Green-Up highlights importance of Las Vegas Wash

The 10th semi-annual Las Vegas Wash Green-Up event held on September 30, 2006 helped underscore the importance of community participation in enhancing the Las Vegas Wash. During the Green-Up, approximately 400 volunteers planted more than 3,000 native trees and shrubs on a ten-acre revegetation site known as site 108. More than seven acres were also planted by volunteers on site 108 during the spring 2006 Green-Up. In time these plants will take root and help stabilize soil in the wash, reduce erosion, improve water quality, and provide habitat for wildlife living in and around the wash. This falls Green-Up activities were partially funded by a grant from the Nevada Division of State Parks, Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Green-Up Fall 2006

A 12-mile channel in the southeastern part of the valley that acts as the final link in our watershed, the Las Vegas Wash funnels urban runoff, stormwater, shallow ground water, and reclaimed water from the valley back to Lake Mead. On average, more than 150 million gallons flows through the wash each day.

“The Wash plays an important role in our local watershed,” said Debbie Van Dooremolen, an Environmental Biologist with the Las Vegas Wash Project Coordination Team (Wash Team). “It slows the water down so sediments and potential contaminants are captured before the water reaches Lake Mead.”

Among those contaminants are common fertilizers used on home landscaping, which are often washed away during rainstorm events. SNWA Regional Water Quality Supervisor Peggy Roefer said that while no firm statistics are available on the amount of fertilizers flowing to the wash from these areas, she suggested that community residents could help protect Southern Nevada’s water resources by moderating the application of fertilizers to landscaped features.. “We suggest you don’t over fertilize, as any excess fertilizer will be washed away if you are using more than the plants can uptake,” Peggy said. She credited the various erosion control structures in the wash, called weirs, with slowing flows and allowing wetlands to develop. The reinforced wetland system enables sediments, fertilizers, and other chemicals to fall-out before they can reach Lake Mead.

During the past five years, volunteers from throughout the valley have helped plant more than 20,000 native shrubs and trees. In total, the Wash Team in partnership with the community has enhanced the wash with more than 95 acres of native plants. Volunteers have also pitched in at the Las Vegas Wash Clean-Up, removing more than half a million pounds of trash from this valuable wetland area.