Las Vegas student wins Arbor Day poster contest

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb.–Aria Rose Claspill, a fifth-grade homeschooled student from Las Vegas, is the Nevada state winner in the 2008 Arbor Day National Poster Contest.

The Arbor Day National Poster Contest is open to all fifth-grade students in states with a designated coordinator. It has been held since 1992 to help promote the importance of Arbor Day and tree planting, as well as to educate children about the importance of trees and the benefits they provide in our daily lives. This year’s competition was based on the theme, “Trees are Terrific … Inside and Out!” Fifth-grade students from 47 states and the District of Columbia participated nationally this year.

Carson City’s Firefighting Sheep (video)

The sheep are back grazing cheatgrass in the hills of Carson City, Nevada. Ann Bollinger from Carson City Parks and Open Space discusses the grazing project and how targeted grazing can be used to help manage invasive weeds and protect homes from wildfires.

Volunteers needed for 8th annual water quality snapshot day

CARSON CITY, Nev.–The 8th annual Water Quality Snapshot Day will be held Saturday, May 10, in Reno, Truckee and Lake Tahoe, and volunteers are needed to help conduct the water quality sampling. The event is a citizen-based environmental effort designed to take a snapshot, at one moment in time, of the water quality throughout the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watershed. Water quality monitoring will take place from the tributaries flowing into Lake Tahoe all the way to the waters of Pyramid Lake. It is sponsored by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the City of Reno, Truckee River Watershed Council, University of California Cooperative Extension, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Big Bend State Recreation Area opens new campground

(Mohave Daily News, JIM MANIACI) LAUGHLIN, Nev.–Just in time for two of Laughlin’s biggest tourist-attracting events, Nevada’s Big Bend State Recreation Area has opened its multi-million dollar recreational vehicle campground.

And park supervisor Alan Conklin is especially proud that Big Bend is the only Nevada State Parks Department RV campground with all of its spaces offering full-service hookups.

He hopes this weekend’s Dodge Extreme Bulls competition will bring in a good crowd and fully expects to be booked to capacity – he actually said last week it easily could be more than capacity – for the 26th Laughlin River Run motorcycle event April 23-27.

“Officially we opened the campground three days before one year of construction. It took us a little bit longer than we thought,” he said, but added that change orders for extra work caused some of the delay.

Overall, including consultants and planning, Conklin said the state is spending $7 million on the project.