GINA B. GOOD / PVT BLM field officer Patrick Putman, right, newly assigned to Pahrump, will soon open a local office. He's speaking with Judy Suing and Andrew Tanner of the National Forest Service, wearing required helmets. Claire Toomey of the Pahrump Public Lands Advisory Board, far left, listens with Marvin Minnick. GINA B. GOOD / PVT BLM field officer Patrick Putman, right, newly assigned to Pahrump, will soon open a local office. He's speaking with Judy Suing and Andrew Tanner of the National Forest Service, wearing required helmets. Claire Toomey of the Pahrump Public Lands Advisory Board, far left, listens with Marvin Minnick. Advertisement

It's been roughly four years since Dorothy and Noel Smithers, whose home is located at the end of Simkins Road in northern Pahrump, came up with the idea of sharing the serene beauty they enjoy each time they walk out their front door.

They suggested 640 acres that surround their neighborhood designated as a public recreation area.

The couple envisioned a park where hikers and joggers would tread lightly and people on horseback could enjoy the pleasure of riding while surrounded by the craggy peaks and granite walls of the Last Chance Mountain Range.

A parking lot large enough for horse trailers to turn around and a few picnic tables with barbecue pits, drinking water and bathrooms sounded like good ideas.

Those items are still part of the plan, but once Noel Smithers filed the initial paperwork and paid $300 in fees, more people became involved and the project became bigger -- much bigger.

The proposed park now envelops more than 1,500 acres.

Some might say it is also 1,500 times more complex as multiple government agencies with overlapping jurisdictions and responsibilities for stewardship of public lands are now involved.

Pahrump's Public Lands Advisory Board is one such group dedicated to bringing the Smithers' dream to fruition. Members of the board organized a factfinding tour Oct. 18 at the proposed park.

The tour was attended by employees of the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Pahrump. The park once envisioned by the Smithers' is now a vision shared by the town of Pahrump and experts from those agencies who met face-to-face for the first time. They have now become partners in planning Last Chance Park.

Suggestions for park use abound -- like including a designated desert tortoise habitat. Thanks to the BLM's participation in the half-day tour, experts were available to address exactly what establishing a tortoise conservation area entails.

Among other things, there is required disease testing for tortoises and paid staff or dedicated volunteers are necessary.

As a whole, the tour group decided perhaps the habitat was a project best left for later development.

A park area for ATV use was also under consideration.

However, Matt Luis, Pahrump buildings and grounds manager, told the tour group Pahrump would incur tremendous liability for that activity.

Others pointed out ATV usage also requires dust abatement and some way to keep riders away from other areas so as not to erode desert habitats or trails for horses and hikers.

National Forest Service Natural Resource specialist Judy Suing and recreation staff officer Andrew Tanner, working on the development of the large recreational area in the Spring Mountains, said their project will likely include ATV areas, thus taking the burden of providing ATV rider access off the shoulders of Pahrump.

Other ideas include an area to fly remote control airplanes and a dirt track for motocross racing.

Nothing has yet been vetted or decided, which all participants agreed made this governmental agency tour so important. Ideas could be freely explored, discussed, provisionally accepted or discarded.

According to a report in this newspaper Feb. 7, 2007, "The proposed park is designated on the master plan for the Pahrump Regional Planning District ... as a recreational reserve."

Because of the tour, there is a much better understanding of the project and its importance to the people of Pahrump. All parties now share the realization that Last Chance Park is more than a local recreation area; it might some day become a tourist destination equal to Death Valley.

There will be reports in the coming years on the progress and possibly the detours taken on the road to Last Chance Park. Today it is significant to understand that government entities -- each with different rules, procedures and hoops through which it must propel itself -- found a moment on the bumpy, dusty trail through the proposed park when obstacles prompted ideas and problems evolved into solutions.