Project Update: Black Rock Dune Protection 2008

The fence completed by our wonderful volunteers over two years ago to protect one set of Black Rock playa dunes is holding strong! Plus, the scattered seeds have grown and turned the area into a mini-oasis, its natural state.

Holding strong... (photo by Darcy Shepard)

...and flourishing from our re-seeding! (Darcy Shepard)

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)

Journey to the Center of the Wild: Wes Hoskins in the Mt. Rose Wilderness

By Wes Hoskins

On September 10th-13th, Renee Aldrich, Miriam Smith, Buddy (Miriam’s Chocolate Lab) and I had a splendid three-night backpack through the Mt. Rose Wilderness. We were aiming to document some last-minute campsites and just get a last look at the wild interior of a place we may not see again for awhile.

Our group at the top of Relay peak

Friends of Nevada Wilderness has put on 9 monitoring and stewardship trips in Mt. Rose this year, and this may be the last one before the Aspen turns and the Truckee Meadows begins to tuck in its chin for the winter.

Renee, Buddy, and me at the rustic bridge crossing Gray Creek

As far as campsites go, we didn’t find much else other than what has been previously recorded. We did find some tracks from a motorized vehicle that ran through the meadow at the headwaters of Galena Creek. It’s frustrating to see that kind of needless damage in a sensitive place when the area has extensive signage prohibiting motorized use in Mt. Rose meadow.

Crushed corn lilies from vehicles driving off designated routes in the Mt. Rose Meadows

Backpacking on the Carson Range generally and Mt. Rose specifically is not as easy as one might think considering it is so close to Reno — a fair-sized population center.

Miriam swoops in and hangs the bear bag after I do the hard work

When a hiker gets into the depths of the range there is no real trail system, just a spider web of informal trails and old roads. Consequently, the first and second days of the trip for us required a little cross-country travel.

Sunday is hard for Buddy after the ascent and descent of Relay Peak. At least he has some awesome booties!

Itinerary
Friday: Thomas Creek Trail Head to Davis Meadow (10.1 miles, 2000’ gain)
Saturday: Davis Meadow to Bronco Creek (4.2 miles, moderate gain and loss)
Sunday: Bronco Creek to Gray Lake (7.7 miles, approx 2,000’ gain)
Monday: Gray Lake to Brockway Summit (10.4 miles, approx 1900’ loss)

If you have any questions about this hike or want to know more about the area you can drop me an email at wes@nevadawilderness.org.

Would you like to see your trip on the blog? Write up a description of your hike and include a photo or two and email it to darcy@nevadawilderness.org and your adventure could be featured on our blog!

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)

Removal: Before and After

Hunter Creek Trail, August 2006

Musk Thistle along Hunter Creek Trail before Friends of Nevada Wilderness

Volunteers working hard during the project

(Lack of) Musk Thistle along Hunter Creek Trail after Friends of Nevada Wilderness

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.

This Is Nevada...

Sun cups at Alta Toquima (photo by James Sippel)

Restoration: Before and After

Calico Mountains, September 2002

Illegal 0ff-highway vehicle trail on the Calico Mountains before FNW (photo by Brian Beffort)

The Calico Mountains after FNW (Brian Beffort)

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!

A Wilderness Rockstar

If you were to ask Andy Sanchez why he volunteers he would laugh and say that he's just bored or that he just likes Gatorade, trail mix and volunteer t-shirts. The real reason Andy volunteers is his deep love for the outdoors and his heartfelt desire to give back to those places that have given all of us so much. Andy started volunteering for Friends in January and has been on every Friends of Nevada Wilderness southern Nevada project since. Andy will be leading his first volunteer project later this month in the Spring Mountains NRA. When Andy is not working on volunteer projects he is out hiking the trails of Mt Charleston as a Volunteer Wilderness Ranger. The are a few Wilderness Rockstars in southern Nevada but Andy's star shines a little brighter than most. Thanks Andy for all you do for the Wild!

