Officials: Legislation won’t make off-roaders into relics
By BEN BOTKIN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
December 22, 2014
The roaring, motorized beasts that buzz across Nellis Dunes need not fear extinction. Officials insist the future is secure for riders of off-highway vehicles who enjoy the natural playground of sand dunes, rocks, and carved out slopes on federal land at the valley’s northeastern edge.
President Barack Obama last week signed legislation that designates more than 10,000 acres between Nellis Air Force Base and Apex as the Nellis Dunes Off-Highway-Vehicle Recreation Area. It also conveys 1,211 acres within the recreation area to Clark County to turn into a park for off-road enthusiasts.
The same bill created Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument on 22,650 acres west of the dunes.
Riders at Nellis Dunes on Sunday said they are drawn to the site for its ruggedness and close proximity to Las Vegas. And the shifting terrain provides fresh, new challenges on each return visit.
“Every time the wind blows, and every time it rains, this place changes,” said Steve Forrester, 61, of Las Vegas, who rides a dirt bike at the dunes every week.
Dave Heath, an OHV enthusiast from Las Vegas, has been riding in Southern Nevada since he was 8 years old. The 54-year-old said the way the region has grown and changed since his boyhood has left riders with fewer places to go.
“It wasn’t as crowded,” said Heath, who rode with his 14-year-old son on Sunday. “You didn’t have as many people.”
For OHV enthusiasts, the current draw is easy access, without overbearing rules and regulations. But riders point to simple improvements that would enhance Nellis Dunes — mainly portable toilets, trash cans and some general cleanup.
Forrester said the backcountry has an abundance of illegal dump sites that include such things as washing machines and even boats. The parking area Sunday was littered with trash including a burned-out tire.
Jeff Jorgensen, a board member with Vegas Valley Four Wheelers, said: “There’s never been any kind of management of facilities out there. It’s just a free-for-all. Nobody wants to drive through areas where they have a high likelihood of putting a piece of sheet metal through their tire.”
When they aren’t driving over boulders in Jeeps, the organization’s 100-plus members perform cleanup activities in OHV riding areas. Jorgensen said that if it became a managed park, there might be a way to prevent people from dumping trash.
But he doesn’t want to see the creation of the park used as an excuse to close other public land to riders. “A lot of what we fight for are keeping our public trails open to the public,” he said.
Any decision that the county makes about the area will require approval from Clark County commissioners, but Nancy Amundsen, director of comprehensive planning for the county, said her department reviewed the legislation’s language during the process.
“This preserves and protects that acreage for the off-highway vehicle enthusiasts,” Amundsen said. “This is the important thing, and that is what the off-highway vehicle enthusiasts were looking for.”
The area falls in the district of Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, an advocate of improving Nellis Dunes. He would like to see the county do some roadwork that improves access for users and events as well as for emergency vehicles responding to injured riders.
In the long term, Collins said, the county can look at adding competitive tracks for riders while preserving the area’s natural appeal.
The county also can promote the new park on its website and elsewhere, drawing tourists who rent off-highway vehicles from local merchants, he said.
“There’s a bunch of folks that will take people out there and rent them vehicles out there for the day,” Collins said.
“This is kind of a tourism-driven thing that we can add to our economy.”
Potential changes won’t come quickly. Collins said he wants a committee to help guide the future of Nellis Dunes, with OHV users providing input about the area.
The county already had an advisory committee for Nellis Dunes, formed in the past decade when the legislation was slowly making its way through Congress.
The county also will spend time on engineering studies of the area before moving forward, Collins said
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