Letters to the Editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Off-roaders should ask about Amargosa Valley’s future

I am an off-roader, a Las Vegas resident, and a board member of the Amargosa Conservancy. For the last 13 years, I have spent countless hours exploring the Amargosa Valley, drawn back by its miraculous springs, endless off-road trails, open public lands, and a landscape unlike anywhere else in the American West.

Off-road recreation is where I find solace, peace, and a way to de-stress. I am a member of several off-road organizations and a trail leader who leads educational trips focused on military history, geology, ecology, mapping, and navigation.

For me, off-roading has never just been about the vehicle or the trail. It is about where the trail takes you.

And there are few places quite like the Amargosa.

Here, water appears where you least expect it. Springs rise out of one of the driest places on Earth. The Amargosa River slips above and below ground on its journey through the desert. Ash Meadows holds wetlands, springs, wildlife, and species found nowhere else on the planet. Around them stretch enormous expanses of public land where you can follow an old road toward the mountains, camp beneath a dark sky, or spend a day exploring without seeing another person.

Those experiences have kept me coming back for 13 years. They are also why the off-road community should be paying close attention to what is happening in the Amargosa Valley.

There has been a lot of discussion about what the proposed Ash Meadows National Conservation Area could mean for off-road recreation. But another threat to off-road access deserves attention: large-scale industrial development across the public lands where we ride.

From large mining to data centers to energy development, industrialization would change things. Upward of 70,000 acres of solar energy development have been proposed in the broader region. If even a portion of the corporate developments proposed are permitted, the landscape available for recreation could change dramatically.

A utility-scale solar facility is not open desert. It means thousands of acres of panels, fencing, substations, transmission infrastructure, and restricted access.

You can’t ride your side-by-side through a solar farm.

I support renewable energy. I also believe in responsible siting and recognizing that public lands have many values beyond energy production. These lands support wildlife, water, cultural resources, rural communities, and recreation.

That is why I see the proposed Ash Meadows National Conservation Area differently than some critics within the off-road community. The current proposal does not impact off-road recreation or access. It protects a landscape where recreation can continue alongside conservation, wildlife habitat, cultural resources, and the communities that depend on this place.

The off-road community should absolutely be asking questions about roads, trails, and access as this proposal develops.

But we should also be asking what happens if we do nothing.

What happens when the open desert at the end of the trail becomes an industrial facility? What happens when the places where we camp, explore, and escape the city are fenced off for another use?

The Amargosa is too extraordinary to reduce this conversation to conservation versus recreation. I don’t believe those things have to be opponents.

I want to keep following dirt roads across this valley. I want other people to discover the strange miracle of water flowing through one of the driest landscapes on Earth, to stand beside the Amargosa River, visit Ash Meadows, and understand why people fall in love with this place.

I want there to still be somewhere worth riding to. That is why, as an off-roader, outdoor educator, and board member of the Amargosa Conservancy, I support the proposed Ash Meadows National Conservation Area.

Ashley Lee