The Nevada Wilderness Project had a very busy and successful year in 2005. They opened a new office in Las Vegas, hired 4 new employees, and ran 3 active campaigns to designate more wilderness areas in Nevada. The director expresses optimism about continuing their important work in 2006 with help from members through volunteering, donations, and letters to representatives.
2. Nevada Wilderness
Project In Memory of a Great Wilderness Advocate
8550 White Fir Street
Reno, NV 89523
775.746.7850 Pam White, a good colleague and friend, tragically died on September
30th, 2005 in a single car accident north of Ely, NV. Pam had been lead-
www.wildnevada.org ing the charge in our White Pine County efforts as the rural organizer for
501 (c) (3) non-profit Friends of Nevada Wilderness and doing tremendous work. She made all
corporation of our efforts in White Pine Co. and throughout the state better. She was
a source of energy and constant enthusiasm, her tireless work ethic was
inspiring and contagious to all who knew her. In Ely, Pam was a not only
a wilderness organizer, but also a foster mother, vice chairman of the
NWP Board of Directors
Public Lands Use Advisory Committee, and substitute teacher. She died
Bret Birdsong, President
seven months pregnant and is survived by her nine year old son Connor,
Kim Jardine, Secretary
who has moved back with Pam’s parents in Gillette, Wy. There is an
Chris Todd educational trust established in Connor’s name for those who wish to
Morlee Griswold make a contribution. Donations may be sent to the following address:
Tori King
The Connor White Memorial Education Fund
Brian O’Donnell, Vice President
c/o Campco Federal Credit Union
902 E. Third
NWP Staff Gillette, Wyoming 82716
John Wallin, Director
Kristie Connolly, Associate Director
Kevin Mack, DC Representative
Erika Pollard, Nat’l Outreach Dir.
Mackenzie Banta, Development Dir.
Cameron Johnson, N. Outreach Dir.
Christian Harrison, S. Outreach Dir. Business Spotlight: Bear’s Pizza
Cynthia Scholl, Membership Coord.
9570 South McCarren Blvd.
Reno, NV 89503
Coalition Partners www.bearspizza.com
Campaign for America’s Wilderness
775.787.8282
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Nevada Outdoor Recreation Assoc.
We like pizza. Matter of fact, we love pizza and there’s no shortage of pizza joints throughout
Red Rock Audubon Society
Reno or Nevada. But we also get picky about our pizza. Some folks like lots of meat, others
Sierra Club - Toiyabe Chapter
pile on the veggies and give it a witty name, while others put a little meat, a smattering of other
The Wilderness Society
things, and then title the pizza with an even more creative name. Pizza is really a lot like wil-
derness, there’s no one set definition of what it should look like, both go great with beer, it
never goes bad, and you can always enjoy it cold!
NWP
Our business spotlight shines brightly on our new friends at Bear’s Pizza in Reno! Located just
Mission Statement north of the intersection of McCarran and West Fourth St, Bear’s has been in town for 4 years
with Matt Norman running the show. Bear’s and NWP began to work together as a result of
The Nevada Wilderness Matt’s desire to get involved with local groups in town and the quick thinking of Leif
Project is committed to Christiansen, a super member of ours. Matt has been catering to Patagonia for several years
saving spectacular, rug- now and employs a few folks from the Distribution Center, one day he was asking his employ-
ged-and imperiled-public ees of ways to get involved with some sort of charitable organizations and Leif came up with a
lands in Nevada as plan to bring more people into Bear’s new dining room and raise some cash for the Project by
hosting the lively folks from Patagonia after the quarterly employee sales. All tips from the bar
Wilderness, the strong-
on those nights are given back to the Project, and we couldn’t be happier. We’re excited about
est protection possible. this partnership and grateful to Matt, Leif, and the rest of the crew at Bear’s, home to best Chi-
cago style pizza this side of Lake Michigan.
Page 2 www.wildnevada.org Fall 2005
4. Southern Nevada Wilderness Values Trip Highlights
Sloan Canyon
Saturday October 22nd was a great day. It began with an assemblage of teachers, students, parents,
hunters, political and environmental activists, and an older couple who just wanted to be outdoors.
The purpose of the day was to hike up into Sloan Canyon, a national recreation area just south of Las
Vegas. The diversity of the group made for many interesting conversations along the way. One thing
that everyone on the hike had in common was a love and respect for the outdoors.
Discussions on the trail ranged from the grade the teachers taught, to the correct technique for black-
powder hunting, to length of service with the city, to the type of rock blanketing the area. Everyone
was so interested and enthusiastic about Sloan Canyon. Many of the folks on the hike had never be-
fore been there, and some had never even heard about it. There were sixteen people in all on the
hike. I spoke with all of them and was deeply impressed by their interest in the outdoors and how
they could further help the cause for wilderness preservation. When it came time for me to ask folks
to sign letters in support of wilderness and protection for Sloan Canyon I had to run all over the place
to drop off tablets and pens to eager petitioners.
