Camp Cuisine: First Place Thai Chicken Curry

Dutch oven delights - always delicious! (photo by Kurt Kuznicki)

Here’s Brian’s prize-winning recipe for his Dutch oven Thai Chicken Curry - the first place entree at the National Public Lands Day 2012 Dutch Oven Round-Up!

Ingredients
2 shallots
1 stalk lemon grass
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
1 cup chicken stock
1 inch of galangal (Thai ginger)
4 kaffir lime leaves
6 bird’s eye chilis, bruised (or more to taste)
4 boneless breasts of chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup green beans, chopped
1-2 tablespoons red curry paste (more to taste)
1-2 tablespoons fish sauce (more to taste)
1-2 tablespoons sour tamarind soup base (more to taste)
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 20-oz can of coconut milk
1 fresh lime
1 bunch Thai basil, chopped

1. Prep: Peel shallots and slice into thin rings. Thinly slice the lemongrass, from thin end until it starts to get thick and woody. Bruise the lime leaves and chilis. Cut the galangal into thin slices.

2. Heat the oil to medium heat in the Dutch oven, then add shallots and let them cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add lemongrass, lime leaves, chilis and galangal. Let them simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors out.

3. Then add the chicken stock and chicken pieces and let it all simmer for a few minutes. Then add coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce and soup base. Cook all this at a low boil for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

4. Add the red peppers, green beans and Thai basil, cook for 5 more minutes. Adjust your flavors. Squeeze lime into it. Sprinkle the remaining Thai basil and serve over rice.


This recipe will serve 4 to 6.

National Public Lands Day, Gold Butte-Style!

Over 40 volunteers joined Friends of Nevada Wilderness to
celebrate National Public Lands Day in Gold Butte!

The Lush Cosmetics team joined in the fun!

ATV riders monitored backcountry routes for illegal trespass,

Backcountry Horsemen's Bristlecone Chapter provided water to thirsty volunteers!

Time for some teamwork!

Wonder Woman!!

Carol Reott-Hotchkiss from the Forest Service keeps volunteers hydrated and happy.

Giving signs a wash and a fresh coat of paint!

Ready for re-seeding!

All photos courtesy of Kurt Kuznicki.

National Public Lands Day in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge

Planting one of 72 juniper posts - next step is stringing 350 feet of cable between the posts to create an exclosure to protect wildlife habitat

Great Basin Institute's Nevada Conservation Corps represents!

Hard work and big smiles while completing 500 feet of route restoration!

The Boones know how to stay hydrated!

A great day in the sun!

All photos courtesy of Susan Murphy.

Investing Sweat Equity in the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Volunteers celebrated National Public Lands Day by showing some love to the natural resources in the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon-Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. Sensitive habitat was encircled with fencing, recreation sites were picked up, and citizen spring monitors taught volunteers how to gather important spring data in the national conservation area, one of 16 in America's National Conservation Lands system.

 



Smile while you work! Pat Bruce (in safety yellow!) mans the drill while Zack Million from the Winnemucca BLM steadies the buck-and-rail fence during construction.

Volunteers built 160 feet of fence around sensitive dune habitat - home to kit foxes and kangaroo mice - near Trego Hot Springs in the Black Rock-High Rock National Conservation Area.

Little volunteers-in-training assist with clean-up and enjoy the crisp Nevada air!

All photos by Renee Aldrich.

Where the Wild Places Are: Trio of Tough Workers in the Santa Rosa Range

Volunteers in the Santa Rosa Range show some Public Lands Day love by pulling out two miles of unneeded barbed wire fence.

 

Stewardship in the Santa Rosa Range: Celebrating National Public Lands Day

Over 25 volunteers joined Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Nevada Outdoor School in the Santa Rosa Range for a day of fence-pulling to show their love for Nevada's public lands! (photo by Scott Waters)

National Public Lands Day 2011 - Black Rock

Before...

And after the route restoration in the Calico Mountains!

Pat and Kristine inspect invasive species

Sunscreen - a necessity on the playa!

Smile!

National Public Lands Day Round-Up

The 17th annual National Public Lands Day brought out volunteers across the state to restore, conserve, and protect Nevada’s public lands. Over 75 people from FNW, Friends of Black Rock High Rock, Nevada Outdoor School, and Mountain View Montessori School attended a two-night camping excursion to the Black Rock Desert to build buck and rail fences and remove debris. While the weather was hot in the Black Rock Desert, the 25 volunteers from FNW and Friends of Gold Butte in southern Nevada faced temperatures over 100 degrees! Meanwhile, Forest Project Coordinator Wes Hoskins led a trip to Alta Toquima to log downed trees and perform general trail maintenance on the Pasco Canyon Trail.

