Friends of Nevada Wilderness DONATE VOLUNTEER TAKE ACTION
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Happy Earth Day 2018! Have you made a resolution to honor the Earth locally? We have an opportunity for you. Washoe County Commissioners are attempting to remove protection from nearly 400,000 acres of BLM-managed Wilderness Study Areas within the county while pushing large scale development efforts. Your voice is needed now to speak for Wild Washoe! Find out how you can help below.

For the Wild,

Shaaron Netherton, Executive Director

Wild Washoe is Under Attack!!!


Urgent Action is needed NOW. Washoe County Commissioners and their proposed legislation would strip away meaningful conservation protections from our beautiful Wilderness Study Areas in the county.

The 600,000 acres of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in Washoe County are immediately threatened by actions proposed by Washoe County Commissioners. The commission is proposing to get rid of nearly 400,000 acres of our Wilderness Study Areas and designate less than 150,000 acres of them as Wilderness. This is unacceptable!

massacrerim02_bbeffort.jpgTake Action: Tell the Washoe County Commission that you want Wilderness for Washoe by filling out their survey. 

The Washoe County Commission is seeking input via an online survey on their proposal - a proposal that strips protection from Wilderness Study Areas like Massacre Rim while pushing large-scale development. Let them know you support protection for Wilderness Study Areas and want all Americans to have a say in how our public lands are managed in Nevada, and development needs to be balanced with conservation. Make sure to register so your opinion is public!

Click here for talking points and a link to the survey!

Our quality of life depends on protected wild places to recreate. Our wildlife needs wild places where their habitat isn't threatened with roads and development. If there can't be meaningful Wilderness protection to balance the desired development, this entire process should stop.

Take Action: Speak out for a Wild Washoe at the county's public input meeting on Thursday, April 26, from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

Washoe County will be holding a meeting for public input on their proposed Economic Development and "Conservation" Act. The "conservation" portion of the bill will be discussed at the meeting held on Thursday, April 26th, from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

Please join us there and let you voice be heard. Let the county know that you disagree with their current proposal and that you would like to see substantially more protection for your wild public lands in Washoe County!

Click here to RSVP for the public meeting on Facebook.

For more information about our Wilderness Study Areas under threat in Washoe County, click here.

 

Alternative Spring Break Scores with Barrick

For 22 students, Spring Break was a different type of wild experience they will never forget. Thanks to on-going grants from Barrick, Friends of Nevada Wilderness was able to host the students as part of our 8th annual Alternative Spring Break.

This year’s week-long event and projects took place in the Pahranagat and Desert National Wildlife Refuges. The refuges are special and at risk from the Air Force's proposal to grab more land and shut out public in the Desert Refuge along the Alamo Road (and the northern connection to the Pahranagat Refuge). Also at risk is the Desert Dry Lake and sand dunes where one of our student projects took place.

The group of Alternative Spring Breakers helped stop illegal vehicle incursions into Wilderness, pulled tree cages and learned about Wild Nevada over the course of the week. Awesome job, guys - we can't wait for Alternative Spring Break 2019!


For Full Article on Alternative Spring Break

Alternative Spring Break 2018 Photos

To learn more about how to Save the Desert Refuge, please click here.

Spotlight on Volunteers: April is Volunteer & Service Month

Spring has officially sprung throughout Nevada and what better way to start off the season than with a month dedicated to our amazing volunteers and the invaluable service they provide to America's public lands in Nevada. We at Friends of Nevada Wilderness couldn't be more grateful for the incredible 650+ volunteers we see each year who sacrifice their time to improve Nevada's wild lands. Together, we are helping make Mother Earth a better place.

In addition to April being the national month for Volunteers & Service, it is also the month that we get to celebrate our incredible home with Earth Day on April 22nd. In Northern Nevada, we were very busy reaching out to people new to Friends at Reno's annual Earth Day festival at Idlewild Park. (Insert some info here about the event.) In Southern Nevada, we'll be out at Zappos Earth Day.

Please check out all of our upcoming events in the section below! We hope that this year we are able to bring even more people into our Friends circle of volunteers and supporters and we look forward to another successful year of stewardship work!

Updates From the Field: Hear It From The Grapevine


Last month, Southern Nevada Stewardship kicked off a year-long set of restoration projects in Grapevine Canyon, located near Laughlin in the Bridge Canyon Wilderness area. This canyon is known for its beautiful views of Lake Mojave, naturally occurring grapevines and petroglyphs which adorn the boulders above the canyon's entrance.

We'll be working to restore the web of trails proliferating throughout Grapevine Canyon. These "social trails" are causing erosion and leading hikers along unsafe paths.  As the seasons change, we will return to Grapevine Canyon to collect native seeds, grow some of those seeds into plants at the Lake Mead nursery, and then make a final visit to plant those seedlings and scatter any extra seeds back into their native habitat.

All projects in Grapevine Canyon are made possible by a grant from the National Park Service. Our work is critical to protecting the area and maintaining access for visitors... all while helping preserve America's past! Keep an eye out for more projects in the gorgeous Grapevine Canyon: Click here to find out what we have going on!

