The Story of Mining in Gold Butte

Gold Butte offers a variety of sights and features that appeal to a wide and diverse audience. There are the geologic features that are as impressive and magnificent as anywhere and cultural resources that will get any history enthusiast out of the library and ready to exploration. There are early Native American sites scattered throughout this rough country, remnants of the early Spanish explorers hidden amongst the hills and traces of the early pioneer settlement in this rough and colorful country. There is appeal for every visitor.

One of the biggest chapters in the story of Gold Butte is where the stories of the Cultural and geologic lines intersect to tell the story of mining in Gold Butte.

Mining has played an important role in the history and development of the area now known as Gold Butte. For the early inhabitants it was a source of goods to trade amongst other tribes throughout the west. Turquoise, obsidian and other metals have been found in the Lost City dwellings and other sites throughout the area which were used to barter for other goods. The salt deposits along the Virgin River, now covered by Lake Mead, also provided salt for the local people as well as another resource for trade.

As Time moved forward other explorers came into this area in their quest for treasure. The signs of the Spanish Explorers and their new mining practices can still be seen throughout the Gold Butte country. The Spanish arista were an early mining technique to spate the rock and the ore to get the precious metals hidden within. The circular relics etched into the rock are evidence of the early explorers and their determination.

The pioneer settlement of this area began in the mid-19^th century. Early Mormon settlers came to the confluence of the Virgin and Muddy Rivers to build the town of St. Thomas. The early life of these Mormon settlers was that of hardship but after a few hiccups and a resettlement after a dispute over which state the town actually resided in for taxation, the area began to flourish.   St. Thomas soon became the hub of the area. Settlement expanded and the business enterprises that follow soon began to spread over this country. The proximity to the Colorado River, Spanish Trail and the eventual spur off the Los Angles & Salt Lake Railroad contributed to this little town’s development.

With the ability to transport commodities through a variety of ways mining, farming and ranching soon began to spread over this promising desert. The growth and development of Gold Butte during this time was directly tied with the early pioneer settlements of St. Thomas and the services it provided. The railroad provided the ability to transport ore, equipment and other necessities to the growing mining camps and emerging ranches.

The rich historical landscape that persists in the Gold Butte country today is inextricably tied with this history of mining throughout the stage of development. Each period has brought its own character, stories and left its legends. One is not more important than the other and all have contributed to the rich history that makes Gold Butte the place we all love.

Please join us on March 3^rd, 2012 at St. Thomas for a community celebration as we bring this historic town alive for a day. We will have many of the descendants of those early pioneers as well as those who remember visiting St. Thomas there to reconnect. There will be music and dramatizations of the early days being performed live, where they would have been performed then, at the old St. Thomas School. There will be maps and historical displays as well as pictures taken in the early days displayed where they were taken to help visualize the then, now. If you have history or stories please contact me so we can share and make the most of your stories to help bring St. Thomas alive and reconnect his landscape to its history.

As parking space is limited, and a four-wheel drive is required, if you plan to attend please carpool with your neighbors so we can have room for as many as want to attend. We are hoping to have at least 6 to a vehicle.

Please visit www.stthomasalive.blogspot.com for more information

Gold Butte Recreational Analysis

The Moapa Valley Progress has written an excellent article on the BLM’s effort to work on the Recreational Analysis for the Gold Butte area. The article can be read at the following link:

http://mvprogress.com/2012/01/25/blm-urges-public-involvement-in-gold-butte-analysis/

The objective of the Recreational Analysis, as I understand it, is to identify what different activities people do within the Gold Butte area. With this data they can better manage the area and accommodate the various uses within the region.

I have contacted the local BLM office to get more information available and more widely accessible so we can engage a larger audience in the effort to better manage the Gold Butte area. As more data and links become available I will post them here.

There will be a series of public meetings held in the surrounding communities in March and April. 

Whitney Pockets Clean Up 2011

Thanks to everyone who showed up to the Public Lands Conservation Committee cleanup project at Whitney Pockets on Saturday, December 10th. 

We had over 75 people sign in and contribute to the work effort. 

Thanks to State Assemblyman Cresent Hardy for the food for the BBQ. 

