1. Nevada Wilderness Project
Photo by Warren Shaul
Fire Season has taken hold of the west again!
10? - Though the air in Nevada this summer has
been intermittently filled with smoke, the hori-
zon lit by fire casting eerie glows on the mountains, “there
Here in Mesquite, I watch the thunderheads
build over the Arizona strip, and hold my breath hoping
there will not be the tall white plume of smoke at sunset.
are few threats to wilderness landscapes from wildfire, per There are tens of thousands of acres affected by wildfire
se,” says George Wuerthner, ecologist, author and photogra- just beyond the Virgin Mountains so far this year.
pher. “Wildfires are a natural ecological process that actu- In 2005, the Mojave Desert lost 700,000 acres of
ally preserves wildness” Still, joshua tree forest, black-
Wuerthner says that there are brush, creosote, and pinion
a lot of other considerations and juniper ecosystems in the
involved in managing lands Southern Nevada Complex
and fire. Wuerthner’s book, Fire (SNCF). Gold Butte’s
The Wildfire Reader: A Cen- (2005) fire was minimal
tury of Failed Forest Policy, at 18,000 acres, compared
was published in 2006 by the to those in the then newly
Foundation for Deep Ecology. designated Big 4, Mormon,
“It is important to real- Meadow Valley, Delmar and
ize that wildfire is a natural Clover Mountain Wilderness.
ecological [regime] in The vastness of the
Fire in the Gold Butte Complex,
most of Nevada’s veg- SNCF had a combination of causes. Record rainfall
Nancy Hall
etative communities,” nurtured invasive species such as red brome and sahara
Wuerthner says, but adds that the history of fire suppres- mustard which carried the fire throughout areas unaccus-
sion in the west has not been the sole influence on all plant tomed to fire. High winds and the invasive grasses carried
communities. “This is important to understand.” the fire across large areas quickly. The devastation was
Much of Nevada’s wild lands are grazed by cattle and heart breaking. I had advocated so passionately for the
much of that land has been affected by the spread of cheat- Big 4 to be designated Wilderness!
grass. “Cheatgrass is a highly flammable annual,” Wuerth- What is next for these wilderness areas? First, a
ner says. “It dries out sooner than native perennials and multi agency group of dedicated land managers, the
hence lengthens the fire season.” That coupled with high BAER team [Burned Area Emergency Response, a Na-
grazing eventually taxes the native grasses’ ability to recover tional Interagency Team], was assigned to work on the
continued on page 7
continued on page 2
In This Issue
There’s something in the air across Nevada. It’s been hazy all summer. Fires are burning across the state
and region affecting urban and wild areas alike. Burned areas from previous years continue to recover.
In this issue of the Newsletter we get updates on burn recovery from our Gold Butte Organizer, Nancy
Hall (pg 1) and Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition fire restoration specialist, Neil Frakes (pg 3), as well as
some some awesome insights into the ecology of fire and fire management from George Wuerthner.
Thank you to Neil, Nancy and George for offering your expertise!

