By Marc Hildesheim, NOHVCC Project Manager
There are a lot of great things happening in OHV recreation in Nevada, and fortunately NOHVCC gets to tag along for the ride. The dedicated Commissioners and staff of the Nevada Commission on Off-Highway Vehicles spent much of 2017 recruiting worthy grant applicants to best utilize the funds that the Commission manages for the public. These funds are collected from OHV registration fees and put back on the ground through OHV grant projects that benefit local enthusiasts. They were very successful as they saw applications for $2,724,082 with only $1,200,000 in allocated funds! While it sometimes would be nice to fund every application, we all know that a competitive grant program often cannot fund every project. Through strong partnerships with the OHV community and land managers in Nevada NOHVCC was able to participate in two outstanding projects this May.
The first project is the Prison Hill Recreation Area OHV Management Plan in Carson City, Nevada. Members of the Carson City Parks, Recreation, & Open Space Division contacted NOHVCC in fall, 2017 to partner on this project and we jumped at the chance. The 940+ acres of the Prison Hill Recreation Area have been managed by Carson City since 2015 when the US Bureau of Land Management transferred ownership to the city. A very popular area for enthusiasts of all types, Prison Hill was ready for additional management and enhancements. NOHVCC, RecConnect LLC., and Lat & Long Resource Group conducted a site assessment in April and are currently working on a report of findings. With that report, and public input from three public meetings held in Carson City in May, we will create an OHV management plan for the area. This plan will be the blueprint for future actions on the portion of Prison Hill Recreation Area that is open to motorized recreation. NOHVCC and Carson City will be assisted in this process by a working group made up of local Prison Hill enthusiasts. NOHVCC expects to complete the management plan late this summer and present it to the Carson City Open Space Advisory Board this fall. From there, we will work with our partners to secure grant funding for the next phase of this project.
The second great project that NOHVCC was privileged to participate in was the Shoshone Trails Assessment and Maintenance Project in Battle Mountain, Nevada. NOHVCC, RecConnect LLC, the US Bureau of Land Management, Lander County, NV, and the Northern Nevada ATV Association worked together to secure funding for this project. Not only did we receive funding to assess how to add new ROV trails to the existing system, we also received funding from the Nevada Recreation Trails Program managed by Nevada State Parks to conduct much-needed maintenance on the trails. NOHVCC spent time in May with Dick Dufourd of RecConnect LLC assessing current and potential ROV routes and overseeing the maintenance of 30 miles of ATV trail being conducted by Sierra Trail Works of Reno, Nevada. Work included drainage repair and installation, trail tread enhancements, and slight corridor realignments. This project also has great potential for future phases, which means better trails and facilities could be added to an already outstanding trail system.
NOHVCC is excited to play a part in these great projects and cannot wait to see what other great OHV projects Nevada has in store for the future.