Friends of Nevada Wilderness celebrated National Public Lands Day by…

Encircling two sensitive dune habitats with natural underground springs that were being destroyed by irresponsible off-highway vehicles (photo by Graham Stafford)…

Clearing the debris (an entire dumpsterful!) off public lands from a former living encampment (photo by Brian Beffort)…

Putting up over 175 posts and putting in 80 native plants in Gold Butte (photo by Andy Sanchez)…

Logging out 217 downed trees and creating a 500-foot re-route along a trail in Alta Toquima (photo by John Fiske)…

Kurt Kuznicki from Friends of Nevada Wilderness and President of Friends of Gold Butte Nancy Hall (photo by Andy Sanchez)

…and we worked with over half a dozen organizations including Friends of Gold Butte, Friends of Black Rock High Rock, Nevada Outdoor School and Mountain View Montessori School!

A big thank you to all our volunteers, the wonderful nonprofits we worked with, and the government agencies that assisted us – we made a fantastic contribution to Nevada’s public lands.

Black Rock Desert Foothills: Before and After

For National Public Lands Day 2010 in the Black Rock Desert with Friends of Black Rock High Rock, Nevada Outdoor School and Mountain View Montessori School, one group worked to fence in sensitive habitat while another set of volunteers traveled into the foothills to clean up an abandoned residence that was on government land.

While there, our team of hard-working volunteers also erased an illegal vehicle track to prevent others from driving through and harming the sensitive habitat.

Before this illegal off-road track was worked on (photo by Brian Beffort)

Volunteers broke down road indicators to prevent off-highway vehicle travel (Brian Beffort)

After the volunteers finish erasing the illegal road (Brian Beffort)

Black Rock: Before and After

Friends of Nevada Wilderness joined other conservation organizations to build a fence around sensitive habitat on the Black Rock playa to celebrate National Public Lands Day. Most sand dunes are formed when loose sand is windblown into an obstacle, forming a mound. However, the dunes on the Black Rock playa indicate springs below the surface. The water pushes the sediment upwards, forming a dune and creating a habitat for desert plants and wildlife.

Irresponsible off-highway vehicles driving through the area have began to slowly destroy the dunes. Volunteers worked a long, hot Saturday in the sun to build a fence around the area to prevent off-roading in the habitat.

Before: the smaller of the two dunes to be encircled. It was also re-seeded with greasewood, the natural foliage of springs on the playa (photo by Darcy Shepard)

Volunteers building the fence (Darcy Shepard)

After Friends of Nevada Wilderness and other participants finished at the Black Rock National Public Lands Day event (Darcy Shepard)

More Events for National Public Lands Day

In addition to the Sept. 17-19 trip to Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada and the Sept. 25 trip to the Spring Mountains in southern Nevada, there are two other conservation and restoration events happening.

The Joshua Trees of Gold Butte (photo by Brian Beffort)

National Public Lands Day with Friends of Gold Butte
Another option to give back to the Nevada Wilderness on National Public Lands Day! Friends of Gold Butte will be leading a day trip to Whitney Pockets in Gold Butte. Volunteers will be working on restoration, planting vegetation, and cleaning up the area. You can sign up at friendsofgoldbutte@gmail.com or call Nancy Hall at (702) 346-3723 for more information.

Alta Toquima trail maintenance trip in July 2010 (photo by John Fiske)

Alta Toquima Trail Maintenance for National Public Lands Day
A four-day, three-night trip to the Alta Toquima Wilderness. Volunteers will be brushing out trail tread and logging downed trees to maintain the Pasco Canyon to Pine Creek Connector Trail to ensure hikers and backpackers have a safe, designated route through the protected area. Interested? Contact Wes at wes@nevadawilderness.org or (775) 324-7667 for more information.

National Public Lands Day Events

Sunrise on the Black Rock Playa (photo by Brian Beffort)

Friends of Nevada Wilderness will be participating in multiple events for National Public Lands Day across the state. In northern Nevada, FNW will be leading a restoration trip to the Black Rock area September 17-19. Nevada Outdoor School will be hosting a kids’ camp to teach the younger campers about conservation and the environment while FNW puts the grown-ups to work. To preserve the playa's natural beauty, we will be building fences to keep off-highway vehicles out of protected areas and removing debris. Interested in joining us? Call (775) 324-7667.

Spring Mountains in Fall (photo by Kurt Kuznicki)

For southern Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Kurt Kuznicki will be leading a trip to the Spring Mountains on September 25 from 8 am to 4 pm, the official date of National Public Lands Day. Trail maintenance and trail building for the Blue Tree Trail System will be the focus of this outing, which is open to adults, families, and seniors. Want to tag along? Call Kurt at (775) 745-3119.

Check back later this week for other National Public Lands Day events in your area!