2. Summer 2007
Nevada Wilderness
Project
www.weethump.com
WEE-thump. It’s a funny word. Or is it? It is a Paiute word meaning “ancient
Northern Office ones” and the namesake of a small wilderness near Searchlight, Nevada. The Weethump
8550 White Fir Street Wilderness is home to some of the oldest Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert and is an
Reno, NV 89523 example of how a small group of people in today’s world can preserve a piece of the
775.746.7850 ancient wilds for future generations. In 2002 It became the first citizen proposed wilder-
ness on BLM land in the country to be enacted through grass-roots action.
Southern Office
Weethump.com is a blog chronicling our adventures in wild places and the Ne-
4220 S. Maryland Pkwy
vada Wilderness Projects efforts to replicate that success. We invite you to be a part
Suite 402D
Las Vegas, NV 89119 of it by posting comments on the blog, adding your photos to www.flickr.com/
702.369.1871 groups/weethump and sending us your stories from Nevada’s Wilderness, to
info@wildnevada.org.
A 501(c) (3) non-profit
You can also find articles from the newsletter on the blog as well as extended con-
corporation
tent including interviews with prominent people in the community, photography, and
NWP Board of Directors addidional informative articles on the web.
Bret Birdsong, President 3 Ways to Keep It Wild in Nevada:
Brian O’Donnell, Vice President SWIM, BIKE AND RUN!
Lynn Schiek, Secretary Join the Nevada Wilderness Project for the Pumpkinman Triathlon outside of Las
Chriss Todd Vegas at Lake Mead and Boulder City on October 14th 2007.
Tori King
This event will be a fun way to make new friends, get in
NWP Staff shape and help protect Nevada’s wild places all at the same
John Wallin time.
Director There is the option to participate in either an intermedi-
Kristie Connolly ate distance triathlon (1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run), sprint
Associate Director distance triathlon (.75k swim, 20k bike and 5k run), or be part
John Tull of a relay team. For more information about the event and the
Conservation director course check out the Pumpkinman website at http://bbscendur-
Mackenzie Banta ancesports.com/pumpkinman.html.
Development Director In order to support the Nevada Wilderness Project’s
Cameron Johnson important work, athletes will raise $1200 if they do a full triathlon and $600 as part of
Northern Nevada Otreach Director a relay team. The Project will cover your entrance fee. Commitment is required by Au-
Nick Dobric gust 15th 2007. For more information please feel free to contact Mackenzie Banta
or Cynthia Scholl at info@wildnevda.org or 775.746.7851.
Southern Nevada Outreach Director
Cynthia Scholl
Membership Coordinator continued from page 1
Nancy Hall Emergency Stabilization Plan. Having volunteered with the BLM, and my familiarity
Gold Butte Organizer with the archaeological resources, I had the opportunity to work with the BAER team. It
was amazing to see the amount of area covered by the team in one week and the intensi-
Coalition Partners ty of the energy that flowed through the task force. Next, Mother Nature’s plan begins to
Campaign for America’s Wilderness progress. Shoots from the base of the joshua
Friends of Nevada Wilderness trees began to appear, bunch grasses and the
Red Rock Audubon Siciety desert almond began to regrow.
The Wilderness Siciety
The Nevada Wilderness Project by Nancy Hall
is committed to saving the spectac-
Gold Butte Organizer
ular, rugged-and imperiled-public
lands in Nevada as Wilderness, the
strongest protection possible
www.wildnevada.org

3. Summer 2007
Southern Nevada Complex Fire Recovery by Neil Frakes
Followed by a wet summer and relatively wet winter the
Southern Nevada Complex Fires that burned in 2005 were
dominated by invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass and
red brome in 2006. This is especially true at lower elevations.
However, the 2006/’07 winter was comparitively dry, and these
areas tend to not have as much red brome/cheatgrass currently.
Rather, they tend to be dominated by a non-native annual forb
called Erodium (also known as storksbill or filaree). At the
higher elevations, cheatgrass and red brome still tend to domi-
nate. But native perennial plants are also regenerating, moreso
than at the lower elevations. Resprouting shrubs such as scrub
oak, serviceberry, and skunkbush sumac continue to grow
larger. Native perennial forbs, especially desert globemallow,
mock vervain (Glandularia gooddingii), and showy goldeneye
are common in some areas.
Many of the higher elevation burned blackbrush and
pinyon-juniper communities were seeded with native perennial
species in wilderness during the first winter post-fire. As of last Joshua tree sprouts 5 months after the
year, few of these seeded species were establishing. We’re just beginning to monitor these areas this year, so I really can’t
fire, Nancy Hall
say what’s going on out there. I don’t feel especially comfortable projecting into the future, because I don’t think we really
know much about how these areas respond to fire in the long term. I have some personal hypotheses, but only time will
tell.
The Desert National Wildlife wildlife. And if that’s not enough, the Department of
Energy wants to take a piece of our Refuge and use it for
Refuge Needs Your Help energy corridor development.
We do have the opportunity to preserve a truly
Less than fifteen miles from the Las Vegas Strip
unique desert wilderness experience. The wildlife service
is a place that is on the opposite end of the spectrum
from the eye-piercing lights, hordes of gambling tourists
and towering casino hotels. The place is the Desert Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge. Here the stars light up the night sky,
hordes of wildlife call it home and mountain ranges tower
over remote valleys.
Southern Nevada is blessed to have one of the wildest
places left in the contiguous US. Covering over 1.5 million
acres, the Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge outside of
Alaska. Established in 1936 for the protection and enhance-
ment of Desert Bighorn Sheep it now contains the largest
population of them in the world. The wildlife service stated,
“It is doubtful that any part of the State of Nevada offers DNWR photo by Ramsey Hong
a greater diversity of animal life than the Desert National
has recommended the area be designated as wilderness
Wildlife Refuge.”
for decades and citizens have advocated for it in two
Not all is nirvana in the Refuge. Development from different public lands bills. What the refuge needs most
Coyote Springs in the east and North Las Vegas is bring- is a constituency of people who care about the place and
ing houses right up to the boundary. The rapid growth want to see it preserved for future generations to enjoy.
threatens to deplete the springs on which wildlife depend. For ways to get involved and help out contact:
Military conflicts from the Nevada Test Site and the Nellis
nick.dobric@wildnevada.org.
Air Force Range also clash with the needs of the Refuge’s
www.weethump.com

