Las Vegas council to consider urban trails proposal

Urban trails in Las Vegas would get a spiffier look and beefed-up marketing under a plan before the City Council.

On Wednesday council members are scheduled to consider allocating $55,000 to Outside Las Vegas, a nonprofit group, which would use the cash to recruit volunteers and sponsors to help maintain and promote trails in the Neon to Nature network.

The city has more than 60 miles of biking, walking and equestrian trails in the network, which includes about 240 miles of trails throughout the valley.

If the council approves the spending, Outside Las Vegas would hire a volunteer coordinator and embark on a plan to establish a full-time program to encourage city residents to use the trails.

"We have this fabulous network of trails and open space, there is a need to really have the community embrace that network," said Mauricia Baca, executive director of Outside Las Vegas. "It is one of the most wonderful untold stories we have got to get out into the public."

The money would come from the city's Green Building Special Revenue Fund, and the Regional Transportation Commission would reimburse the city $28,000 under the proposal.

It's just a sliver of the $39.1 million spent since 2002 creating the trail system with money from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, a 1998 law that calls for the Bureau of Land Management to auction land to private buyers and use the money to fund parks, trails and conservation projects, among other things. The trails run throughout the valley and are meant to provide residents an alternative to city streets for walking and biking.

Tom Perrigo, chief sustainability officer for the city, said the trails are becoming more practical for people to use. After 10 years of development, the routes are becoming more interconnected.

"We're just getting to the point now it is really all starting to come together," he said.

The Outside Las Vegas grant would improve the system more by allowing the organization to help the city by promoting the trails and providing light upkeep, Perrigo said. City workers will continue to provide the bulk of the heavy maintenance and major work on the trails.

According to the proposed agreement between Outside Las Vegas and the city, the organization will build a pool of volunteers, create an adopt-a-trail program to raise money, identify goals for specific trails such as litter cleanup, weed control and graffiti removal, and point out where the trail system could be expanded.

"Once people are using the trails, we need to make sure we are caring for them," Baca said.

Contact reporter Benajmin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.