Federal protection is needed for Gold Butte

By Mauricia Baca and Linda Balfour

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The Nevada Governor’s Global Tourism Summit was convened in Las Vegas last month with a primary goal of preparing local businesses for the “wave of international visitors that Nevada will welcome as its travel appeal expands into new markets.”

Most often we associate international travel to Nevada with the Las Vegas Strip. The summit highlighted an even wilder draw to the Silver State: a journey through the great outdoors of the American West. Southern Nevada is the heart of world-renowned outdoor playgrounds such as Red Rock National Conservation Area and the new Basin and Range National Monument, and is within a day’s trip of regional destinations such as Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks in Utah. It’s time to add Gold Butte to this list, for Nevadans and tourists alike.

Located between the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Gold Butte is Nevada’s piece of the Grand Canyon. It is a treasure trove of cultural, historic and natural wonders including thousands of petroglyphs, historic mining and pioneer-era artifacts, dramatic geologic features such as sculpted red sandstone and rock spires, and fossil track sites dating back 170 million to 180 million years. If all of that wasn’t enough, Gold Butte is an amazing place to recreate — offering the opportunity to experience this magical place through hiking, hunting, birding, camping, OHV riding on designated trails and more.

Support for Gold Butte’s permanent protection spans nationwide. The locally based Outside Las Vegas Foundation (OLVF) has supported permanent protection for Gold Butte for years. Most recently, the group released an economic study showing that protection of Gold Butte is good for Nevada’s economy. Footwear company Keen launched a nationwide campaign to create lasting change and permanently protect more than 3 million acres of places where we all play in five areas around the United States — Gold Butte being one. Keen has provided financial support and technical resources to Friends of Nevada Wilderness in the effort to protect Gold Butte.

According to OLVF’s study, conducted by Applied Analysis, protecting public lands unquestionably results in economic benefits for surrounding communities. It concludes that Mesquite — Gold Butte’s gateway city — would realize a $2.7 million benefit and the creation of 28 full-time jobs in the first year of Gold Butte’s designation. For a community such as Mesquite with fewer than 20,000 residents, these kinds of economic numbers are not a drop in the bucket.

Mesquite also would see an increase in unquantifiable economic benefits such as increased quality of life for residents. The recreational tourism market is expanding in Southern Nevada; permanently protecting Gold Butte is good for business.

The opportunity for a strong recreation economy, a wealth of ways to play outside, and abundant, unmatched antiquities are just some reasons Keen chose to advocate for Gold Butte in its Live Monumental campaign.

“Live Monumental is a rallying cry to protect some of our nation’s most special places for their recreational, ecological, and historical values,” said Kirk Richardson, executive director of the company’s outdoors campaign, Keen Effects.

Despite being one of Nevada’s most valuable outdoor recreation resources, Gold Butte is also one of the most endangered. In the past 18 months Gold Butte has suffered from vandalism, illegal development, damage to cultural sites, grave robbing and more. Due to additional threatening circumstances, now is the time for Nevada’s piece of the Grand Canyon to receive the protection it deserves. If passing Sen. Harry Reid and Congresswoman Dina Titus’ bills calling for a national conservation area is not in the cards, we seek action by President Barack Obama, and we urge him to exercise the Antiquities Act and protect Gold Butte as a national monument. Action is needed now, before it’s too late.

Mauricia Baca is executive director of the Outside Las Vegas Foundation, which was formed in August 2000 to increase quantity, quality and access to trails and open-space systems. Linda Balfour is Keen’s communications director.