How conservationists are honoring the life’s work of wildlife biologist Jim Lusk.

Native Nevadan and resident of Tonopah since the mid-1970s, the late Jim Lusk was known as a champion of environmental stewardship and his legacy is now formally memorialized in a way that truly honors the love Lusk had for his life-long work with the Nevada Dept. of Wildlife (NDOW).

“On Saturday, Sept. 6, employees from NDOW, along with a cadre of 59 volunteers representing a variety of non-governmental conservation organizations, built a new wildlife water development in the Silver Peak Range near Tonopah,” NDOW Regional Public Information/Education Supervisor Doug Nielsen told the Pahrump Valley Times. “In addition to benefiting wildlife, this new guzzler will serve as a memorial dedicated to James ‘Jim’ C. Lusk, who served for nearly 30 years as a wildlife biologist for NDOW, most of those years in the Tonopah area.”

Lusk’s NDOW career started in 1973 at the Verdi Hatchery in Washoe County. The following year, he and his wife, Rosie, relocated to the town of Tonopah, where Lusk took up the post of NDOW biologist and game warden for Nye and Esmeralda counties. He continued to work as such until his retirement in 1997 and was instrumental in the translocation of a variety of Cervidae species — including elk, deer and sheep — to the area. Lusk passed away in 2023 at the age of 74.

With his dedication to Nevada’s fauna such a central part of his life, the memorial water development, known as a “guzzler”, is something that Lusk would have deeply appreciated. Designed to trap and store rainwater, guzzlers are typically constructed at remote locations to provide all kinds of creatures and critters with water throughout the drier periods of the year.

“The Lusk guzzler is comprised of a 40-foot by 80-foot metal apron that catches rainwater. In the apron, the water is funneled through pipes into five 2,300-gallon storage tanks, which is roughly 11,500 gallons of storage capacity. In this instance, the guzzler is located where it will benefit Desert Bighorn Sheep, but all wildlife in the area will profit from its presence,” Nielsen noted.

Other organizations that took part in the construction of the new Silver Peak Range guzzler were the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited - Reno Chapter, the Tonopah Elks Lodge and other dedicated volunteers, including Lusk’s wife, Rosie, and sons, Jason, Jeremy and Aaron.

“I just want to say thank you,” Rosie remarked. “It means so much that in some way, somebody remembers the work that Jim did all the years — and all of the guys back then that got the sheep transplanted from all over and made a wonderful resource for Nevada. Our family appreciates it so much. To have this plaque for Jim means the world to us.”

Chrissy Pope, another volunteer and the person who brought the build to the attention of the Times, labeled Lusk as a true sportsman and conservationist. Pope is also the chair of the Nye County Wildlife Advisory Board, a position that she said she had accepted because of Lusk.

“Anyone fortunate enough to have known or spent time with Jim will remember his infectious laugh, his appreciation for a cold beer and his love for Nevada’s wildlife,” Pope reminisced. “He was my friend, my idol and he will be forever missed!”

Pat Cummings, president of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, also spoke about Lusk and his time working with him as a fellow wildlife biologist.

Describing Lusk as a “very charismatic biologist”, Cummings recalled, “I worked with Jim closely in the 90s, I was a young biologist then. I learned quite a few things from Jim, like how to work hard and how to have fun doing hard work. And folks who have ever been to the Monitor Range on Table Mountain to enjoy an elk hunt, they really owe Jim a lot of thanks, because he was largely responsible for how and why we have Rocky Mountain elk there.”

The fraternity organization provided the plaque that now sits at the base of the new guzzler and Cummings said he was pleased to have been able to help facilitate that memorial.

“We thought it only appropriate to have the Lusk family here, to have this project dedicated to Jim Lusk and to have a plaque placed in memorial with the inscription written by the Lusk family,” Cummings said.

That inscription reads, “Dedicated to the life and career of James C. Lusk. For nearly 30 years, he worked with NDOW as a wildlife biologist. He was involved with transplanting sheep and building guzzlers throughout the state. His work will forever improve sheep hunting in Nevada.”

Today, Hunter Burkett is the NDOW Wildlife biologist based in Tonopah and is continuing the work to which Lusk dedicated much of his life. Burkett explained why the guzzler was being built specifically to support the bighorn sheep population.

“These type of sheep are called Great Basin Desert Bighorn sheep and they have unique genetics here,” Burkett said. “We’ve gone through some pretty significant disease events in the last few years and hopefully, this could aid in their recovery in some ways.”

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com