Nevada off-road community helps preserve Lyon County ghost town
The Pine Grove Ghost Town Project was supported by a grant from the Nevada Off-Highway Vehicles Program to assist in preserving aspects of this historic site, and included area trash clean up, fire fuels mitigation, and fencing to protect the historic Pine Grove Cemetery.
The Nevada Offroad Association in conjunction with Friends of Pine Grove, Pine Nut Mountains Trails Association, Tread Lightly!, US Forest Service, Lincoln Mining, Lyon County, Nevadans for Cultural Preservation, Nevada Off-Highway Vehicles Program, and Nevada State Historic Preservation Office completed the Pine Grove Project Monday, Oct. 10 at Pine Grove, Lyon County, Nev.
Through partnership and collaboration with area stakeholders, including, the mining industry, land managers, national, state, local stewardship groups and community members, Pine Nut Mountains Trails Association (PNMTA) and Nevada Offroad Association (NVORA) were able to secure the forty-thousand-dollar grant.
The four-phase project took incremental steps to make a difference:
— Phase One removed trash and debris under the supervision of the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office.
— Phase Two removed the vegetation around the remaining historic buildings to create a defensible fire zone.
— Phase Three installed a metal buck and rail fence to limit the motorized vehicles while promoting walking access to the cemetery.
“As is often the case with historic burial sites, the casual visitor does not know where the plots are located”, said Mathew Giltner, Executive Director of NVORA, “nearly all of the user created access routes are driving directly on top of some of those graves."
The installation of the fencing allows for a parking area, and walking access to the burial site.
The Public Lands where Pine Grove is located are managed by US Forest Service Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Bridgeport Ranger District. The Bridgeport Ranger District is responsible to complete Phase Four, which will deploy a team to remove some of the dead trees in and near the townsite and cemetery to further reduce the risk from wildfire.
That commitment and obligation agreed to in 2020, were a key component to securing the funding for the Pine Grove project.
“It is events like these that allow the Motorized Offroad community to give back some of their time to protect the resources that draw us to Nevada’s back country” said Giltner. “Without the support of clubs like PNMTA protecting your right to recreate on your public lands, accessing Nevada’s backcountry would become increasingly difficult, so please, join a club let your voice be heard."
You can see a video of some of the work with a thanks and Video Credit to Scott Pitts, at www.pinegrovenv.com Another nearby volunteer opportunity for Nevadans to protect our access to our public lands in Northwest NV, happens this weekend October 15th with the annual Pine Nuts Desert Clean up hosted by PNMTA, information can be found on their Facebook page here.
You can find more information on the Pine Nut Mountains Trail Association here and the Nevada Offroad Association here.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Mathew Giltner at 775-430-0000 or email at info@nevadaoffroad.us.