Nevada Wilderness Project

Pumpkinman Triathalon!

Photo by Warren Shaul

It was quite an honor and a privilege to take part in NWP’s annual fund-raiser. I missed the boat last year having just moved to the area. So, I pledged to do my part this year, especially since I’ve explored some of Nevada’s unique landscapes. I never realized what an interesting and breath-taking place the desert can be; I still feel like I’m part of an old western with every visit. So, again, I felt compelled to make a contribution and felt that participating in the Pumpkinman Triathlon fund-raiser was a good start.

I can’t express how much fun the whole experience was. Before I began my fund-raising push, I made an effort to learn more about the organization itself, its history, its mission, and the areas that they’re working to protect on the next campaign. Even working right next to NWP and hanging out with Cameron over the last year and a half didn’t impart the knowledge that I gained from the last couple of months of study and fund-rais-ing. That research and knowledge made it much easier to talk to folks and paint them a picture of Nevada’s desert land-scapes and provide an idea of how their donation would help. Knowledge was more than half the battle because folks definitely asked a lot of questions, especially folks beyond the confines of the sagebrush. In the end, asking for support wasn’t as difficult as I once envisioned. A few emails followed by a few phone calls, maybe a prod here and there, and my fund-raising was up and going.

On the other side of things, I still had a race to prepare for. I may have solicited the fund-raising support, but I also had to live up to my end of the deal – I had to compete in a triathlon! I wasn’t too concerned about the run and figured I could handle the bike, but the swim did elicit some feelings of anxiety. A 750m (1/2 mile) swim is a long swim! Luck-ily, I had a partner in crime to offer motivation for regular

swim practice (or at least semi-regularly) – NWP’s very own Cameron Johnson. Overall, the training wasn’t all that bad. I think I actually reduced my carbon footprint over the training period because I rode my bike just about everywhere I went – work, errands, even the bars.

Less driving and more riding seemed to do the trick. Race day came before I knew it, and next thing I know, I’m standing in cold water up to my waist at 7 a.m., wearing spandex “tri” shorts that feel and look funny, thinking to myself, “Well, there’s no turning back. Would the race start already!?!?” Then the gun sounded! I was off, hoping to keep

up with Cameron in the swim be-cause I knew his stronger swim-ming might give him the upper hand. But I was soon engulfed by the sea of swimmers and had no way of tracking Cameron down. I was on my own and discovered that the countless laps at the Moana Pool didn’t really prepare me for the chaos of 200 people battling for position in Lake Mead’s open water. Where were the lanes!?

Nevertheless, the swim ended fairly quickly, and I proudly donned my Viva Las Wilderness jersey, taking off on my bike to chase Cameron down. I don’t know how much atten-

tion the jersey drew on the ride, but the announcer at the finish line noticed the red jerseys as we ran across and gave team Viva Las Wilderness some recognition for our efforts to protect the wild.

The finish line was the hub of activity and team spirit, notably Team Viva Las Wilderness; all teammates gathered at the finish/transition area and rallied big cheers, high five trains, and took lots of pictures. Participating in such a large event, the support of twenty wilderness-protecting, fun-loving teammates definitely instilled a sense of pride and camara-derie I haven’t felt since competing in high school sports, an especially rewarding feeling knowing that all participants joined together in an effort to keep Nevada wild! What a way to spend the weekend. I look forward to more of those!

by Rush Clark

Robb Wolf bikes by the shores of Lake Mead.

www.wildnevada.org

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Northern Office8550 White Fir Street

Reno, NV 89523775.746.7850

Southern Office4220 S. Maryland Pkwy

Suite 402DLas Vegas, NV 89119

702.369.1871

A 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation

NWP Board of DirectorsBret Birdsong, President

Brian O’Donnell, Vice PresidentLynn Schiek, Treasurer

Chris ToddTori King, Secretary

Rene Valladares

NWP StaffJohn Wallin

Director

Kristie Connolly

Associate Director

John Tull

Conservation Director

Mackenzie Banta

Development Director

Cameron Johnson

N. Nevada Outreach Director

Nick Dobric

S. Nevada Outreach Director

Cynthia Scholl

Membership Coordinator

Nancy Hall

Gold Butte Organizer

Nevada Wilderness Project

The Nevada Wilderness Project is committed to saving the spectac-ular, rugged-and imperiled-public lands in Nevada as Wilderness, the

strongest protection possible

Coalition PartnersCampaign for America’s Wilderness

Friends of Nevada WildernessRed Rock Audubon Society

The Wilderness Society

I’m not being merely literal here, I’m speaking metaphorically. When I bleed, say from my nose or a paper cut, I bleed Red Sox red. Oh, sure, to the casual observer (you; a doctor; any sane person) it’s the same, but to the true fan, it’s a color steeped in 86 years of tradition, heartbreak and curse, ready to rupture at any moment like a Taran-tino film.

