By Shane Bean

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | 2 a.m.

As a fourth-generation Nevadan, I was born into a family of outdoor enthusiasts who showed me the beauty of Southern Nevada.

As a child, some of my most enjoyable experiences were weekend trips spent in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. Our family would pack what we needed for the day, crawl into four-wheel drive vehicles, and just drive. No maps, no timeline and no phones, just be back later.

It was the promise of the adventure we could find in new places we had never been. We would take our time, exploring the rimrock hillsides through the Sheep Range, and wonder what lay in wait for us on the next dirt road.

Often these days were spent listening to the exciting stories my grandfather would share about his time working in the National Park Service, managing a CCC crew during the Great Depression across the Spring Mountains and portions of the Sheep Range included in the wildlife refuge.

The laughing, the lessons, the memories that are irreplaceable are forever etched in my mind. During these adventures, we discovered desert springs where I saw my first bullfrog jump 10 feet to escape the obnoxious little kid chasing him. No matter how hard I try, I cannot describe the effect of January and February rains, activating the long dormant seeds in the ground that would cover a boring desert with entire mountainsides of yellow, purple and red. My first experience with the infamous chukar partridge was when 20 or so flushed at my feet as I walked past a small grove of lifeless creosote bushes clearly not so lifeless. The distinctive chuck-a chuck, chuck-a-chuck, chuck-a-chuck echoed through the canyons for the next two hours as they called themselves back together.

I heard for the first time the crack of two desert bighorn sheep butting heads directly above a large rocky hillside strewn with petroglyphs, still etched in my mind as clearly as the day I saw them. There is no replacement for those experiences, or the memories of sharing them with loved ones.

I have since shared these same experiences with my own children. The excitement of the first desert tortoise making his way across the desert in front of us, the scorpions that always seem to find a temporary home under tents, and the coyotes howling in the early-morning hours. Those experiences are irreplaceable, and I cannot imagine a Southern Nevada that no longer affords them these opportunities.

Unfortunately, availability of these experiences is slowly disappearing. Large swaths of the Spring Mountains have been cut off due to encroaching housing and road closures. Most areas of the Lake Mead National Recreation area are now closed to all vehicular traffic, only accessible by boat or foot. Access to the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge has been limited, with fences placed around areas that once were open to exploration.

Now, the United States Air Force has petitioned to take a huge part of the Desert National Wildlife Range, to add to the available test range. The bubble of Nevada outdoor experiences is shrinking around me. I cannot fathom a Nevada where I will not have access to these unique areas. While I support our armed forces my own late father was an Air Force veteran this specific area is unique and full of life.It is not simply empty land that has no use.I can appreciate the need in expanding the Nevada Test and Training Range to the Air Force, but Nevada has already given more than its fair share to the federal government its time we start maintaining these areas, not only for the wildlife in the region but for Nevadans to enjoy.

So much of our desert is enclosed with barbed wire and No Trespassing signs keeping these areas accessible to all is the responsibility of the state. When making the decision on whether to transfer this land to the Air Force, I hope our leaders in Congress will measure the need of the Air Force with the needs of Nevada residents and the long-term damage done by taking this irreplaceable resource from us.

Such a large part of our state is already owned and controlled by the federal government, and more and more is being sold to developers, while Nevadans are left with less and less. Fewer places to enjoy with our families. Fewer places to experience the quiet and escape the cities. Fewer places to show what Nevada has to offer beyond the glitter of Las Vegas.

Shane Bean is a hiker and hunter. He lives in Las Vegas.

Editors note: Southern Nevadas congressional delegation led successful efforts in both the House and Senate to include protections for the Desert National Wildlife Area in versions of the National Defense Authorization Act that passed both chambers. The fate of the area now lies in the hands of a House-Senate conference committee that will negotiate a final version of the NDAA, which is essentially the defense funding bill.

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Experiences at wildlife refuge are irreplaceable - Las Vegas Sun