Thanks to Partners In Conservation (PIC) for the paper goods and garbage sacks.

We had people from Mesquite, Bunkerville, Moapa, Logandale and Overton showing their support for local public lands and their willingness to be involved and do their part in responsible use and community stewardship. 

We are already planning our next project for the spring out to Gold Butte. Please friend our facebook page to stay informed on our Community stewardship projects.

Public Lands and Community Involvement

This was a column I wrote for Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins District B Winter 2012 newsletter

Read the Entire newsletter here

The outdoor recreational opportunities available in rural Clark County are as vast as the country is open. As more people have become aware of these opportunities, and the uses diversify, the need for more involvement to care for our backcountry has increased.  

A growing number of residents in Commission District B are coming together to resolve the challenges that face public lands. We believe that public lands policy should be developed and implemented on a community level. Our focus is not on gaining a bureaucratic designation but instead providing local, on the ground solutions to the challenges that face our public lands.  

We are working to provide sustainable public lands management initiatives that are built on the framework of community involvement, conservation and responsible use. An actively involved community working together with the land managing agencies creates and provides the protection that our public lands need.  

Some of the projects we accomplished in 2011 include a roads monitoring project, providing dumpsters on high usage weekends, a community cleanup project and a historic documentation project.  

With the upcoming year we will be focusing on growing community stewardship of our public lands and encouraging people to get out and enjoy Clark County’s beautiful backcountry. For more information please visitwww.savegoldbutte.com.

Reckless Recognition

The dialog surrounding Gold Butte over the last few years has focused on the goal of designating Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area (NCA). The tactics and rational as to why this particular designation would be the answer to all the woes that face Gold Butte has evolved and changed, depending on the audience, but the NCA designation continues to be a roadblock to any other conversation.

In the spring of 2010 I had the opportunity to meet with the director of the BLM, Robert Abbey and visit Gold Butte with him and other community and political leaders. Standing around the graves of Art Coleman and William Garret, Director Abbey touted the benefits of the NCA as a way to share Gold Butte with a larger community and gain national recognition for Gold Butte. During the summer of 2011 I had the opportunity to meet Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes where he echoed the opinion that Gold Butte was deserving of national recognition. Recently Caesars Entertainment and other corporations and businesses, far removed from the conversation and lack adequate knowledge of the situation, have added their support for a nationally recognized Gold Butte. Special interest, political appointees and big business agree that an NCA is the way to achieve this recognition.

The problem with the logic that Gold Butte deservers more recognition is that it blatantly ignores the fact that Gold Butte does not currently have the infrastructure or the management plan in place to adequately manage the influx of visitors that will come with national recognition. Recognition and even funding don’t solve many of the problems that face our public lands. Look at Red Rock NCA. It still experiences extreme cases of vandalism and carries the same designation sought for Gold Butte. A bureaucratic designation does not solve the problems that face our public lands, it exacerbates them. The simple fact that the people who are calling for this designation are the same people complaining that Gold Butte is not adequately managed clearly illustrates that they either have an ulterior motive, which is not the long term success of our public lands, or that they are blinded by their own ambition and fail to see the contradiction of their own arguments. Recognition does not equal protection.

We cannot pretend that we can keep Gold Butte to ourselves or hide it from those who enjoy the diverse recreational opportunities that are available within the Gold Butte area. However we can also not ignore the fact there are risks associated with a national designation and increased usage without the proper framework in place before that designation. The short term economic benefits that may possibly come with a national designation will be negated in the long term if this agenda is rushed and the risks that accompany higher usage are not properly addressed. Without having adequate planning, proper management and the infrastructure in place before there is increased usage the outcome will work only to complicate and intensify any problems that are currently experienced in the Gold Butte area. Reckless recognition will result in increased damage which will then be followed by restrictions and a loss of access to our public lands thereby invalidating the original intent of the designation. An actively involved community working together with the land managing agencies creates and provides protection, not bureaucratic designations.

Facing the Funding Reality

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

Money is a reality of life. I am not so naive to not understand that it takes money to accomplish conservation and protection. Lofty ideals though they may be, their societal value is burdened with a heavy cost. Capital is required to accomplish these objectives and certainly there could always be more to go around. It is with this rationale that people are marketing the NCA agenda. During various discussions with interested participants there are three main points that are repeatedly identified for potential revenue sources to compensate for the cost of this agenda.

