Friends of Nevada Wilderness

Shoutout to our hardworking trail crews, out there this summer making our backcountry wildlands more accessible! 📸 Ed Ruiz

Introducing our 2024 Trail Crew - Wilderness First Aid Certified, "Red Card" pack tested, and crosscut certified! Our crews are out in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Table Mountain Wilderness improving trails over the next week, and you'll see them across Nevada this summer making the backcountry accessible for recreation, science, and management.

Pat Bruce: September 24, 1964 – June 6, 2024 Twenty-one days after the Wilderness Act was signed into law, Patrick George Bruce came into this world in Scotland into the welcoming arms of his parents Yvonne and Mike. After Pat’s little brother Nick joined the family, the Bruces moved from Scotland to the Haight-Ashbury region of San Francisco in 1968. In 1989 the family moved to Reno, Nevada and Pat’s love affair with the wilds of Nevada began in earnest. After earning a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Museology from the University of Nevada, Reno, he worked a variety of jobs including at the Boy Scout’s Camp Fleischmann and at Reno’s iconic Deux Gros Nez coffee shop, which was a gathering place for a wide range of people who would become his life-long friends. It was here in 2006, during an overheard conversation, that Pat connected with Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the rest as they say is history. Pat was the perfect person to build up the Friends of Nevada Wilderness Stewardship Program, and within years it was winning national awards for its effectiveness. Pat strongly believed in recognizing the efforts of all the volunteers and created the annual Wilderness Wingding to do just that. He was also an amazing camp cook and was a frequent champion in the Dutch oven cookoffs. Pat never met a stranger, and he shared his love of the state with everyone he encountered. While Pat loved all of Nevada, his favorite spots were the Black Rock Desert and the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Over the years his volunteers removed more than 400 miles of dangerous barb wire fence making the refuge safer for pronghorn and other wildlife. But, most importantly, Pat touched the lives of volunteers and staff alike with his mentoring, caring, wisdom, and friendship in ways that none of them will forget.

Now available at your local Nevada DMV - our Save Starry Skies License Plates! The Save Starry Skies specialty license plate lets Nevadans share their love of our dark skies while also helping to protect them. Funding from the Save Starry Skies plate will grow this work through continued dark sky monitoring, education, and outreach. Funding will also be used to promote astro-tourism, supporting local efforts to upgrade lighting and infrastructure to attract stargazers. More details on the Save Starry Skies License Plate and how to get yours today: nevadadarksky.org

At the end of April, staff and volunteers spent Earth Day weekend stewarding Lake Mead National Recreation Area! A day was spent in Song Dog nursery where we transplanted 763 plants and learned about desert natives. On day two volunteers hiked to a petroglyph site in Redstone with the cultural resources crew and learned how to conduct cultural site monitoring. On the last day, volunteers and staff took a boat ride to Sandy Cove, picked up about 100 pounds of trash and did some sightseeing to the lake side of the Hoover Dam. Check out more pictures here: https://lnkd.in/dmdNBZyX Thank you to our partners at Lake Mead National Recreation Area - National Park Service for hosting us! This wonderful weekend of work and learning was funded by the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership (SNAP) through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA).

Difficult to see; always in motion is the future. -Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back 📸 Kurt Kuznicki: Lunar-Starlight Region in Wild Nye County

Thank you to our partners at @lakemeadnps for hosting us for Alternative Break and giving us a tour of the native plant nursery! *** #Repost @lakemeadnps ・・・ We are nearing the end of 2024’s #NationalParkWeek! We want to highlight all of our #CommunityConnections that support Lake Mead NRA and the NPS mission. Lake Mead National Recreation Area works with many agencies, partners, and organizations to accomplish priority work. Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Get Outdoors Nevada, and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office are a few of the many relationships we maintain. One way Friends of Nevada Wilderness (FNW) supports the park is through volunteerism and stewardship. FNW regularly partners with the park’s volunteer office to coordinate service projects. This week, FNW is in the park doing an Alternative Break with youths from the local communities. The alternative break group will be working at our native plant nursery, as seen in the video, in addition to assisting with litter cleanup around the lake and helping survey cultural sites within the park. Projects like these not only benefit the park by building capacity for more projects, but they also help engage with youth who are passionate about public lands and those that might be interested in pursuing a career in the outdoors. We are grateful for all partners, volunteers, and agencies that help us continue to protect our park! #NationalVolunteerWeek #NPSVolunteer #VolunteersInParks #FriendsOfNVWild #FindYourPark NPS Video/A. Blalock

It’s #EarthDay!! While we try to treat every day like Earth Day, we certainly enjoy a special reason to celebrate. This Earth Day we want to highlight the Leave No Trace 7 principles for minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors - something we hope you can do today. 🌏 Plan ahead and prepare 🌏 Travel and camp on durable surfaces 🌏 Dispose of waste properly 🌏 Leave what you find 🌏 Minimize campfire impacts 🌏 Respect wildlife 🌏 Be considerate of others For more information and details about these principles, we encourage you to visit the Leave No Trace website or check out their social media pages. Enjoy Earth Day and don’t forget, everything you do can make a difference, no matter how small. 🪺🌱🌞 📸 Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge by Dakota McCullough

Happy #NationalVolunteerWeek! Volunteers are the heartbeat of organizations like Friends of Nevada Wilderness. As stewards of the land, their work goes beyond mere tasks - it's a labor of love driven by a shared commitment to caring for Nevada’s wild places. Whether it's trail maintenance, restoration projects, or trash clean-ups, volunteers are the driving force behind our success. In honor of National Volunteer Week, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to all our volunteers at Friends of Nevada Wilderness for your unwavering dedication and selfless service over the years. Your passion inspires us - thank you for being the guardians of Nevada's wildlands! Check out our Calendar of Events for opportunities in 2024 to get out and give back to Nevada's public lands: https://lnkd.in/gibX-SSJ

¡Únase a nosotros para un sábado en Mount Rose Wilderness! Nos reuniremos en el comienzo del sendero Hunter Creek a las 8 am y caminaremos hasta el sitio del trabajo en grupo para eliminar las plantas invasivas: musk thistle. https://lnkd.in/gSACN9FX ¡Lideramos un proyecto de eliminación de plantas invasivas como parte de la Gran Limpieza Comunitaria (Great Community Clean-Up) de Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful! ¡Contaremos con personal bilingüe (que habla inglés y español) en este proyecto!