Wetlands group backs county plan to seek fed funds

The Friends of the Desert Wetlands Park group is supporting Clark County's efforts to pursue $10 million in federal funds to help restore the Las Vegas Wash.

The county is trying to restore 2,000 acres of wetlands destroyed by increasing runoff and devastating floods in the past 20 years. The price tag could reach $150 million over the next 20 years to rebuild the marshlands.

The wetlands act as habitat for wildlife and a natural filter improving the water quality of Lake Mead, the area's drinking-water supply.

The county has already put almost $1 million to work to stop erosion and plans to create a park where people could observe plant and animal life.

The Friends, a group of environmentalists, attorneys, scientists and ordinary citizens who support wetlands restoration, was brought up to speed with the county's effort at a recent meeting.

Currently, 200 acres of wetlands are left in the wash. The county must attract grants to save the rest, Jeff Harris, wetlands park project director for the county Parks and Recreation Department, told the group.

Part of the $10 million could come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The county has applied for $8.6 million from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Harris said.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation targets water quality and monitoring in the wash and has about $460,000 available, as well, he said.

The county's Habitat Conservation Program has $115,000 available annually for two years, Harris said, but most of the funds will come from federal sources.

Other sources of money available may also come available in the near future.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of a national program to stop the loss of wetlands, may give the county up to $70 million to work on the wash below Pabco Road, where the worst damage has occurred, Harris said.

The county is trying to rebuild a barrier to stop erosion at Pabco Road, but two endangered birds, the southwestern willow flycatcher and the Yuma clapper rail, were discovered in the local wetlands, delaying the county from building the structure last year.

Its environmental impact statement has been approved, the county is waiting for the Corps of Engineers to approve a permit to disturb the wash to build the barrier, Harris told the Friends.

The county also plans to try to buy about 341 acres of private land within the current boundaries of the wetlands park.

So far, the county has purchased 396 acres for $2.7 million, about $7,000 an acre, Harris said.

"Essentially the county bought parcels around private developers who would not negotiate," Harris said.

However, some members of the Friends group said the developers should meet county needs to restore the wetlands and protect the marshes from urban flash floods.

"A wetlands park should be designed around the developers and the developers should have to pay for flood control to protect their houses," said Friends member Larry Paulson. Southern Nevada residents already pay a quarter-cent sales tax for flood control.

Harris urged patience while newcomers to the valley are educated about the wetlands project. Almost two-thirds of Las Vegas residents have moved here in the past 10 years.

"The valley isn't going to wait for us to educate all the newcomers," replied Friends member Norma Cox.

Three developers -- Saxton, Inc., the Victory Valley Land LLC and Rhodes Design and Development Corp. -- are already starting construction of homes and golf courses near the wash.

The county is working with the developers to channel floodwaters into the wash without damaging either the wetlands park or the wash-side homes.

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