By Nancy Jennis Olds

This spring has planted more than just hopes as our Southern Nevada Group (SNG) has emerged from virtual Zoom meetings to work with our conservation-minded partners in preserving and protecting our fragile desert ecosystems, whether it be federal public lands, monuments, or state and local parks and preserves.

We should feel honored that the Sierra Club, founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American naturalist John Muir, often called the “Father of National Parks,” John Muir cared deeply that everyone should have access to our national parks and to our remote and forested places. “Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish.”

As this spring continued with the pandemic mainly behind us, many of our SNG members and participants volunteered their time and energy to assist with cleanups in our desert regions. It is difficult to drive to an unimaginably rugged and beautiful landscape just to discover that our many visitors and residents, intending to enjoy the breathtaking scenery, carelessly leave their smashed bottles, targets, gun casings, and other discarded trash laying in the rocky sand and in the dry shrubs.

Our SNG members and our partners, BLM (Bureau of Land Management), U.S. Forest Service, Get Out Nevada, Go Mt. Charleston, Nevada Plants, the Southern Nevada Conservancy, Clark County Wetlands Park, Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, Red Rock Audubon Society, just to name a few, have made remarkable strides in improving our public places.

People never felt more isolated than during the COVID 19 pandemic years beginning in 2020 until a few months ago. Many of them sought solace from their stress and grief by visiting our public lands. However, some of these visitors did not respect our wild and lovely places. There is so much work to be done to protect these lands littered with our trash. These desert and mountain places offer us plenty more than they take away from us.

Left: A photo was taken by Marcel ( participant) at the White Loop Trail at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Center.
Right: This photo was taken at Bryce Canyon by Outings Leader Jason Hashimoto.

Our SNG Interim Outings Chair, Janet Carter, began recruiting our members for training as Outings Leaders in February on Zoom followed by CPR training at the West Charleston Library in Las Vegas. Several of our Outings Leaders, Jason Hashimoto, Diana Baker, and I have already hit the ground hiking in several locations including the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (Nancy), Fletcher Canyon in Mt. Charleston (Diana), the White Rock Mountain Loop Trail in Red Rock Canyon (Jason), and including a car camping trip to Mt. Zion and Bryce Canyon (Jason).

Left: Snow-covered mountain views in June!  (Photo by Nancy J. Olds)
Center: SNG Volunteer Coordinator Teresa Bell (left) and Outings Leader Diana Baker on the Fletcher Canyon Trail. (Photo by Nancy J. Olds)
Right: Stunning mountain scenery on the Fletcher Canyon Trail!  (Photo by Nancy J. Olds)

Outings Leaders do more than just lead hikes on our public lands. Lisa Ortega, our arborist who is the founder and executive director of Nevada Plants, a tree planting, advocacy, and education nonprofit, was in possession of several indigenous coyote melon (curcubita palmita) plants left in storage for about two years. Coyote melons are a member of the squash family. Native Americans used the seeds, they made rattles out of the dried melons or gourds, and mixed the melon’s oils to make pigments for painting. Tubers were made into soap for bathing and laundry. The plant itself is too bitter and foul smelling for humans to eat, but the wildlife, including the coyotes, will eat this plant. Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve was delighted to have this windfall of coyote melons for their habitat.

Later in May, SNG Volunteer Coordinator Teresa Bell, Lisa Ortega with Nevada Plants, and myself as the Outings Leader worked in coordination to invite our members into the Henderson Bird Viewing Park and arrange the melon plantings at several locations. We had plenty of shovels, work gloves, and lots of portable water (thank you Teresa Bell!) to complete this mission.

Left: SNG Members planting coyote melons. (Photo by Nancy J. Olds)
Center: Catch of the day!  A black-crowned night heron caught a bullfrog while we were taking a brief hike there! (Photo by Nancy J. Olds)
Right: SNG members group photo. (Photo by Red Rock Audubon Society biologist Alex Harper)

The SNG members are returning back to their roots, supporting their environmentally active partners and engaging in hiking adventures throughout Nevada and beyond.