The first and most widely touted potential source of added wealth is a congressional appropriation that would be tied to a congressional designation. It is true that some other NCA designations have gotten a congressional appropriation. However it is small in respect to the actual total cost of managing the area and the appropriation is actually estimated to decrease with time (see Red Rock Canyon NCA 2010 Business Plan).  It is time to face reality and recognize that a congressional appropriation is not going to happen in this economic climate. At a time when every other week we are faced with a government shutdown over debt ceilings, FEMA, the FAA or any other potential increase in spending, the belief of additional funding on top of the Interiors current budget is nothing more than failing to face the reality of our current circumstance.

One of the other lines of reasoning used to push the NCA agenda is that the higher level of protection will give Gold Butte higher standing when funding is allocated in the regions yearly budget from the Interior.  This means that there is no new money allocated to the BLM to manage the region, instead more will have to be allocated to Gold Butte because it deserves preferential treatment.  There is no doubt that Gold Butte is deserving however, there are many deserving public lands within the Southern Nevada District and none can afford to lose even one dollar of their current allocation. Let us not protect one at the sacrifice of the other. If the true intention is to truly provide better public lands management then “special” designations only mean other places are not special. This does not correspond with the holistic approach of responsible public lands management. It only draws out that these special designations have become a vehicle to drive an agenda for one particular interest.

SNPLMA money is drying up. This is money that resulted from the sale of BLM lands with the proceeds devoted to the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands and other conservation initiatives. It was a great source of revenue while it lasted however it cannot be counted on as a reliable source for future funding. The graph clearly shows the trend.

Never spend money before you have earned it – Thomas Jefferson

Funding is a major component of any plan but it is not the only component. Reckless recognition, entrusting fate to chance in the vain hope of money, will work only to further complicate public lands management. Calling for a designation without first having a detailed management plan works only to expose the shortcomings of that designation and those calling for it.

A one, five and ten year plan has to be developed that identifies what needs to be accomplished and the costs of such plans. This way management can evolve with awareness to its short comings and labor to remedy itself. We need to prioritize the conservation efforts so as the budget adjusts other potential revenue sources can be identified. Private\Public partnerships can work together to fill in those resource gaps and accomplish those objectives that benefit the overall good of the area.

We need to move past vain political and self-interest and build a plan that will accomplish conservation and provide social benefit to the community and our public lands. This can be done not in ignorance of the cost but with conscious consideration of such.

Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board and Federal Lands

At our 2011 September Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board meeting we adopted with a unanimous vote, the following position letters to send to our elected representatives in Washington DC.

A member of the community who had recently moved to the valley made a comment about the Town Board taking time to deal with federal issues and public lands. For a person who grew up in the west, and especially when the vast majority of our state is controlled by the federal government, I am well aware of the significance that federal policy has on our daily lives. Its impacts are felt in a variety of ways. It doesn’t matter if it is mining regulation, wildlife and ecology policy, environmental policy, renewable energy regulation, recreational use policy, funding for our land management agencies or national parks or a diverse range of other policy initiatives. When it comes to our federal lands its management has a direct impact on our life. It is important for the local communities, who are closest to the land and aware of its impacts and uses, to send their views and concerns to their representatives.

I was proud to cast my vote in support for the following letters as a member of the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board

Dear Senator Heller,

As stated in another letter, we deeply appreciate your attention to the issues that concern the citizens of Moapa Valley.  As the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board, we are compelled to communicate the opinions of a majority of our residents; in particular, residents feel very strongly about S. 1087/H.R. 1581 – The Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011.  Thank you for your continual work in regards to providing more public access and multiple use opportunities on public lands and in particular for co-sponsoring this bill as well as sponsoring S. 1554, prohibiting the establishment of national monuments without the express authorization of Congress. 

43 million acres of land have been locked up for decades even though these very acres were analyzed and determined NOT to be suitable for wilderness designation.  It is inconceivable that this refusal to release lands has gone on for so long and it is shameful that special interest groups have dictated public policy regarding public lands to such a drastic extent.  These two bills must be passed as they seek to return 43 million acres of public land back to the public.  Furthermore, these released 43 million acres must be released back to the designation they were before the wilderness study area designation. 