Proposed Wind Project Near the South McCollough and Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Areas


The BLM is looking for your public comment regarding the proposed Crescent Peaks Wind Energy Project in Southern Nevada. Renewable energy is very important and every project should be thoroughly examined on how they impact our public lands. Frankly, we believe this is the wrong project in the wrong place.

The project is surrounded by the Wee Thump & South McCullough Wilderness areas, the Mojave National Preserve, Castle Mountain National Monument, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and would directly impact Lands with Wilderness Characteristics. This proposal illustrates a lack of planning for landscapes holistically.

For more information, or to leave a comment, go to https://on.doi.gov/2qIuUQW. The public comment period closes June 13th.

 

 


Save the Date: Wild Speaker Series


BRCA_1212_JWITT.JPGJoin Friends of Nevada Wilderness on Thursday, May 3, for the May installment of our Wild Speaker Series. Lawrence Walker and Fred Landau, authors of A Natural History of the Mojave Desert, will give a presentation on their research which led to the completion of their book. Come out and learn about the events that created the Mojave Desert landscape, how plants and animal have adapted and how humans have influenced their desert surroundings. 

Every first Thursday of the month, Friends of Nevada Wilderness hosts a local environmental expert at REI Boca Park in their Community Room. Doors open at 6:45 giving you enough time to socialize and grab a snack before the presentation begins at 7 pm.

Please RSVP here!

 

Upcoming Events


We hope to see you at one of our next events! You can find our full Calendar of Events here, and you can RSVP for individual events in the links found in the list below. If we don't have anything scheduled during your times of availability, respond to this e-mail or call our office in Northern Nevada at (775) 324-7667 or in Southern Nevada at  (702) 515-5417 to be placed on a shortlist for future volunteer opportunities. 

North

May 5: Great Community Cleanup 2018 - Join us as we partner with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful for the Annual Great Community Clean-Up! We will meet at the Hunter Creek trail and hike 1-3 miles into the Mt. Rose Wilderness and spend the morning removing invasive Musk Thistle Rosettes. As a thank you for all your hard work, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful will host an afternoon barbecue for all volunteer.

May 16: Mt. Rose Wilderness Weed Warrior #2 - With Spring underway, what better way to enjoy the warm weather than hiking? Join us as we work on removing invasive weeds from the Mt. Rose Wilderness. Using shovels, we can effectively reduce the population of Musk Thistle. The work is extremely rewarding and you get to experience some truly amazing country, all in our backyard Wilderness!

May 19: Mt. Rose Wilderness Weed Warrior #3 - Join us as we work on removing invasive weeds from the Mt. Rose Wilderness. We start each weed pull at Hunter Creek Trailhead with a 2-3 mile hike and spend the cool hours of the day digging up Musk Thistle Rosettes. If you haven't experienced Mt. Rose Wilderness, this is the perfect introduction!

South

April 28: Lovell Canyon Restoration Project - Join the Friends of Nevada Wilderness for a lovely restoration project in Lovell Canyon. Our project will be focused on the re-wilding of a decommissioned road located adjacent to Rainbow Mountain Wilderness. By vertical mulching and tilling the old route we will return a wild appearance to the area and allow for natural restoration. This project will help protect the pristine nature of our beloved Wildernesses next door.

April 28: Help Protect Little Red Rocks - Help Friends of Nevada Wilderness protect the Little Red Rocks area of La Madre Mountain Wilderness! Little Red Rocks is just what it sounds like - hills of the iconic limestone and red sandstone of Red Rock Canyon, on a smaller scale. We'll spend the day on the edge of Little Red Rocks, installing a barrier to visually define the Wilderness boundary and prevent motor vehicles from driving in. Spend the day helping protect this beautiful bit of wild Nevada!

May 5-6: Lovell Canyon Trail Sign Project - Spend the weekend on the Lovell Canyon trails with Friends of Nevada Wilderness! We'll be working to put up a La Madre Mountain Wilderness sign at the trailhead (similar to those you see at Trail Canyon and North Loop). We'll also be installing 4 directional trail signs about 2.5 miles up the trail where it crosses a large wash twice.  The 4 signs we install will help hikers find their way out of the wash. While we're there, we'll also maintain the trails for future visitors.

May 19: Griffith Wilderness Sign Installation & Trailwork Project - Join the Friends of Nevada Wilderness for a unique wilderness sign installation and trail work project at Griffith Peak Trailhead.  We will focus on installing a wooden wilderness sign and improving the currently closed trail. This trail work project will move us one step closer to reopening the area to the public; it's been closed since the Carpenter 1 fire in 2013. 

May 20: Paint Your Park: Desert National Wildlife Refuge - Come make art with artist Mary Felker and Friends of Nevada Wilderness. We will learn about the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and recreate the views, flora, and fauna of the refuge. You will get to create your own unique masterpiece under the direction of an artist and a Desert National Wildlife Refuge specialist!

 

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There's a lot going on in Wild Nevada and monthly e-newsletters aren't enough to keep up with it all. Head on over to our social media pages to get all the latest news, favorite photos from wild places, giveaways, and more.

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Thanks for reading,
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Friends of Nevada Wilderness · 1360 Greg St, Suite 111, Sparks, NV 89431, United States
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