So what would it take for a native member of Red Sox nation to miss the opening round of the baseball playoffs and not complain? With Boston winning and the Yankees losing!? Something pretty spectacular, I can assure you. Fortunately, the wild areas of Esmeralda County qualify.

I had arrived Friday night well after sunset, so I woke Satur-day morning to the stunning and surprising vista of the desert below the remote high-point of Nevada, Boundary Peak. It is in a vast sweep of land just north and east of Dyer, known as Fish Lake Valley, complete with the natural hot springs of The Crossing and below the dramatic ridge of the White Mountains, then set with their first fall of snow.

The opening day involved hiking Icehouse Canyon in the Silver Peak WSA. Here was rock of a different color, so to speak. The oxidation of mineralized rock leads to an array of scenic tints and hues. The reds, pinks and yellows come from iron salts, the greens from the decomposition of mica, the purples a result of manganese. And as picturesque as these striations are, they were surpassed the very next day on our hike through the roadless backcountry of the Boundary Peak Wilderness. Down the entire canyon were the willows and alder, the cottonwoods and aspen, already gone deep red, bright yellow and flaming gold in their autumn turn.

Go nature. Nice play. There was only one October; go out and enjoy it.

The colors of fall, et al. by Ross Cooper

We ran, we swam and we biked and along the way we helped NWP protect wild land in Nevada. On October 14th, 16 Wild Athletes converged on Boulder City, Nevada to run the Pumpkinman Triathlon for NWP. Their efforts raised over $13,000!

Many thanks go out to: Katy Chandler-Isacksen, Rush Clark, Kristie Connolly, Nick Dobric, Ramsey Hong, Cameron “Mr. Febuary” Johnson, JD Kreimer, Josephine Old, Pauline Orendain, Carrie Sandstedt, Jen Schmidt, Cynthia Scholl, Chris Todd, and Robb Wolf.

Read other accounts of the race and see photos @

www.weethump.com.

More from Pumpkinman! by Rush Clark

Skip @ Silver Peak

www.weethump.com

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Nevada Wilderness Project typically does not ask its members to engage in the many transportation plans being implemented throughout our public lands but Gold Butte is special. Once again, NWP members came out in force with comments to the Bureau of Land Management concerning the Interim Transportation Plan for Gold Butte in Southern Nevada. Thank you to all members who sup-ported the pro-tection of citizen-proposed wilder-ness areas and endan-gered cultural resourc-es.

As we pre-pare to celebrate the 5th anniver-sary of the Clark County Public Lands Bill we reflect on the many victories of this Act. Con-sider Wee Thump, the first designated citizens’ proposed wilderness and Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area (NCA) and the North McCullough Wilderness area desig-nated within. These legislative victories are milestones that will set precedents for future wilderness legislation.

Meanwhile, Gold Butte became highly contentious with some local rural residents and did not receive the wilderness designations it greatly deserved in the 2002 bill. Lime Canyon and Jumbo Springs were both designated as wilderness and Garrett Buttes was released from Wil-derness Study Area (WSA) status. In all, an almost equal amount of acres were designated as released from WSA.

This left 316,000 acres of potential wilderness unprotected!

The future is not so gloomy for Gold Butte! We are working closely with the BLM to monitor the area as stewards, implement protective measures for sensitive re-sources, and address the heavy visitation that is impacting the land. Locally, the Friends of Gold Butte meet monthly with the Moapa Band of Paiutes for presentations, service

trips and fun. The next step for Gold Butte is the designa-tion of National Conser-vation Area with wilder-ness in spectacu-lar areas such as Garrett Buttes, the Virgin Moun-

tains and Billy Goat Peak.

What next? Write to Congressman Porter, Senators Reid and Ensign and express the need for wilderness in Gold Butte!

Congressman Porter – 218 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515

Senator Reid – 528 Hart SOB Washington, DC 20510

Senator Ensign – 364 Russell SOB, Washington, DC 20510

Gold Butte Update

by Rush Clark

by Nancy Hall

Weethump.com is a blog chronicling our adventures in wild places and NWP’s efforts to protect them. We invite you to be a part of it by posting comments on the blog, adding your photos and sending us your stories from Nevada’s Wil-derness, You can also find articles from the newsletter on the blog as well as extended content including interviews with prominent people in the community, photography, and additional informative articles on the web.

Wee want your stories and photos

www.wildnevada.org

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www.weethump.com

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www.wildnevada.org

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Wovoka Happenings

On September 8 twenty-one people from the Yerington area visited Bald Mountain. For many this was their first view of the proposed Wovoka Wilderness. The caravan left Yering-ton at 8:00 AM and arrived at Bald Mountain shortly before noon. After lunch everyone hiked to a point east of the first caldera where there is a good view of the east slope of the Pine Grove Range and of the East Walker Valley.

