If you enjoy unspoiled expanses of Nevada desert, if you’re glad Las Vegas doesn’t have an MX Missile site in its backyard and that Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump remains mothballed, you can thank, in part, the Sierra Club.
The Las Vegas chapter of the grassroots conservation group was founded here in 1965.
KNPR's State of Nevada took a look back over five decades, and looked to the environmental battles ahead with two longtime members, Jane Feldman and Taj Ainlay.
Jane Feldman
On the outings program:
"One of the advantages that the Sierra Club still has with our outings program is that our hike leaders are trained. They've been given CPR and so we know how to react when there is a problem on the trail. That helps people explore places that they wouldn't go by themselves."
On Yucca Mtn.:
"We're still working against dumping radioactive waste into Yucca Mountain. Here in Nevada we really love Yucca Mountain. It's a beautiful geologic feature 30 to 40 miles from the heart of downtown Las Vegas"
On Sierra Club mission:
"We have a charge on anything that effects environment protection and public health. That means we can get into many, many different areas we are limited only by the volunteers we have or don't have."
Taj Ainlay
On Yucca Mtn.:
"Certainly the fact that Yucca Mountain is still an issue, it seems to be a zombie that keeps coming back, is something we wish would end a little bit differently."
On Endangered Species act:
"What it's done is it's kept foremost in the minds of lawmakers and policymakers the fact that we do have species here that require monitoring that require some form of mitigation when their habitats are invaded or taken away from them by development."
On being an impediment to growth:
"We get that. It's not true at all. We're very much in favor of growth when its planned when it makes sense. We mentioned Coyote Springs as the type of development that doesn't make sense"
On what the club does:
"We're a grass roots volunteer organization that is made up of individuals who come together because they see something that needs to be done or there is something they want to do."
Jane Feldman, Sierra Club member; Taj Ainlay, Sierra Club member
