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Contents Welcome the 2012 SCA Wilderness Stewardship Interns! Allison Jacobson, SCA crew member Daniel Shosky, SCA crew member Daren Threatt, SCA crew member Jesy Simons, SCA crew member (second tour) Upcoming volunteer projects and events Your online donation is secure and helps protect wild lands all across Nevada. |
February 23, 2012 Thoughts from the Mojave... The beginning of 2012 finds the Friends of Nevada Wilderness program growing and taking the responsibility of wilderness stewardship, advocacy and outreach to new levels. Our partnership with the four federal land-management agencies is stronger than ever, and we will be working together to make a lasting difference for the wildlands of southern Nevada in 2012. If you are like me, you want clean air and clean water for your children and grandkids. You support protection for the remarkable cultural resources of the past. Preservation of the wild places is more than a good idea; it's a way of life for you. Please join us this year, and I promise you will make a significant difference for wilderness. Our wilderness in southern Nevada needs your help this field season, and Jose Witt, our Wilderness Stewardship Coordinator, wants to help you get involved as an individual/family or as your business. Projects that benefit wilderness are a great way for team building and for your co-workers to make a difference. We are also looking for volunteers to train specially for our Wilderness Rangers Program in the Spring Mountains this summer. In 2012, our goal is to get children to experience the joys of the wild and the fun of primitive recreation. Katie La Croix, our wilderness educator, will be taking volunteers into the classroom and outside with youth clubs and organizations. Let Katie know if you want to help or have ideas of youth groups that would like to be involved.
As the Southern Nevada Director, I will be reaching out to you, the wild folk, to ask for your advice and for your support to keep southern Nevada Wilderness Wild. I've spent many an inspiring day working, hiking and sharing a few laughs with many of you, and I am looking forward to getting together with you sometime this year. I am excited to tell you that we currently putting together a business outreach program to find a way to help businesses help wilderness and at the same time find a way to celebrate their contributions. Businesses in our community have supported Friends for years so now we would like to recognize that support by giving them some well-deserved recognition. The view from the Mojave looks exciting and inspiring, and the best part of it all is the opportunity to work with you to keep Nevada wild! Cheers!
We are very excited to welcome the 2012 SCA Wilderness Stewardship Interns!
We have a great crew they're all amped up to make a difference in the wild places of southern Nevada. Stewardship Coordinator, Jose Witt, and the Student Conservation Association (SCA) Wilderness Stewardship Interns have already completed their first project of 2012! The crew kicked off the field season with a trip out to Desert National Wildlife Refuge on Valentines Day. They dug post holes in very rocky soil and constructed a post-and-cable fence to curb "campsite creep." The crew set 14 posts and strung 102 feet of cable. Stay tuned to hear all about our great projects and our blossoming wilderness education programs! Katie La Croix
Allison Jacobson, SCA crew member
Allison has a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since graduation, she has worked for the environment and has spent "a majority of my nights sleeping in a tent." Prior to joining the SCA, she recorded backcountry campsites in wilderness areas of Oregon and Washington. While in the Pacific Northwest, she also studied human impacts in National Parks including Lava Beds National Monument, Crater Lake National Park, and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Allison has previous experience in the Mojave - having worked eight months on a desert restoration-and-monitoring crew in southern California. She has discovered a passion for wilderness and for the desert. So far, her favorite desert plants are the Ocotillo and Joshua tree. As she says, "I am excited to have the opportunity to spend time in the Mojave once again and to help wilderness." While the Opal Creek Wilderness in Oregon is her favorite wild place so far, Allison also notes that, "I hope I will find my new favorite wilderness area in the state of Nevada!" Well, Allison, you certainly have a lot of great Nevada wilderness options to choose from.
Daniel Shosky, SCA crew member
Danny was 14 when he first heard about Student Conservation Association (SCA) and decided it was something to pursue. Since 2007, the SCA has been an important part of Danny's life. He has served on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and did back country trail work in very remote parts of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The latter was such a great experience that Frank Church River of No Return is his all-time favorite wilderness. After high school, Danny studied environmental education and anthropology at Green Mountain College in Vermont. But books couldn't stand up to the lure of working outdoors. Last May found him doing SCA trail work in the George Washington an Jefferson National Forests. He recently moved to Las Vegas to escape the snow, and, in his own words, "the more I am here the more I love it." Daren Threatt, SCA crew member
While growing up, Daren gained an appreciation of natural places while enjoying his family's beach property in the Nisqually Reach of Puget Sound. He learned to respect Nature and the natural ordering of life. He often says "salt water pulses through my veins," but his friends think his veins pump 50% caffeine due to the amount of coffee he consumes. An avid runner, Daren remembers wearing a bright neon shirt while running through his "dark and dreary" hometown as members of his generation stood on a corner drinking Starbucks. Daren may have grown up in a dreary gray place, but he is making up for lost "sun time." As a member of the SCA crew he will have the full southern Nevada sunshine experience before the season is over. When asked about his favorite wild area, Daren thought it might be the Olympic National Park because it epitomizes the Washington rain forest, has the Olympic Mountains and all that coastal salt water.
