Storm cleanup at Wetlands Park could cost Clark County $100K

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Clark County Wetlands Park and Nature Preserve, known for its natural beauty, is a popular spot to get outdoors and enjoy nature in the Vegas Valley. What is not beautiful, is an astonishing amount of trash pushed into the park by recent storms.

“This is an amazing amount of trash, more than I have ever seen out here,” shared Elizabeth Bickmore, Senior Program Administrator of Wetlands Park.

Any trash within the Las Vegas Wash upstream can make its way down.

“Because it gets intercepted here, it is not going to make its way down into Lake Mead so it’s a good thing; however, it is such an eyesore.. We will get a random mattress or shopping cart,” Bickmore contended.

Bickmore explained stopping trash from flowing further downstream is exactly what this part of the park is designed to do.

“This is going to take weeks to clean up… We can bring in heavy equipment, it is very expensive, takes a lot of coordination… We have budgeted $100,000 for this project and I don’t know if that is going to be enough,” Bickmore stated.

The park has put up signs to let people know clean up coming. Signs also let visitors know part of the trail system is closed due to storm damage.

Wetlands Park plans to wait until monsoon season ends to clean it all up.

“We know that people come out here and they want to see beauty and it is really hard to see all of this trash, but we want then to know we are aware of it and we are going to try and address it this fall,” Bickmore said.

Volunteers can pick up trash around the wash. There are monthly events. You can sign up for September right now on the park’s website: Clark County, NV (clarkcountynv.gov)

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