On a broader note, the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board is quite concerned with the non-productivity of public land in general; we are addressing such, along with the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce, in a resolution which you will receive in the near future.  Decades ago, enterprising residents had the opportunity to develop a resource or a skill and turn that into a job that would support their family.  Today the burdensome nature of modern governmental bureaucracy is akin to walking on glue; after a few steps, you are so helplessly bogged down that giving up and quitting seems the only option.  We applaud your efforts, as well as that of the other Congressmen and Senators that created the Jobs Frontier Report.  We strongly support this report and the work being done to bring jobs back to the west and in particular, to the rural west.  We look forward to following this process, supporting real change that creates jobs, and actively helping in any way we can.  Thank you for your work to date on the economic issues that overshadow our lives.

Please support the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011; thank you for all you have done and are doing on our behalf

Dear Congressman Heck,

Thank you for the multiple times you have visited Moapa Valley, informed us of upcoming issues, and requested our opinions and concerns regarding such.  We deeply appreciate the time you and your staff have spent learning the concerns and thoughts of rural residents.  

As such, we respectfully submit the following for your use and request that you vote accordingly on the following public land issues/bills:

1. Secretary Salazar’s letter to Members of Congress requesting identification of lands that may be appropriate candidates for congressional protection under the Wilderness Act:  

The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board does not support wilderness designation of any kind and strongly requests that you forward no recommendations to the Secretary; we further request that your comments to the Secretary note that Clark County was involved in a thorough public lands bill in 2002.  It was our understanding, at that time, that this wilderness issue was over in our county.  Although our community felt that entirely too much land was designated as wilderness, we felt we could live with that—given that bill was the last public lands designation bill.  To our utmost sorrow, that is not the case as more wilderness in Clark County is proposed almost yearly.  IF Secretary Salazar feels that he must re-address the wilderness issue in our county, we request:

1. Not one additional acre of wilderness be designated as the BLM does not recognize any lands in northeast Clark County as having wilderness characteristics,
2. That the top of Virgin Mountain WSA be released back to the previous land designation as this area has been extensively used by humans for over 100 years and this land does not contain wilderness characteristics, per the BLM’s own documentation,
3. That the Million Hills WSA be released back to its pre-WSA designation; this area is rich in minerals and therefore this area should be studied for possible mineral extraction which would benefit the local economies and our nation; additionally, the Million Hills WSA never contained wilderness qualities and as such should be released,
4. The boundary to the Arrow Canyon Wilderness Area needs to be adjusted to the south side of the wash, at the very least.  The boundary is now in the middle of the wash which is confusing to everyone.  Also, this wash floods all the time; it is the main drainage that the Pahranagat and Double Wash drain into; since it floods all the time, the wash itself contains no wilderness qualities.  

2. S. 407/H.R. 758 – National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act:

The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board respectfully requests that you support these bills and this concept:  that Congress and only Congress can establish monuments; designating monuments is an unchecked presidential power which should be restored to Congress.  We further request that the state legislature and governor of the state wherein a monument is proposed must also approve of such designation before it can happen.  States must have a say in how public land is managed; the federal government is too far removed from those living next to such lands and the states must be involved in this process.  

3. S. 1473/H.R. 2745 – Mesquite Land Act:

The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board recognizes that the City of Mesquite needs an amendment to clarify several minor issues relating to the period of time that they can purchase land and relating to their Virgin River Habitat Conservation and Recovery Plan and the Hydrologic Monitoring and Mitigation Plan; we therefore request that you support such bills AS LONG AS these bills or any other introduced bill or amendment does not contain language designating any portion of the Gold Butte complex as an NCA, monument, or wilderness.  Any such attempt to pass legislation regarding Gold Butte designation is strongly opposed by the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board; such opposition is consistent with our previous positions in 2008, 2009, and 2010.   

If you have any questions or wish to discuss the above issues in more detail, please know that you are welcome at our town board meetings and in our community any time.  We deeply appreciate your diligence to our concerns and the work that you do on our behalf in Washington D.C.  Thank you,