Jesy Simons, SCA crew member (second tour)
It is in the Mojave Desert that her passion for hiking and outdoor exploration took root. A consistent interest in biology (reptiles in particular) guides how she spends her time. She also enjoys exploring flavor combinations as a self-proclaimed "closet cook." This is Jesys second tour as a Wilderness Stewardship Intern in southern Nevada. Her favorite outdoor activities are hiking and observing wildlife in the natural environment. Jesy claims her "perfect outdoor excursion would be a day exploring Ash Spring, right next to the South Pahroc Wilderness."
You are invited to participate in these wilderness volunteer projects Upcoming volunteer projects and events Friends of Nevada Wilderness offers up lots of fun opportunities to help your Nevada wildlands heal and prosper.
Tuesday, February 28 — Friday, March 2 Enclosure Ridge fence-removal project (north of Las Vegas)
Stewardship — Help the Fish and Wildlife Service remove parts of a fence formerly used in a study of bighorn sheep in the wild. Contact Jose at (702) 203-1720 or send Jose an email for all the details.
Saturday, March 10 Native planting to protect wildlife habitat (north of Las Vegas)
Stewardship — Help the Fish and Wildlife Service plant willows to improve the wildlife habitat at Corn Creek in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. First-time wilderness volunteers are welcome. Contact Jose at (702) 203-1720 or send Jose an email for details.
Friday, March 30 — Sunday, April 1 NCA spring kickoff project in Soldier Meadows (Black Rock NCA - north of Reno)
Stewardship — Details of this trip have yet to be finalized. Call Pat Bruce (775) 815-5598 or email Pat for more information closer to the project date.
Saturday, March 31 From road to wild: Lovell Canyon road restoration project #1 (west of Las Vegas)
Stewardship — For the Forest Service in the Mt Charleston Wilderness, we will restore a decommissioned road so it blends into the natural environment. Beginners are welcome. Call (702) 839-5569 for the details.
Thursday, April 5 From road to wild: Lovell Canyon road restoration project #2 (west of Las Vegas)
Stewardship — For the Forest Service in the Mt Charleston Wilderness, we will restore a decommissioned road so it blends into the natural environment. Beginners are welcome. Call (702) 839-5569 for the details.
Friday, April 13 — Sunday, April 15 Native plant cutting to aid damaged land #1 (north of Winnemucca)
Stewardship — Help restore fire-damaged areas that are crucial for mule deer and sage grouse. Your work will help revive this land and help assure that it will thrive for future generations. Friends will provide a light breakfast and dinner for all volunteers. Contact Brenna Archibald (775) 623-5656 or email Brenna; or contact Wes Hoskins (775) 762-6730 or email Wes for more info.
Saturday, April 21 — Sunday, April 22 Celebrate Earth Day in the Wild (west of Las Vegas)
Stewardship — For the Forest Service in the Mt Charleston Wilderness, we will do a variety of tasks to naturalize a decommissioned road. Beginners are welcome. We will have a BBQ Saturday and will camp in the area. Call (702) 839-5569 for details.
Friday, April 27 — Sunday, April 29 Native plant cutting to aid damaged land #2 (north of Winnemucca)
Stewardship — Help restore fire-damaged areas that are crucial for mule deer and sage grouse. Your work will help revive this land and help assure that it will thrive for future generations. Friends will provide a light breakfast and dinner for all volunteers. Contact Brenna Archibald (775) 623-5656 or email Brenna; or contact Wes Hoskins (775) 762-6730 or email Wes for more info.
Contact Friends at (775) 324-7667 or by email for more information or to RSVP for a project. More projects will be announced as they are scheduled. See later emails and the stewardship events page. | |
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We will be working harder than ever to support wilderness designation
efforts for a Gold Butte National Conservation Area with wilderness. Keep those
letters of support going to the Nevada Congressional delegation. [Photo
(c) Kurt Kuznicki]
Allison Jacobson, originally from the Chicago area, loves the outdoors.
Her hobbies include backpacking, hiking, and horseback riding.
Daniel
Shosky, as a Denver, Colorado native, was exposed to outdoor recreation at an early age. He started
hiking when just three years old, and had his first wilderness experience at age six. Progressing
rapidly, Danny was only eight when he started hiking mountains above 14,000 ft and since then has
hiked 17 more peaks above that elevation. 
Daren Threatt hails from Olympia WA. He went to the University of
New Hampshire (Durham) and studied environmental science with a focus on ecosystems. He
also completed extensive course work in sociology.
Jesy Simons, originally from northern California, now calls Las Vegas home. Jesy has
a B.S. in Psychology from Southern Oregon University.