Calvada Boulevard was planned to be the downtown of Pahrump when Preferred Equities Corporation split up the huge Pahrump Ranch into tens of thousands of parcels as part of the Calvada project, back in the 1970s.

The company declared bankruptcy and sold off almost all of its holdings in Pahrump a few years ago. But the entrance on Calvada Boulevard off Highway 160 still stands as the pleasant gateway to their centerpiece, their old sales office next to the duck pond, an oasis in the desert.

Now, Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky said numerous residents are upset about the many trees and shrubs on Calvada Boulevard dying due to lack of moisture. A simple solution would be to merely reach down and turn the water on, but Borasky conceded it's not that simple.

"I've had tons of emails, phone calls, badgering in public restaurants, with people screaming about the condition of the trees on that entrance going up to the Calvada Eye," Borasky said.

Nye County Commissioners purchased the 32-acre Calvada Eye for $3.2 million in September 2004, including the median strip but not the sides of the boulevard leading up to it.

"It's private land. We made all kinds of attempts to contact these property owners. None of them are responding. In the meantime these trees are dying. If we do something soon, we'll be able to do something about it," Borasky said.

The Rotary Club of Pahrump Valley at one time maintained the fountain at the entrance to Calvada Boulevard on Highway 160, but that was a short-lived project. Now it's the trees that are high and dry.

"If the county went on private property to turn on a valve to water trees that don't belong to Nye County, we'd be trespassing," Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis said.

Nye County Attorney Ron Kent concurred. Kent said he proposed to former County Manager Mike Maher the county use their water resources to extend hoses to the land. Maher resigned in March 2006.

"This is a premier gateway, entry way into the community. It looks so nice, represents Pahrump so well," Kent said.

"If the board feels so strong, we can try to contact the owners, enter into some kind of dialogue for a mutually acceptable resolution of the issue. I don't see government and private properties interest necessarily being in conflict when it comes to preserving old growth trees and shrubbery. I see it being a win-win situation," he said.

Diane Herndon, from University of Nevada, Reno, Cooperative Extension Service, agreed to visit the area to size up the trees and bushes.

The pines are pretty drought-tolerant. Ash trees, however, need supplemental water, and some are already dead or dying, she said.

Oleanders that bloom beautifully in the spring near the homes on the south side of Calvada Boulevard have been getting some water, while others appear dead, Herndon said.

Juniper shrubs on the north side of the boulevard could be saved, she said, while European olive trees are very dry.

There was a previous request for the cooperative extension service's master gardeners program to take care of the plants but they had the same problem with private property owners, Herndon said.

"This could still be real pretty without a lot of water because most of these plants are real drought-tolerant," Herndon said.

The landscaping was planted in the late 1970s or early 1980s by Mo Mitchell, the landscaper for Preferred Equities, Herndon said, adding Mitchell also wrote a book on local gardening.

Speaking of the Calvada Eye, Borasky suggested the county hire a contractor to finish the building renovation there and the manufactured building that will house the county treasurer, assessor and recorder on East Basin Avenue behind the government complex.

"Time keeps ticking by. It's been months and months since those things got started along with the (Calvada) Eye," Borasky said.

Hollis said fellow Commissioner Joni Eastley has stated the county buildings and grounds department should concentrate on maintenance, not on constructing new buildings.

Nye County Facilities Manager Bob Jones wasn't present for the discussion, but Jones said if the county hires a contractor at this stage, it will have to pay county crews prevailing wages for all work previously done. He asked commissioners to be patient and said the new government offices behind the existing courthouse at 1520 E. Basin Ave. should be completed within two months.

The county has blueprints on the Calvada Eye building but is waiting on mechanical drawings to proceed on that project, Jones said.

A committee consisting of county department heads recently decided to recommend locating the county health and human services department and state health nurse in the Calvada Eye building, instead of the district attorney's offices. The old Calvada library -- which became a district courtroom when the courthouse was closed due to mold in 2001-2002 -- will serve as a meeting room. The county manager and other county administrative staff will occupy other offices at the Calvada Eye.