Southern Nevada heats up in June

The volunteers of southern Nevada really hit the ground running this summer with events and projects taking place every weekend in June. On June 5 Friends teamed up with the Forest Service to perform some much needed trail maintenance in the Blue Tree Area for National Trails Day. June 12 Matt Flores treated volunteers to a wildflower ID class in the colorful Spring Mountains. We finished up for the season in Lovell Canyon with a road restoration project on a decommissioned section of the Salt Grass Road. This was a joint project with the Forest Service, BLM and Friends of Nevada Wilderness to protect the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness. June 16 200 volunteers from Zappos.com worked hard to spruce up Lee Canyon with paint and a little TLC. On June 26 the uber volunteers from Circle K International (UNLV service club) braved the warm temperatures to pull weeds before they spread to the Mt Charleston Wilderness. The Volunteer Wilderness Rangers have been hiking the Wilderness trails gathering real time information for the Forest Service, education folks, and making the Wilderness a bit more Wild for present and future generations. We thank all of these Wild Folks for their hard work and salute their love of the Wild.

A Voice in the Wilderness

Renee, our seasonal Mt Rose employee, has the privilege and duty of climbing some of the Carson Range's highest peaks and peering into the remote parts of the Mt Rose Wilderness to gather important information for the Forest Service—how many people are using the trails, where the invasive weeds are lurking, and monitoring campsites in the wilderness. Lately, she's been taking volunteers up the Hunter Creek trail to pull invasive Bull and Musk thistles. To date, they have pulled more than 5,000 plants. Over the 4th of July weekend, she and Wes completed a 30-mile monitoring backpack from the summit fo the Mt. Rose Highway to the Michael Thompson Trailhead at the bottom of Hunter Creek. Over the course of two days they counted 150 people, 34 dogs, and 10,276 mosquitoes while hiking on the Summit Trail.

Here's a report from Renee, after her first month working in the wild:

I really enjoy working as a wilderness monitor in the Mount Rose Wilderness area. While I knew I would be hiking all day, an unexpected bonus of being a wilderness monitor has been working with some really great people. All of the volunteers I have worked with have been wonderful, very helpful and motivated, especially since I make them pull weeds! I like getting to know the volunteers and learning what led them to Friends of Nevada Wilderness. It is also interesting to see and meet wilderness users. There are so many different ways to enjoy the wilderness; during the course of any day I might meet trail runners, bird watchers, day hikers, backpackers, and the list goes on.

During the course of almost every day “at work,” I get to explore parts of the wilderness I have never seen before! It is a gorgeous wilderness full of wildlife and great views. The other day, I wondered into the territory of an American Kestrel breeding pair. They were not happy with my presence: they hovered above me and then started dive-bombing me, coming within five feet. It was amazing—I got to see these beautiful little orange and white falcons up close and personal. I moved through their territory as quickly as possible to minimize any stress I may cause them, but it was exhilarating to see them in action.

In addition to the kestrels, I’ve seen quite a few animals such as: a golden eagle, western tanagers, flickers, a variety of woodpeckers, lizards, a few bull snakes (no rattlers yet!), deer and signs of bears. I’ve also seen a ton of wildflowers: desert peach, larkspur, wild rose, western peonies, dagger pods, hot-rock penstemon, mountain figwort, heart-leaf arnica, and snowy thistles—just to name a few. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to wake up every morning, excited to explore a different part of the wilderness and see what surprises lay in store.

2010 Sheldon Rendezvous

In June, Friends of Nevada Wilderness teamed up with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Nevada Muleys and a host of dedicated citizens (75 volunteers in all) working on our common ground: Caring for the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.

Our goal was to improve habitat for wildlife like the pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, bighorn sheep, mule deer, pika and a host of other species that depend on sagebrush-steppe ecosystems, which are fast-disappearing and changing because of development, energy exploration and development, invasive weeds and climate change.

Together, we pulled 5.5 miles of obsolete and now-dangerous barbed-wire fence and began building the first of several pipe fences to protect fragile spring systems. Not only did these actions remove threats to wildlife and protect essential springs from damage, it also restored wide-open beauty to a larger piece of the Sheldon. Together we logged nearly $40,000 of in-kind service to benefit the Sheldon, which the Fish and Wildlife Service will be able to leverage to gain funding for additional stewardship projects and research to help us understand the qualities and needs of this unique ecosystem.
Along the way, we made new friends with folks who share our love for this unique stretch of Wild Nevada.

