January 3, 2024 – Friends experienced a number of “firsts” in 2023 of which we’re pretty proud, and we look forward to experiencing more firsts in the coming year as we celebrate our 40th anniversary in Nevada and the 60th anniversary of the federal Wilderness Act.
Last year, for the first time, we led volunteers high up into the NW Nevada Wilderness to help save a threatened species of tree. Crews protected, then later gathered seeds from Whitebark pine to help BLM study its resiliency. Our trail crew came in from the remote Wilderness to the nearby Mt. Rose Wilderness to work for the first time on the popular White’s Creek trail, making it easier and safer for the thousands of users who flock there every year.
We led a group of local Latino families on the first of what we hope are many more outings in celebration of Latino Conservation Week. Our online store now offers a wider variety of merchandise via Zazzle, a more fun way to shop for others, and for you!
And, we were pleased to sponsor the very first Nevada specialty license plate to celebrate our unique Starry Skies – we hope it’s available early this spring! Finally, we must mention all of our donors for another banner year of giving, allowing us to do all of this important work.
There’s more we could talk about, but we’re turning our attention now to 2024 and all it holds in store.
We anxiously await the introduction of two landmark public lands bills in Congress; the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act and the similar public lands bill for Nye County. We are so grateful to our Congressional delegation for getting these packages to the point of introduction.
And of course, we will continue to break ground, so to speak, in our stewardship program, finding even more innovative and useful ways we can give back to the public lands we value so deeply.
We invite you to celebrate with us this year as we observe 40 years of stewardship and advocacy in Nevada and 60 years of Wilderness protections across the country. Here’s to a great 2023 and an even better 2024!
The 2023 Trail Crew improving White's Creek Trail
