Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group
info@nnsg.org
Elko County Community Conservation Projects
Contributed by Susanne and Gary Reese
Are you aware of the numerous Elko people who volunteer for local conservation initiatives? They are critical in ensuring the success of Stewardship activities like our semi-annual Tree Sales, the Elko Sage-grouse Experience, National Trails and Public Lands Day projects, willow staking and sagebrush plantings, seed gathering, streambank stabilization for clean water, revegetation after wildfires, and wildlife habitat restoration.
This month we highlight the work of the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group (NNSG). This volunteer non-profit organization banded together in 1998 as the direct result of a Bureau of Land Management- led workshop “Community-based Partnerships and Ecosystems for a Healthy Environment.” For over two decades they have implemented the workshop’s main theme that local landowners – the ones with “boots on the ground” knowledge of the ecological needs of their own lands – can more effectively execute remedies by teaming up with others who care and want to help.
NNSG is a ground up enterprise, driven by locals and supported by donations and grants. Members work to build trust with landowners. For example, helping to ensure that family ranching can be economically and environmentally sustainable for present and future generations. The organization’s approach to land management issues is science-based and values-driven in order to achieve solutions that can be supported by both resource users and land management agencies. From its inception, NNSG’s projects have proved so successful that hundreds of locals have contributed volunteer time to collectively solving the diverse challenges facing our community.
Volunteers are as diverse as our residents, and have included students, ranchers, miners, educators, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, federal and state agency personnel, elected officials, business owners, and retirees. Basically, anyone who cares about preserving northeastern Nevada’s high quality recreation, productive landscapes, culture, and lifestyles.
Participation in monthly meetings is open to anyone, where emerging natural resource management options are discussed and a consensus is sought on building collaborative working partnerships to implement science-based solutions. Each year the Stewardship hosts or co-sponsors ecosystem workshops, ranch and rangeland tours, Cowboy Poetry program speakers, the Elko Sage-Grouse Experience, an annual awards dinner, and various on the ground project work days.
You too can contribute towards community-based stewardship projects and participate in an ecosystem-conscious approach to land and resource management. You will meet and work with people who have similar interests and a desire to help heal the earth. To find out more, contact a board member at (775) 762-2636 and follow-share Facebook’s Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group page and Elko Sage-grouse Experience Page.