4. We need to let natural fires burn without suppression in wilderness areas so they
can play their critical ecological role. And it’s important to realize that not all
fires will be small ones. Big blazes do most of the ecological work.
George Wuerthner
Summer 2007
www.wildnevada.org

5. Summer 2007
www.weethump.com

6. Summer 2007
Pinyon-Juniper Encroachment by John Tull
Many of you have probably heard people talk about height alter the vistas and appearance of a mountain range.
the “P-J Community” in reference to the dominant veg- Plant diversity is generally reduced because there are fewer
etation in the mountainous Great Basin. P-J refers to the species growing in the shade of the trees than would occur
pinyon-juniper complex of tree species that is common at in an open grassland or shrub community. Also, erosion
mid and upper elevations throughout Nevada’s mountain increases due to the lack of small plants acting as a mecha-
ranges, typically from around 5,250 feet up to about 8,000 nism to hold the soil in place during rainfall and other wa-
feet. In Nevada, singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and ter run-off events (Blackburn 1975, Blackburn et al. 1992,
Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) are the most com- Pierson et al. 1994). Wildlife species change as a result of
mon species of each type, and pinion occurs at the highest plant changes as well. Most notably, mule deer and cougars
elevations have greatly
with juniper increased in
mixing in numbers in
at middle Nevada be-
elevations. cause of the
In expansion of
recent de- the P-J com-
cades, there munity.
has been The
concern greatest
about the change may
apparent be to the
expansion fire cycle,
of P-J into but through
other vegetation communities. This expansion is frequently the interaction of P-J and other plant and animal species.
referred to as “encroachment” because the P-J complex P-J communities produce heavy fuels in high loads that
significantly alters the plant composition underneath the can carry wildfire at extreme intensities if the forest canopy
trees (understory). Scientific consensus appears to point burns. Bark beetles and drought can lead to mortality of
to a rapid expansion of these two tree species out of rocky large stands of P-J, and these areas are susceptible to ex-
areas and steep mountain slopes and into grasslands and treme wildfire conditions that are likely to lead to replace-
other lower elevation sites (Tausch and West 1988, Miller ment of the vegetation community with cheatgrass (Bromus
and Tausch 2001), primarily due to fire suppression and tectorum), a non-native grass that has greatly transformed
fine fuels reduction from extensive livestock grazing (Knapp the fire cycle and plant and animal diversity across the
and Soule 1998, Miller and Rose 1999). This expansion Great Basin (Miller and Tausch 2001).
immediately followed expansion into Nevada by pioneers
about 130 years ago. To see the reference list, please visit www.weethump.
P-J expansion results in many changes to the land- com. Photo of PJ in the Robert’s Mountains by Mike Hen-
scape. Most notably, trees that can reach 30-40 feet in derson.
The Sisters, Lyon County, NV
Directions from Reno – Head south on 395 to border. Currently it is designated as a 20,000 acre Forest
Holbrook Junction. Turn left onto Rt 208 and follow it Service Roadless Area that the agency has listed as capable
through the town of Wellington until the intersection of for wilderness, only part of this area is actually in Nevada.
Hwy 338. Turn south onto 338 towards Bridgeport and The peak itself stands at well over 10,000 ft and offers
follow until reaching a right hand turn for Risue Rd, Forest amazing views of the Eastern Sierra, the Great Basin Rang-
Service Rt 050. DeLorme Nevada Gazetteer D5 6. es as far east as the Toiyabes, and very cool temperatures,
even in the summer. The best route to the summit is via the
Vitals – East Sister Peak is part of the Sisters in the Sweet- west side of the peak. There is a pack trail leading through
water Mountains which span across the Nevada/California the canyon, but to gain the peak one must travel overland.
www.wildnevada.org

