Public Comment Request

NVFCP is asking concerned citizens to send in public comment for the National Park Service (NPS) Lake Mead National Recreation Area SNPLMA Round 20 grant proposal "Managing Illegal Roads to Protect Recreation, Safety, and Resources: Phase 1". 

We are working together with Get Outdoors Nevada to solicit public comment.

Visit Get Outdoors Nevada's webpage to:

• sign a petition (Deadline May 15)
• review a letter template
• review grant proposal documents

You can also

• send in your own response to the SNPLMA Executive Committee at [email protected] 
• mail a letter to SNPLMA Executive Committee Chair, BLM Southern Nevada District Office, 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130
• Deadline June 5, 2024 at 4:30 PM PST

Why NVFCP Cares

Cultural Sites & Damage

This proposed project will protect at least 180 known cultural sites in the Government Wash and Overton Arm areas, including Pubelo Grande de Nevada - also known as Lost City - which is a highly significant complex of villages that has re-emerged after being covered by the waters of Lake Mead for nearly 90 years. Archaeological excavations and surveys done in the early 1930s recognized Lost City as the western-most southwestern Puebloan-style habitation site in the U.S. and one of the largest archeological sites in southern Nevada. Because of this, Lost City is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, despite the fact that much of the area in and around the Pueblo Grande de Nevada has never been surveyed.  Learn more about Lost City here.

In just few short years since its exposure, parts of the Lost City and surrounding cultural area have become an active recreation site for off-road enthusiasts. Regretfully, recreationists have been unknowingly developing and using unsanctioned off-road trails that cause irreparable damage and loss to tribal communities, archeological research, and the public. 

Tire tracks over the remains of pueblo structures. Structures can be identified by the rock alignments.

Project Goals:

The National Park Service's $8M proposal outlines the ways they will utilize SNPLMA funding including collecting archaeological and natural resource data through state-of-the-art-surveying, working closely with the tribes including hiring tribal interns, and engaging with the off-road and preservation focused communities as well as other stakeholders. The NPS will work with these partners and community members to inform their management decisions including but not limited to formally designating backcountry motorized and nonmotorized trails, safe access routes to the lowered lakeshore, and community education.

Questions: reach out to us at [email protected]