New Spring Mountains visitor center honors Native Americans, war heroes

The 128-acre gateway campus includes new parking areas, a visitor center, an education building, a bookstore, two amphitheaters, group picnic sites and more than 40 miles of adjoining new trail systems.

The U.S. Forest Service architecture and engineering design teams integrated a tribute to the wisdom of the seven Southern Paiute Indian tribes, known collectively as the Nuwuvi, by creating the Seven Stones Plaza to symbolize the Nuwuvi’s ancestral relationship with their native place in the Spring Mountains.

The Silent Heroes of the Cold War also worked with the Forest Service to include a national memorial to honor victims of a top-secret 1955 plane crash near Las Vegas and the thousands of individuals involved in the Cold War.

Construction of the 128-acre complex along the Kyle Canyon Wash began in 2012.

The project cost about $45 million, including $16 million to buy the property in 2004.

“This unique place exists to help visitors more fully enjoy their Spring Mountains experience. We are deeply indebted to our partners for their commitment to the site’s creation and its long-term management,” said Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest supervisor Bill Dunkelberger in a press release.

The Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

For more information, call 702-872-5486.

To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email slopez@viewnews.com or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.