Healthy Parks, Healthy People

Park visitor numbers have soared during the pandemic

March crowds and closures at Lake Mead:

• “Parks in Southern Nevada limit visitor access to mitigate COVID-19 spread,” Fox5 KVVU, 23 March 2020. 

• C. Douglas Nielsen, “Coronavirus affects lives of outdoor enthusiasts, too,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 25 March 2020. 

• Lucas Wright, “Lake Mead announces more closures amid COVID-19 outbreak,” KLAS 8 News Now, 22 March 2020.

May visitation figures: Data supplied by Janice Keillor, Deputy Administrator, Planning, Development and Grants, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Nevada Division of State Parks, personal communication, 19 June 2020.

May visitation: 

• Sand Harbor. May 2020: 88,816; May 2019, 48,978; % increase: 81.3.

• Spooner Lake. May 2020: 9,632; May 2019, 4,918; % increase: 95.9.

• South Fork State Recreation Area. May 2020: 21,461; May 2019: 10,557; % increase: 103.3.

Red Rock Canyon NCA

• Alex Chhith, “Free public trails around Red Rock Canyon closed indefinitely,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5 April 2020

• Alex Chhith, “Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive temporarily closes ‘until further notice’”, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 22 March 2020.

• Amy Abdelsayed, “Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive, Visitor Center closed until further notice,” KTNV, 22 March 2020.

• “Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop closed until further notice,” Newsbreak.com, 23 March 2020.

Access to the outdoors requires funding public lands

• “Parks in Southern Nevada limit visitor access to mitigate COVID-19 spread,” Fox5 KVVU, 23 March 2020.

• Blake Apgar and Shea Johnson, “Southern Nevada governments closing playgrounds amid coronavirus fears,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 23 March 2020.

• Henry Brean, “Red Rock Canyon Scrambling to Handle Record Crowds,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 23 June 2019.

• Nevada national parks maintenance backlog: Pew Charitable Trusts, National Park Deferred Maintenance Needs. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), speaking in 2019, suggests the figure for Nevada’s national park units could be as high as $220 million: see Allison Winter, “House Democrats Assail Trump’s ‘Reckless’ Plan to Slash National Parks Funding,” Nevada Current, 3 April 2019. 

• Nevada state parks maintenance backlog: Janice Keillor, Deputy Administrator, Planning, Development and Grants, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Nevada Division of State Parks, personal communication, 2 January 2020. See also James Horrox, Frontier Group, and Levi Kamolnick, Environment Nevada, Protecting the Places We Love: How the Land and Water Conservation Fund Supports Outdoor Recreation in Nevada, January 2020, p.7.

The LWCF has protected some of Nevada’s most treasured places

• $104 million+ in total grants: LWCF Coalition, “Nevada: Our Land, Our Water, Our Heritage,” 2019.

• Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park, Washoe Lake State Park, and local and regional parks: LWCF State Side grants list provided by Sally Grate, U.S. National Park Service, personal communication, 2 October, 2019. Full list available here.

• Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest: Amy Lindholm, LWCF Coalition, personal communication, 10 December 2019. Per this communication, total LWCF Federal Side, Forest Legacy Program and Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Program grants for Nevada are as follows:

Federal side grant totals 

Federal Unit Name           

Total Funding

Agency

Ash Meadows NWR

$7,579,000 

FWS

Desert NWR

$500,000 

FWS

Humboldt NF

$1,400,000 

USFS

Lake Mead NRA

$4,807,438 

NPS

Moapa Valley NWR

$2,384,000 

FWS

Red Rock Canyon NCA

$3,000,000 

BLM

Soldier Meadow Ranch

$1,000,000 

BLM

Stillwater NWR

$13,718,000 

FWS

Toiyabe NF

$25,319,000 

USFS

Forest Legacy program

Ash Canyon Gateway (Carson City):  $438,000 

Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Program (Section 6)

FY

Project

Total funding

County

FY03

Lockes Ranch

$900,000 

Nye

FY04

Dave’s Island Tract

$1,000,000 

Elko

FY05

Lahontan Cutthroat, Little Humboldt/Snowstorm Mountain

$600,000 

Elko

FY10

Black Rock Station Acquisition (Railroad Valley Springfish)

$420,000 

Nye

FY10

Revert Spring Acquisition (southwestern willow flycatcher, candidate yellow-billed cuckoo, Amargosa toad, Oasis valley speckled dace)

$968,922 

Nye

Total

$3,888,922 

For more information on LWCF-funded projects in Nevada, see James Horrox, Frontier Group, and Levi Kamolnick, Environment Nevada, Protecting the Places We Love: How the Land and Water Conservation Fund Supports Outdoor Recreation in Nevada, January 2020, p.7.

To expand access to the outdoors, fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund

• Carol Hardy Vincent, Congressional Research Service, Land and Water Conservation Fund: Overview, Funding History, and Issues, June 2019.

• State side grants: U.S. National Park Service, “Land and Water Conservation Fund: State and Local Grant Funding.”

• The Wilderness Society, Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Funding for parks supports our outdoor economy

LWCF Coalition, “Nevada: Our Land, Our Water, Our Heritage,” 2019.