year to restore, rehab, and re-naturalize the NCA.