Our group began the “long” four mile hike below the canyon at the site of
some extremely picturesque 100 foot tall power lines. These are the
same power lines that I told people to look for on our drive to the trail
head off of Las Vegas Blvd. After a few wrong turns that were quickly
corrected, the group made it to the correct location and we were off, un-
der our own power this time; just legs and feet. Our group quickly elon-
gated as the quick marchers sped out up front. I talked to everyone down
the line and had occasional rally points. I didn’t need to lose anyone else
on this hike. After multiple promises on my part that the petroglyphs we
sought were “right around the next corner,” we finally did make it to the
actual petroglyphs. At once the group was behaving differently. There
was a palpable curiosity present. Moms and daughters, boyfriends and girlfriends, all started pointing and whispering to one another.
People crouched and traced the paths of thousand year old rock marks. General wonderment was the theme for our midpoint. I ex-
plained, as best I could, the culture that carved these petroglyphs, and how many of them are over a thousand years old, lending irony
to the notion that everyone considers Las Vegas such a “new” town.
We spent a good hour looking at the petroglyphs and writing our elected officials about the need to create more protection for price-
less cultural artifacts like those in Sloan Canyon. After I collected the letters and pens we headed back for the vehicles. Our hike
back was far easier with the downhill slope to our favor. I got to
know some really amazing people that day and left with a deeply
positive attitude. It is always great to find other people who care so
much about the land. The hike up Sloan Canyon was only the first
of many that I plan on leading. It has given me tremendous moti-
vation to lead as many as possible into the backcountry because
there are so many people here in Las Vegas that do care and want
to help in any way they can.
- Christian Harrison, Southern Nevada Outreach Dir.
All Photos taken by Christian Harrison
Page 4 www.wildnevada.org Fall 2005
5. NWP Fundraising Update from Mackenzie
This summer, the Nevada Wilderness Project conducted a Major Donor campaign
to raise funds to open our Southern Nevada office. Thanks to our generous do-
nors, we achieved our goal of raising $60,000 in six weeks!! It was a very ambi-
tious and necessary campaign for an organization of our size to undertake.
The success of our fundraising efforts would not have been possible without the
superior effort of our Board of Directors and their great participation. Countless thanks also go out to the
hard working Erika Pollard, our National Outreach Director, who helped to orchestrate the campaign
while eight months pregnant! She gave birth during the drive to a 7lb, 2 ounce beautiful, future wilder-
ness advocate boy, named Vann Oliver Pollard!
We now have the handsome and talented Christian Harrison on the ground down in our newly opened
Las Vegas office, organizing support for Nevada’s wild spaces. Many of you, our generous and dedi-
cated members, made a stretch contribution to help us continue our efforts statewide. Thank you for your
support and firm belief in keeping Nevada wild. - Mackenzie Banta, Development Director
Hood to Coast 2005
A BIG thank you goes out to the runners on our fundraising team during the
Hood To Coast relay in August. The team of 12 wonderful and tough runners
helped to raise over $9000 for NWP by running 197 miles from the top of Mt.
Hood to the Oregon seashore in 24 hours! These strong runners included: John
Wallin, Kristie Connolly, Cameron Johnson, Chris Todd, Adam Chamberlain,
Todd Kincaid, Tristan Todd, Emily Powell, Vinil Patel, Kelly Stahl, Emily Supernavage, and DylanTenBrink. Thank you to all the
friends and family that donated in honor of these runners who made up team Viva Las Wilderness!
Erik Holland Art Show 2005
Reno artist Erik Holland and the Nevada Wilderness Project have teamed up to present "From
Tahoe to Tonopah II", a one man show of Holland's paintings of the areas that the Nevada
Wilderness Project works to protect, as well as other landscape and small town scenes of the
Silver State. A reception was held at Patagonia on October 27th. Thanks to the generosity of
Erik, half of all the sales from the show are donated to NWP. More than 50 paintings will hang
through Christmas for the public to view. Nevada Wilderness Project thanks Erik for all of his
hard work, support and talent he gives to the Project!
Please join us in welcoming Christian to Nevada Wilderness Project!
Christian Harrison is NWP’s newest Grassroots Organizer and is now based in Las Vegas. He comes to
us from the high schools of Carson City and the Bay Area, where he taught history. Prior to teaching,
Christian could be found inside an M1 tank in Germany, as one of those guys who gets more done by
9am then most people get done all day. His stint in the US Army and as a tank driver did not dampen his
enthusiasm for the wild desert and forest of Nevada however.
Today, he will be responsible for ramping up efforts in southern Nevada so that places like the Highland Range, Mt. Stirling and Gold
Butte get the attention they deserve. You might recall that there were a number of potential wilderness areas in Clark County that were not
designated Wilderness in the Clark County legislation of 2002. One of Christian’s jobs will be to see to it that the Forest Service, BLM and
National Park Service do not let those areas lose those wilderness qualities. He will do this by meeting with agency folk and bringing out
volunteers and dignitaries to these spectacular and unprotected landscapes.
Although he likely owns a pair of camouflage pants and a jacket or two, don’t expect to see him tabling in Henderson or Summerlin in his
army gear. (If you do, call us immediately!)
Christian loves being outside, finding time to bike whenever he gets a chance. He also enjoys good music and that team that plays baseball
in Anaheim, or is it Los Angeles? Whatever the case, his taste in baseball teams notwithstanding, we are very excited to have him on board
and look forward to hiking the washes and ridges of Nevada with him. If you are down in Vegas, stop by and say hello.
Page 5 www.wildnevada.org Fall 2005