7. continued from page 1 Summer 2007
year to year.
Wuerthner has some great ideas on how to approach
managing fire risk in urban wilderness versus remote wil-
derness, e.g. Mount Rose or Mount Charleston versus Arc
Dome or the Jarbidge.
“The first thing that has to be done is to eliminate the
kinds of practices that favor changes in fire regimes. Since
livestock grazing is permitted in most wilderness areas, this
probably has the biggest impacts on wildfire management.
As long as livestock are spreading weed species like cheat-
grass, weakening native grasses, trampling wet meadows,
destroying cryptogramic crusts, and so forth, you are going
to favor the spread of cheatgrass and other weedy species
that provides the fine fuels that favor fire spread.”
“The second thing is to use more prescribed burns in
the appropriate habitats (i.e. vegetation regimes that had
high frequency low intensity blazes) outside of wildlands to
reduce fuels. Such treatments have to be done frequently
because fire actually stimulates plant growth, so you have
be prepared to do prescribed burns on a frequent basis.
Right now we spend millions of dollars fighting fires but
little on prescribed burns which can help to reduce the sense, county commissioners and state legislatures that
spread of fires. However, it must be noted that under severe refuse to adopt land use planning that promotes urban
conditions of drought, wind, high temperatures, and so growth boundaries are putting the public at risk. They
forth, prescribed burns will not prevent the spread of fires.” are creating conditions that will, over time, make it more
“The third thing is obvious--we need to let natural dangerous for everyone, increase taxes or reduce services
fires burn without suppression in wilderness areas so they as more money is diverted to fight fires that, under other
can play their critical ecological role. And it’s important circumstances, would not be fought at all. If you care about
to realize that not all fires will be small ones. Big blazes do saving tax dollars, saving lives, and preserving natural land-
most of the ecological work.” scapes, then you have to get serious about land use plan-
“Fourth we need to implement land use zoning. I ning and zoning. Oregon has urban growth boundaries that
know these are unpopular, but the spread of sprawl is greatly restricts urban sprawl, and hence fire fighting costs.
contributing to not Oregon’s model is worth emulating.”
only higher costs “Fifth, there needs to be more emphasis placed upon
for fire suppression, homeowner responsibility for home protection. Reduc-
but also affecting ing flammable materials around homes goes a long ways
the ability of agen- towards reducing fire hazard. A metal roof significantly
cies to permit fires reduces house flammability.”
to burn in areas For the complete transcript of our interview with
that would oth- George, please visit weethump.com. For more on George
erwise not pose a Wuerthner, visit www.wuerthnerphotography.com.
problem--such as
the Mount Rose
photos of Hawkin Fire by Maresa Martin
Wilderness. In a
This recurring section will give you, the member, greater in-
sight into natural science issues that affect wilderness areas.
It will showcase the views and expertise of prominent ex-
perts from throughout the public lands community. We will fea-
ture highlights from the responses here. Please visit www.
weethump.com, NWP’s blog, for the complete interviews.
www.weethump.com

8. Is the southern Nevada Big 4 Wilderness still wild? You bet! Section 4(d) (1) of the Wilderness Act of 1964
allows fire fighting in designated wilderness. The Nevada Public Lands Bills have addressed just that. In 2000, the Black
Rock Bill clarified fire management operations and the Clark County Bill in 2002 included broader language allowing for
fire suppression and needed mechanized use.
In Nevada, we are fortunate to have dedicated agency employees, and the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition fire
restoration specialist, Neil Frakes, working gently with Mother Nature to restore these ecosystems we so cherish as wild.
More from Nancy Hall on the Southern Nevada Complex Fire on page 3
NWP Events! NorthernHikes/Events:
Nevada:
Happy Hours @ Great Basin Brewery: Aug 1th – Final Sparks Farmers Market
Aug 1th -8pm Aug 19 – Wovoka Proposed Wilderness, Lyon Co
Sept 18th -8pm Sept 8th – Wovoka Proposed Wilderness, Lyon Co
Oct 1th -8pm October 5-8 NV Wilderness Rendezvous, Esmeralda Co
Nov 0th -8pm October 12th – Wild Men 2008 Calendar Party, Reign, LV, NV
October 14th – Pumpkinman Triathlon, LV, NV
Southern Nevada:
August 15th: Wild Nevada slideshow at the Dula Gym roundtable at 10am.
August 16th and September 20th: Henderson Farmers Market 10am-2pm.
Aug 16th: Happy Hour @ Crown Anchor in Las Vegas at 6pm.
Aug 18th: Wilderness Values Trip to Mount Charleston at 8am.
September 1: We will be having an informational table and collecting letters at the Mount Charleston Bike Race.
Sept 15-16: Desert National Wildlife Refuge evening hike.
Sept 20: Volunteer Night.
Please contact the illustrious Nick Dobric for details on these events @
nick.dobric@wildnevada.org (702) 369-1871
Protect your Wild Lands
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an envelope and mail it to us @ NV Wilderness Project, 8550 White Fir Street; Reno, NV 89523
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