LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Supporters of a proposed East Las Vegas National Monument are circulating a petition to place more than 30,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land just east of the Las Vegas Valley under enhanced federal protection.
The area includes Frenchman Mountain, also known as Sunrise Mountain, which draws hikers, fossil hunters and outdoor recreationists from the surrounding community.
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Geological and cultural significance
The proposed monument area contains the Great Unconformity — a geological formation visible in only two locations: off Lake Mead Boulevard in Las Vegas and at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The land is also considered sacred to the Southern Paiute people, and the Las Vegas Bear Poppy grows nowhere else in the world.
Bertha Gutierrez, senior program director of the Conservation Lands Foundation, said the area faces ongoing threats from illegal dumping and graffiti.
“This rock right here, this line of rock, is a few billion years difference from the one that’s on top,” Gutierrez said.
Fossil hunter Francisco Hernandez said he visits the area regularly.
“I love looking for trilobites here,” Hernandez said.
Access and equity concerns
Gutierrez said the proposed monument would address an outdoor access gap for residents on the east side of the Las Vegas Valley.
“People in the west have access to Red Rock Canyon. People in the north have access to the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and to the Spring Mountains. People in the south have access to Sloan Canyon, to Lake Mead, and to Avi Kwa Ame,” Gutierrez said. “But people in the east side only have access to Lake Mead and Lake Mead is a fee area.”
She said monument designation would secure free outdoor access for the East Las Vegas community for generations.
“It deserves more. It deserves better management. It deserves more recognition at a national level,” Gutierrez said.
Housing development concerns
There have also been efforts to use federal land in the eastern edges of the Las Vegas Valley to create affordable housing. Advocates for the East Las Vegas Monument said they do not want that to happen to this land.
The petition can be found at eastlasvegasmonument.org.
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