For years, narrow, zigzag-shaped slits in wire fencing were the main access points to some of Southern Nevada’s most popular trails at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

For many trail users, navigating the narrow slots was an inconvenience.

For people with certain mobility limitations, they were functionally a barrier to entry.

“In most cases, it’s not intentional,” said Ed Price, founder of the nonprofit Trail Access Project, a group focused on providing better access to nature to those with impaired mobility.

Friends of Red Rock Canyon recently purchased adaptive equipment-accessible gates that have been installed at three trailheads off Highway 159 so that those with disabilities can use specially designed trail equipment to explore some of the canyon’s more remote areas. 

The new, 45-inch-wide gates at South Oak Creek, Middle Oak Creek and First Oak Creek trailheads — rugged trails that require specialized equipment for those with mobility challenges to navigate — include a walk-through spring-closure gate for pedestrians but are also wide enough for adaptive equipment. The old, zigzag gates were sometimes as narrow as 17 inches wide.

To Price and others in the adaptive community, the installation represents more than just physical access.

“The new gates are wonderful for our access but, very importantly, show that we are not fenced out and are equally allowed to be there,” he said.

‘We never saw anybody with a disability out there’

Price, now 76, contracted polio when he was 3, paralyzing his left leg. He regained partial use and, for years, the former Nevada State University geology professor would take his students on field trips.

Post-polio syndrome weakened his legs as he aged, making it harder for him to lead field trips. After he retired, he decided to work with federal agencies to help provide greater access to federal lands to people with disabilities. Price started the all-volunteer Trail Access Project in 2015 — one of its first orders of business was using grant funding to assess accessibility characteristics of trails on federal land in the greater Las Vegas area.

“While we were surveying, we never saw anybody with a disability out there because they couldn’t get there,” Price said.

Most people with mobility needs stick to more “accessible” trails — those with gentle slopes, often paved — although what is and isn’t accessible varies by person. But “accessible” trails tend to share one common characteristic: crowds.

“The trails that are designed to be more [wheelchair accessible] … tend to be the more crowded ones — larger parking lots, lots of people,” Price said.

Price, who leads meetups at trailheads throughout the region for people with varying abilities, regularly uses some of those “accessible” trails — he describes the popular Lake Mead Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail as “wonderful.”

The 10-foot-wide path has a minimal grade and cross slope, making it ideal for a variety of users. But because the trail is so user-friendly, “if you’re trying to get out into nature away from people, it’s not that trail,” Price said. 

The trails with new adaptive gates at Red Rock offer that opportunity — but there are still access issues.

Many people who would benefit from the new gates don’t drive, regional paratransit services don’t extend to the conservation area and Trail Access Project doesn’t own a van for transporting people, Price said.

“We’re trying to figure out some way to [expand transportation to areas such as Red Rock],” he said.

For now, the nonprofit’s focus is on offering activities to people with mobility limitations — including on trails that require specialized equipment.

“If it wasn’t for Trail Access, there wouldn’t be an organization that would take you out for a hike in a wheelchair,” said Keon Mays, a North Las Vegas resident who has gone out with Trail Access Project on two rides using its TrailHoppers, equipment that allows access to more rugged trails.

“People with disabilities couldn’t hike on some of these trails without special equipment, and special equipment couldn’t get on to these trails because of the gates,” Price said.

Until now. 

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In the weeds:

Dumpsters (to prevent) fires — The Reno Fire Department is offering free dumpster rentals to residents living in neighborhoods that border wildfire-prone areas. Waste Management provides qualifying neighborhoods three 30-yard dumpsters for disposal of yard debris to reduce wildfire risks.

The program is open to residents who live within Waste Management’s service area, including Sparks and Washoe County. Residents can apply for a dumpster through Sept. 1 or until funds run out.  

Buh-bye now — The Trump administration will dismantle the Bureau of Land Management’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (Public Lands Rule) before it has a chance to be implemented. 

Enacted under the Biden administration, the rule would have put conservation on an equal footing with other public land uses such as mining and grazing. In January, Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea was tapped as one of 15 advisory committee members for the implementation of the rule. That committee was disbanded earlier this year.

Demolition for restoration — The Tahoe Fund has raised $200,000 to support the California Tahoe Conservancy’s efforts to demolish a motel and parking lot built decades ago over sensitive Tahoe wetlands. Acquiring the funding was the next step toward removing a former Motel 6 and an attached building and parking lot that cover part of the Upper Truckee Marsh, a sensitive wetland area that once served as an important filter for water flowing into Lake Tahoe. 

Last year, the conservancy purchased 31 acres of land flanking the Upper Truckee River with plans to raze the building and create a contiguous wetland between the Upper Truckee Marsh and Johnson Meadow. 

Demolition is expected to begin in the fall.

Stop the spread — UNR’s extension office is offering a free workshop to help livestock producers develop biosecurity plans to limit the spread of disease during outbreaks. It will be held in person June 5 at the California Trails Interpretive Center on Interstate 80 between Carlin and Elko and is also offered virtually. 

Heat regulation in effect — A new state regulation requiring businesses with more than 10 employees to perform a one-time job hazard analysis to assess work conditions that could lead to heat illness goes into effect April 29. The regulation was adopted by the state’s Division of Industrial Relations late last year. Heat-related illnesses can be as mild as cramps to as severe as heat stroke. 

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ICYMI:

Data Centers: Economic benefit or environmental boondoggle?

Should NV Energy help pay for fuel costs? Lawmakers say it’d help reduce bill spikes

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Here’s what else I’m reading (and listening to) this week: 

They were looking for endangered tortoises. They found human bones instead. A great read from Outside that spans several decades in the desert around Las Vegas. 

From Grist: Public lands, private profits: Inside the Trump plan to offload federal land.

Conservation efforts underway after earthquakes shatter Devils Hole pupfish population, KNPR shares.

Ethics commission rejects settlement deal for Nevada energy director, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is open for logging under new federal orders, the Reno-Gazette Journal writes. 

Legislation would require utilities to publicly report data on household service shut offs — from the Nevada Current. 

White House moves to hamstring national climate assessment, Reuters reports. 

Trump seeks to end climate research at NOAA; NASA also targeted, according to Science.

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A closer look:

Whether it’s a controlled burn or a campfire, remember to douse your blazes!