Volunteers needed for water monitoring project

Founded in 1984, Friends of Nevada Wilderness has helped protect more than 3 million acres of Nevada's wild lands by leading efforts in the expansion or designation of all 70 wildernesses in the state, including the creation of Mount Charleston Wilderness. In the past 30 years, it's also grown its nationally recognized and award-winning Wilderness Stewardship Volunteer Program, generating more than $1 million worth of in-kind services.

Now, it needs the help of Las Vegas residents who like to hike. Volunteers are needed to monitor springs in the aptly named Spring Mountains, north of the Las Vegas Valley. Information collected will go to a worldwide database managed by the Springs Stewardship Institute in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Jose Witt, Southern Nevada manager for the Friends group, said the monitoring program came up because the northern office has been doing a monitoring program for the Bureau of Land Management in the Black Rock Desert.

"So, we figured the Mount Charleston grant (funds collected from the Mount Charleston License Plate program) was a fund where it had to be Mount Charleston-based, and we'd done trail work before, and we thought, 'What is something different that would attract a different type of volunteer and something that the (U.S. Forest Service) needs?' So the forest service (advised) that they needed some information on their springs. They just don't have the human resources to do that."

The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area has 200 spring sites historically identified. Working with the forest service, the Friends group hopes to determine the condition of those springs.

Jesy Simons, Southern Nevada outreach technician with the Friends group and a College of Southern Nevada biology student, hopes to get 30 volunteers.

As of July 27, there were 17 signed up.

"The more people we can train and get out there, the better the program will be," she said.

Volunteers will go out and take measurements such as pH level, flow rate, temperature and the electrical conductivity, which can indicate the spring's source. Future measurements may include more metrics, such as the amount of dissolved oxygen.

Volutneers can opt to commit to monitoring an area or just one spring.

"We're really just feeling it out right now," Simons said of how the survey will be conducted. "They can explore the whole mountain range if they want to. … But we don't want to have more than one person visit the same spring a year."

The data that volunteers collect will help the forest service make better management decisions regarding the springs.

According to the institute's website, springstewardshipinstitute.org, "Although they are among the most biologically and culturally important and highly threatened ecosystems on Earth, springs are poorly studied and inadequately protected. Though relatively small in comparison to lakes and oceans, springs support more than 20 percent of the endangered species in the United States. With an immense potential for collaboration and partnership, SSI will continue to improve understanding and management of these critical and endangered ecosystems."

The Friends group partners with all the land management agencies. Simons said that the institute came to Las Vegas in mid-June to train people.

"We went out and monitored a spring," she said of the hands-on instruction. "It took all day, but we will train volunteers as they come in. We plan on going out with the volunteer for the first time or two and train them in how to collect the water date and teach them safety information. ... In historic studies, surveys, or studies that were done, they found, like, 200 springs, so they're named the Spring Mountains for a reason. Part of the reason for this is to find out how many of these springs are still in existence. Some may be dried up by now, and that's going to be a huge part of this monitoring program."

The plan is to keep year-to-year data.

"I think part of it is, spring information is important because (we need to know) what's the status of our water," Simons said. "I know that the forest service is interested in the quality of our springs and the quality of them going into the future. I wouldn't say this is trying to convince anybody that climate change is real or not; I think this is more about helping the land managers make the best decisions for the health of the entire ecosystem. And springs are so important, so this is a really good indicator."

The Friends group does a lot of stewardship projects, with volunteers maintaining trails or picking up trash.

"Some people just want to work on their own," said Witt, "or maybe they're more science-driven, engineers or a former scientist, so those are the primary drivers that got this started."

Witt said the data will update some old information the forest service has on file, alerting it as to whether a spring has changed course or possibly dried up. Besides the scientific tests, simple observation will help determine whether the springs are in need of restoration.

"We have some horses that get into the springs, and instead of being a repairing area with grasses and bushes, the horses hang out at the springs, mash things down, and it just becomes a muddy mess," Witt said. "It's not very sustainable, so the forest service may build an enclosure (to regulate) how many horses can get in there, or they can react differently if they know what the status of the springs are."

Las Vegas gets about 10 percent of its water supply from the Spring Mountains.

"We want to continue doing this because trending is important," Witt said. "We want to see if the water table is being recharged."

The information also will help indicate the rate of climate change. Different plant species, for example, can indicate water availability, moving from lower slopes to higher elevations where there is more moisture. Scientists worldwide also will use the data, as will colleges doing research studies.

To volunteer, call 702-515-5417. For more information, visit nevadawilderness.org.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.