A few more photos from the event...

Volunteers removing dangerous barbed wire from important pronghorn, sage grouse and mule deer habitat.

One of main beneficiaries of this work is the greater sage grouse, recently listed as "warranted" for protection under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish & Wildife Service. A significant percentage of sage grouse mortality comes from collision with fences, because sage grouse take off at a low angle and often cannot see fences. Photo copyright Scott Sady.

There was even work for our future public-lands managers. Here Logan carries a pulled fence post back to the truck.

The 2010 Sheldon Rendezvous was an opportunity for Friends of Nevada Wilderness to work with Nevada Muleys for the first time to protect resources that are important to all of us. We look forward to many more projects together.
Volunteers came from as far away as Las Vegas, Southern California and the East Coast. The long-distance award goes to Maria from Senator Reid's office in Washington DC...all this way to work hard for Nevada's land and wildlife.

After all the hard work under hot sun, Nevada Muleys provided a much-appreciate feast of chorizo and burgers for the hungry crowd. Here's Ed working hard at the grill.

Mmmmmm....cake. Jake and Marlow try to contain their enthusiasm as Dutch oven master Pat Bruce unveils dessert...pineapple upside-down cake and Black Forest cake...a tasty end to a great day!

Thank you Graham Stafford to providing great photography!

There's data in them thar hills!

For years, Friends of Nevada Wilderness' Wilderness Stewardship program focused our efforts on helping the BLM and Forest Service erase the damage done in wilderness from vehicle trespass, invasive weeds and other impacts. Now, several projects are coming on line that will flex our volunteers' brains as well as their muscles.

In March, Friends launched our northern Nevada field season with a trip to Soldier Meadows hot springs in the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. Above, volunteers straddled cold air and hot water to gather data on the depth and flow of the hot springs. This baseline data will help the BLM monitor the impact (if any) of human activities on life at the hot springs.

Above, NCA ecologist Roger Farschon explained the significance of Soldier Meadows in the larger ecological scheme of the region. Soldier Meadows is home to two rare species: the Soldier Meadows dace (a cute little fish) and basalt cinquefoil (a cute little plant).

"There are no rare plants," explained Roger, "only rare habitats." And sure enough, if you looked around, basalt cinquefoil was doing very well in the immediate area of the hot springs, despite the fact that the plant grows only here and in one other place in California's Lassen County. One project was to see if we could help the cinquefoil become better established by replanting a few in areas that had been previously impacted by vehicles driving right up to the edge of the springs. Above, stellar volunteer Scott Hall shows us one of the mighty cinquefoils as he carries it a few paces to its new home.

Thank gosh for coffee, without which many wilderness volunteer successes would surely be less significant. Here's Field Project Coordinator Pat Bruce heating water to beat back the early spring chill for volunteers like Friends' new board member, the still-waking Larry Dwyer.

Sure enough, Java does the job. Just look at those smiling, energized faces. Caleb and Joey, you guys rock hard! AC/DC is smooth jazz compared to you two! Thanks for all you do for Wild Nevada!

Springing into Action!
At the Black Rock Rendezvous over Memorial Day weekend, the BLM and Desert Research Institute launched a training for volunteers who want to help the BLM gather information on the 100s of unknown springs throughout the NCA and its associate wilderness areas. Above, Great Basin aquatic ecologist Don Sada shows off some of the life we found at Sand Springs, on the west side of the Calico Mountains Wilderness. We learned that snails (that very tiny dot on his finger) are great indicators of a long-lived healthy spring; the DNA for many spring-snail species dates back millions of years. Yup, they've been there, breeding and doing their snail thing for a long time. With your help, they'll be doing it for a long time more.

If you're interested in getting involved in Friends' spring inventory program, contact Brian Beffort at (775) 324-7667 or brian@nevadawilderness.org. Just think, you can help wild places, enjoy a beautiful hike, and discover what life persists at rare desert water. Join us!!

Rainbow Mountain Wilderness

The Magic Light dances on a rainbow

Boots for Wilderness

Friends, Zappos.com, Keen Footwear, and the Forest Service are teaming up for Earth Day in southern Nevada.