Petroglyphs at Gold Butte have been damaged by bullet holes. Advocates are asking President Obama to create a new national monument. (Christian Gerlach/Sierra Club)
LAS VEGAS — All national parks and monuments are free to visit through August 28 in honor of the founding of the National Park Service 100 years ago. Conservation and political leaders, including Senator Harry Reid and Representative Dina Titus gathering at the Federal Building in Las Vegas to celebrate places such as Lake Mead, Great Basin and Tule Springs.
Mauricia Baca, executive director at the nonprofit Outside Las Vegas Foundation, said the state’s public lands are an integral part of the Nevadans’ quality of life.
“The national parks are among our greatest treasures,” Baca said. “And we need to really value them and care for them.”
But the state Legislature had different ideas about federal public lands. In May 2015, state lawmakers passed a joint resolution calling on Congress to transfer 7 million acres of federal land to the State of Nevada.
Conservation advocates such as Baca have renewed their call for President Obama to create a new national monument at Gold Butte.
“Currently, without that designation, elements such as the petroglyphs that exist in Gold Butte are really out there receiving no care and no special attention,” Baca said. “And they need that extra level of protection so that we have that legacy that can endure for generations.”
According to Baca, the outdoor economy generates almost $15 billion a year in Nevada.
Source: Public News Service. Republished with permission.
Author: Suzanne Potter, Public News Service – Nevada.
James Hendrickson is an internet entrepreneur, blogging junky, hunter and personal finance geek. When he’s not lurking in coffee shops in Portland, Oregon, you’ll find him in the Pacific Northwest’s great outdoors. James has a masters degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelors degree on Sociology from Earlham College. He loves individual stocks, bonds and precious metals.
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