MARK WAITE / PVT Jim Marble talks on his phone at the Nye County natural resources office at 401 S. Frontage Road. Advertisement

Susan Moore, administrative assistant for the Nye County Department of Natural Resources, said 17 people came in the door to inquire last Friday after they advertised on the marquee that information was available about the wellhead protection program and noxious weeds.

The Nye County Commission signed a lease last spring with Provenza Neth properties for offices at a newly-constructed mall for $2,760 per month to house the department. Jim Marble, director of the Nye County natural resources department, said most of that cost would be paid for by grants.

Marble, who received his doctorate in wildlife management and range resource management from Brigham Young University, will work at the office at 401 S. Frontage Road with Moore, whose background is in radiology. A receptionist is coming down soon from Tonopah to complete the staff.

It's a more obscure department of county government. But while natural resources may sound more like wildlife issues in northern Nye County, Marble said his work has an impact on people in the southern part of the county. For example, the multi-species habitat conservation plan would address ways to reduce the fees paid per acre for desert tortoise habitat in Pahrump Valley.

"I'm on a lot of different committees and projects. One of our main ones is the Brownfields Project, on which we're continuing to receive grants, We're now up to $650,000 in grants," Marble said.

The county is planning on using the federal money to clean up properties confiscated as meth labs, as well as old mines, contamination at abandoned gas stations and possibly asbestos at the Calvada Eye building. There's also a problem with desert dumping, he said.

The county natural resources department received a $2.5 million earmark from Congress for a groundwater evaluation study in Pahrump and Amargosa valleys, Marble said.

Even noxious weeds can be an issue in Pahrump, he said, such as Russian knapweed, white top and tamarisk, or salt cedars, which drink an enormous amount of water.

"We can help people get inexpensive trees from the state nursery to replace noxious trees," Marble said.

The county is also trying to make landowners aware of the well head protection program, which emphasizes protecting wells from pollutants.

"I don't want to drink that crank case oil," Marble said.

Marble said he also supervises the two local conservation districts, works with the weed management districts and coordinates with federal agencies like the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and state agencies like the Nevada Division of Wildlife.

The ground water study, coordinated by the conservation district, didn't show any evidence of nitrates from sewage contamination in Pahrump, Marble said.

The department is working with people interested in the renewable energy initiative, Marble said. There have been inquiries from people interested in wind, geothermal even biomass energy, he said.