Grace and the Springs Team (Tara, and Tali and myself) joined forces last week for a combined Wilderness Monitoring/spring surveying trip in the Wee Thump, South McCullough, and New York Mountains areas. These areas are surrounded by Lands with Wilderness Characteristics that we hope will one day receive Wilderness protection, so it’s important to keep track of their condition.

The Spring Stewardship Team kicked off their volunteer spring monitoring program on January 6th with a virtual volunteer training. We had an overwhelming response and turnout! More than 100 people tuned in, including 50 new volunteers to Friends of Nevada Wilderness! It was amazing to see such a strong show of support for the new program. We covered background about springs, how to collect and submit data, staying safe in the field, and the next steps for volunteers.

We were very impressed with how much the attendees participated and asked great questions! Volunteers who attended the training will be able to independently collect valuable springs data on Clark County public lands whenever they want with this safe, contact-free opportunity.

With the number of people choosing to opt outside skyrocketing, it is no surprise that our public lands are suffering. The pandemic and shutdown have many people heading to nature for healing and solace while, for much of the year, organizations like Friends have been unable to lead volunteer projects leaving public lands suffering as a result. Lucky for us, there are several individuals who go above and beyond for public lands. These anonymous stewards have been filling in gaps and you should join them.

We've got some exciting news! After halting our volunteer projects, we are announcing our first volunteer event since early Spring. In-person volunteering is back just in time for National Public Lands Day 2020 (September 26)! 

This summer, our staff, Americorps, and trail crew have been hard at work Keeping Nevada Wild. We have limited our contact with the public, including volunteers, to ensure that we keep our programs safe and servicing Nevada's public lands.