The Bureau of Reclamation and the City of Henderson to begin a study of unauthorized roads, paths and trails into the River Mountains. Over the last 10-12 years with the development of the SNWA pipelines, Water treatment plant, Powerlines and the River Mountains Loop Trail many new roads and trails have been cut into the desert and the River Mountains on Bureau of Reclamation managed lands. Some of the these roads are authorized for access and patrol of utilities by authorized vehicles. Many more are not. An inventory process has already begun by B.O.R. on both types of roads/trails along with dumps sites and environmental issues needing clean up. Along with help from the City of Henderson, and others; a plan will be formulated to restore the desert, remove unnecessarily roads and trails over time. Wherever possible re-vegetation will be done to restore natural habitat. The hope is that through these methods and public education these areas can return to a natural state before man’s careless activities destroyed them in the first place. The most active areas of un-authorized uses may require temporary use of k-rails, post and cable, and large rocks until nature can take hold.
Many of these un-authorized roads and trails lead to other un-authorized uses such as desert dumping on Federal BOR lands; striping and burning of vehicles; target shooting near housing; endangerment of desert tortoise and big horn sheep; violation of PM-10 dust regulations; etc.
One thing I have learned is patience…it took ten years to do the damage and it will take even longer to fix it. So let’s all do our part.
