The Las Vegas Band of Paiutes Snow Mountain Powwow is back for their 30th annual celebration. And we will be there. And we would like you to help us talk to folks about the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Please also come out to support the Las Vegas Band of Paiutes and learn about the culture and history of indigenous peoples in general. If you join us to table there will be no entry fee, but if you would like to just go to the powwow and not table, you can either buy a day pass for $5 or buy a weekend pass for $7. Apart from our tabling at this event it is a great event to come and enjoy, and we encourage you all to come out.
Please RVSP to table with us here, or by contacting Organizer Christian Gerlach at Christian.Gerlach@sierraclub.org or 702-271-6485
In the last month we had some great events connecting with the community, educating and connecting folks with the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. The Nevada Our Wild America/Lands Water Wildlife Campaign got to partner and participate in an Earth Day Panel with Arcadia Earth and other local nonprofit organizations like Nevada Plants, Three Square Food Bank, One Drop, and UNLV’s Department of Sustainability.
Arcadia Earth
Arcadia Earth is an interactive art experience, designed by Valentino Vettori Experiential artist, to inform, inspire and activate our community to positively impact our planet. The immersive art experience is designed for interactive retail experiences and innovative spatial relationships between consumers and brand environments. Driven by a growing awareness of the ecological challenges we face and a more profound desire to inspire emotional experiences, the vision for Arcadia Earth was born in 2017 out of a promise Vettori made to Paul Hawken that he would channel his craft to inspire positive environmental changes. If you find yourself on the Las Vegas Strip please check out this family friendly experience.
Arcadia Earth afforded us and other local organizations a platform to connect with community members and ask them to call on President Biden to protect the Joshua Tree Forest of Southern Nevada as the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. As part of our partnership with Arcadia Earth, the Arcadia Earth immersive art experience will feature our Avi Kwa Ame National Monument petition into May.
Earth Day Bio Blitz and Gilded Flicker
Our effort also helped us engage with folks showing up and participating in our Earth Day Bio Blitz in the Joshua Tree Forest surrounding Walking Box Ranch. We partnered with the Friends of Walking Box Ranch, Basin and Range Watch and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to help the state agency verify and document over 20 different species of birds and reptiles all while inspiring folks through the natural artistic beauty of Joshua Tree Forests of Southern Nevada around Walking Box Ranch. We were looking for various woodpecker species but especially the Gilded Flicker.
The Gilded Flicker is a species common in the Sonoran desert, where it nests in holes in giant saguaro cactus. It is also found in groves of cottonwoods and other trees along rivers and streams at low elevations. While the species is not threatened or endangered, it is vulnerable to loss of habitat. There is a population that has adapted to live in the Joshua Tree Forests of Southern Nevada, the furthest northern extent of its range. While Nevada does not have Saguaros like the Sonoran Desert, there are some of the world's largest Joshua Trees in the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Part of the focus of the event was to help the Nevada Department of Wildlife to document the Gilded Flicker’s migration northward in response to climate change along with other species of birds. We got to see a few Gilded Flickers, along with 20 species of other birds and reptiles.
Even with this momentum, Avi Kwa Ame needs more help, so please consider writing a letter to the editor, signing our petition to protect Avi Kwa Ame, or joining us to table at the Las Vegas Band of Paiute 30th annual Snow Mountain Pow Wow Memorial day weekend.