May 10, 2012
Buy shoes — save wilderness!

Patagonia, that great conservation-and-environment-oriented
retailer, once again has selected Friends of Nevada Wilderness as beneficiary of their
Patagonia Footwear Advocate Weeks event. Between May 3 and May 16, 2012, for every pair
of Patagonia shoes purchased on
Zappos.com,
Patagonia will donate $10 to Friends of Nevada Wilderness.
As of this posting, quite a few Patagonia shoes are on sale
at Zappos.com — so you can get a great deal AND help Nevada's wild places. All
the money received by Friends will go directly into wilderness programs to make Nevada
an even better place for us all.
Just think — by buying Patagonia shoes at
Zappos.com by May 16,
you will help assure there will still be a great outdoors to wear them in!
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South McCullough Rubbish Rodeo
 People power. Volunteers taking a stand for the South McCullough Wilderness. (c) Kurt Kuznicki
For far too long, the old corral near McClanahan Spring in the
South McCullough Wilderness has been mired in shooting trash, beer cans, broken glass,
old TVs and other garbage. Last Saturday, a group of Southern Nevadans decided it was
time for a change.
These hard-working volunteers picked up more than 85 cubic
yards of trash, not to mention 20 old tires that someone dumped in the desert.
 Super-volunteer Crystal cleaning up other peoples trash. (c) Kurt Kuznicki
Longtime Friends of Nevada Wilderness supporter, Crystal Dipietro,
said she wanted to make a difference on her day off and, clean up the big mess left by
folks who obviously don't care.
Wilderness provides the opportunity for me to get away from
a busy modern world and return to a simpler time, Crystal added, one without trash."
Not only did these volunteers clear up a popular wilderness portal,
this was also the first volunteer project with the Bureau of Land Management in southern
Nevada in many years (and we plan many more soon). Perhaps most important, we served notice
to those who do not care about wild places: We have returned to the South McCulloughs, and
we are here to put the "wild" back into wilderness.
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Water for horses and wildlife
Horses need to drink 8 to 10 gallons of water each day. If a
stream or spring has enough water, the horses will come, drink their fill, then leave
an activity that does little damage to the area.
But if the spring doesnt have enough water, horses will stay
in the area, drinking what they can, then digging at the mud and destroying the fragile
soils and plants in the area trying to get more. If this continues, springs and streams
can quickly be damaged.
 Its amazing what a small group of people can accomplish when they work together. (c) Brian Beffort
A dedicated team of volunteers teamed up with the BLM in the East
Fork High Rock Wilderness on Saturday to repair a small, earthen catchment at Mustang
Springs. The goal is to catch enough water to provide for horses, bighorn, pronghorn
and other wildlife, while allowing the soils and plants around the spring to recover.
 A family united for wildlife: Rita and son Levi working together to improve water for horses and wildlife. (c) Brian Beffort
Rita Smyth brought her kids, Levi and Alyson, to help with the
project. It think caring for the Earth is something thats really important, but they
dont learn it in school, she said. My daughter is in Earth Sciences class at school,
and most of the kids have no clue about the Earth, and thats what sustains us. Camping
and volunteering in the wilderness is good for our hearts and minds. Were happier when
were out here.
This was a great project for horses and for wildlife, said Sandi
Gracia, the BLMs project coordinator. We never would have been able to do this work
without volunteers. Thank you.
Do you care about Nevadas wild places? Want to help?
If so please visit
www.nevadawilderness.org
for information on how you can get involved.
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Want a job? (On the Sheldon)
Friends of Nevada Wilderness is still looking for someone whos
fit, enjoys working outdoors, and wants to be part of history, as we remove
the last of the barbed-wire fence from inside the wildly beautiful Sheldon National
Wildlife Refuge. Were seeking someone to round out our full-time, seasonal
crew removing fence and performing other restoration projects. This is a seasonal job.
If youre interested, please
email Pat Bruce or
call him at (775) 815-5598.
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