LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — An area of Lake Mead that has been closed for more than a year due to problems during COVID is set to reopen within the next few weeks after park rangers and volunteers transformed the area.
Government Wash, once a popular campground, became one of the biggest problem areas in the park during COVID. Law enforcement responded to more than 1,000 incidents in the area, leading to the gates being locked for the last year and a half.
The area closed on August 1, 2024, after hundreds of people moved in, parking cars and RVs at random locations.
“When the lake levels were much higher, this was actually a boat ramp right behind us,” said Kathryn Vollinger, a park ranger standing in what will be the main parking lot. “It’s a 15 to 30 minute drive from the city, essentially, and you feel really remote for how close you are to the city.”
Cleanup and redesign efforts
Vollinger said the area became misused and abused over time. Visitors left trash everywhere and created miles of illegal roads, driving over sensitive vegetation.
“It’s pretty easy to hide in areas here. It’s just a lot of nooks and crannies,” Vollinger said.
The park estimated it would take $8.5 million to fix the damage done.
“Just from volunteer efforts alone, we picked up over 10,000 pounds of trash out here in the last year,” Vollinger said. “And that doesn’t include the trash that park employees have had to pick up, whether it was hazardous waste or abandoned vehicles and such, things that we needed heavy equipment to remove.”
New amenities and features
The redesigned area now includes 51 new designated campsites, new bathrooms and new gravel roads. Some campsites have parking right by the water.
“Right in here in this protected cove, it could be a really ideal spot for kayakers and stand up paddle boarders, canoers, because it is relatively sheltered and it’s a spot that we don’t really get a lot of motorboats,” Vollinger said.
The area will also accommodate birdwatchers, horseback riders and fishermen.
Vollinger said the park constantly receives emails from fishermen asking when the area will reopen.
“A few emails a week with fishermen saying like, ‘Hey, this is my favorite fishing spot and when is it going to open back up,’” she said.
Reopening details
Gates will reopen within the next few weeks, though an exact date has not been set. Once open, volunteer campground hosts will move into RVs on site and monitor the Government Wash area around the clock.
The 51 campsites will be first-come, first-served with a 14-day limit.
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