Roger Scholl spoke briefly to the group about wilderness, particularly about what wilderness would mean to Lyon County. Most attendees

chose to hike southward to enjoy a better view of Bald Mountain and the canyons on its east slope. At days end we lingered, hat-ing to see the trip end. At last it was decided we wanted to keep our momentum go-ing so plans were made for a pot luck at Debbie and Steve Pellegrini’s house.

The potluck was held on the evening of September 29th with 30 people attend-

ing. Great food, wine and good conversation made for a most enjoyable evening. Roger Scholl and Cameron Johnson gave a brief talk about wilderness and answered many questions. Short-ly before midnight friends parted and our grow-ing coterie of supporters of wilderness in Lyon County left with new resolve to see this dream come to fruition.

As they discussed at the pot luck, there is little new news from Lyon County at this time. The leadership in the county is still in a stale-mate with our Congressional Delegation over several aspects of a combined lands bill for Lyon and Mineral Counties. The best thing that we as supporters of wilderness in both counties can do is to focus on becoming familiar with the idea of

wilderness and the proposal areas themselves. Please continue to check our events calendar for the next values trips to one of these spectac-ular areas!

Photos by Kurt Kuznicki

by Steve Pelligrini

Icehouse Canyon is in the Silver Peak Range Wilderness Study Area that Ross mentions in his recount of the Wilderness Rendezvous. It is a gorgeous winding canyon full of amazing mineralized colors and rock formations.

Access to the canyon is all on good dirt roads, allowing vehicles with 2WD and clearance to access this unique area. The Silver Peak Range is the eastern border of Fish Lake Valley. When traveling to Icehouse Canyon, the most notable landmark is the Dyer Ranch, which is private property, but the turn is at the northern end of the ranch. If you go please send us pictures and stories of your adventures!

In the Benchmark Atlas (Black) – pg. 70, B5 In the DeLorme Gazetteer (Red) – pg. 58, D4

Ice House Canyon Map:

www.weethump.com

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The 2008 Wild Men of Wild Nevada calendars are BACK! This year twelve full color photos and twelve spanking dandies grace your wall showing spectacular Nevada land (and man) scapes.

Each calendar is $20 and goes toward the Project’s work to keep Nevada wild. You can order yours today at www.wildnevada.org.

Keep posted to www.weet-hump.com to vote for your favorite wild man!

The Nevada Wilderness Project launched our 2008 Wild Men of Wild Nevada calendars in Las Vegas on October 12th at the Palms Casino and Resort. Thanks to the sup-port of the N9ne Group, Fiji Water, Southern Wine and Spirits and the Art of Music, the calendars (and many of the models) were the hit of the party! This fundraising event located in the Rain nightclub provided the dancing crowd the opportu-nity to learn more about our spectacular wild lands around

Nevada. Thank you to all those people and businesses that helped to make our wild night possible.

Please help us support Senator Harry Reid’s opposition to the coal-fired power plants proposed for Ely. This is an important issue to wilderness in Nevada. We have collected info on coal power on our blog @ weethump.com. Post your comments and thoughts, and tell your

friends how Harry Reid’s energy and environmental policies are good for wilderness and Nevada.

Exposure by MacKenzie Banta

This is what’s at stake: Near proposed coal power plants.

Protect your Wild Lands

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Reno, Nevada 89523Non-Profit Org.

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PAIDReno, NV

Permit #200

It’s really easy to help the Nevada Wilderness Project preserve your land... Just cut this form off, write a check, cram it in an envelope and mail it to us @ NV Wilderness Project, 8550 White Fir Street; Reno, NV 89523

Enclosed is my donation of:

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comments:

Happy Hours @ Great Basin Brewery:Nov �0th �-8pmDec 11th �-8pmJan 1�th �-8pm

NWP Events!Hikes/Events:Nov ��th – Wovoka Proposed Wilderness, Lyon CoDec 1st – Wovoka Proposed Wilderness, Lyon Co

Events:November 6th (Tuesday) we will have an event to celebrate the 5th

Anniversary of the 2002 Wilderness protections in Clark County. At

6:30-8:30pm at the Clark County Public Library, Conference Room at 1401

E. Flamingo (at Maryland). We will have keynote speaker David Bert, host

of KNPR’s Along the Way, free raffle, food, and fun.

November 18th Wilderness values trip Gold Butte with an Archaeologist

sharing knowledge about this spectacular area.

December 8-9 Wilderness values trip to Gold Butte with optional camp out.

Please contact the illustrious Nick Dobric for details on these events @

nick.dobric@wildnevada.org (702) 369-1871

Northern Nevada:

Southern Nevada:

Happy Hours:November 28th Happy Hour 6-8pm Steiner’s Nevada Style Pub, 1750 N Buffalo

December 19th Happy Hour 6-8pm Freakin Frog, 4700 S Maryland Pkwy

Cameron Johnson is there for all your NorNev Wilderness info needs @ cameron.johnson@wildnevada.org