TONOPAH -- The telephone call to the Times-Bonanza office from Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, last Wednesday, March 25, was brief and to the point:

"I wanted you to know as soon as possible that the subcommittee will be recommending to the legislature that full funding be restored to the Tonopah Conservation Camp. The budget will still have to be formally approved, but I foresee no problems with that.

"You have the support of the entire committee on this and everyone agrees the camp needs to remain open. Director Skolnik (Nevada Department of Corrections) has made the necessary changes to make funds available for the camp."

With that phone call, it appears a battle that began last July had come to a successful end, and the entire Central Nevada area can breathe easier.

The battle began as a grassroots effort when members of the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) appeared before the Tonopah Town Board in July and advised the members the Tonopah Conservation Camp was slated for closure no later than July 1.

The fight would take place on two fronts, since the camp was funded by Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) for the prison and the NDF, responsible for supervising the work and firefighting crews.

Forestry was willing to look at all options to keep the camp open but could not provide funding from its side of the budget with NDOC funding eliminated, and Skolnik was standing firm on his, and the governor's, decision to close the camp.

Area residents became even more aware of the important services provided by the TCC besides firefighting, including maintenance of area parks and schools, town cleanup, road maintenance, snow removal, fuel reduction, landfill maintenance, and much more.

These services are provided at a reduced cost to all the rural communities in Central Nevada served by the camp, and if the camp were closed, there would be no other entity to provide the services to the towns, and also no money in the town budgets to hire outside workers.

Residents began sending e-mails and letters, circulating petitions, and making phone calls to the governor's office and legislators even before the current legislative session began, and it appears to have paid off.

When representatives from Tonopah attended the first budget hearing in Carson City Jan. 26, they were pleased to see the Legislature was not going to be an easy sell because the closure made no sense to the members of the subcommittee and they advised Skolnik to go back and look at his numbers again and, as Chairman Bernice Matthews said, "I hope you will be better prepared the next time."

Representatives from Tonopah and surrounding communities attended Division of Forestry's proposed budget presentation to the legislative subcommittee Feb. 13, and it became even more apparent the committee members were against the camp closure.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, asked State Forester Pete Anderson if the closure of the camp and the increased response time to get a crew from Indian Springs wouldn't make "next summer's wildfires burn further, faster, and more destructive due to the increased response time."

Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, pointed out that the inmates at the camp will remain in the system and said, "It's a case of where those inmates are going to do the most good, and clearly that is in Central Nevada."

The Tonopah delegation again traveled to Carson City on Feb. 19, when Skolnik again presented his budget to the subcommittee, and this time Skolnik seemed more amenable to looking at ways to keep the camp open.

During the hearing, McClain voiced her concerns and said, "The huge gap in time between the slated closure of Tonopah and the opening of Three Lakes Valley, when there will be no coverage in Central Nevada, makes closure of the camp a bad idea, and different alternatives need to be explored."

Leslie said, "I would like to request a better narrative on the budget that shows an alternative to closing Tonopah and that would also keep Carson City open. I really feel closure of the camp is not a good idea, and the camps are more important now as we see an increase in non-violent offenders."

Said Skolnik: "I will be happy to do that to try to keep Tonopah open."

At the end of the meeting, the Tonopah delegation was overwhelmed by the support from all the members of the subcommittee and finally felt there was some real hope to keep the camp alive.

Friday, March 13, turned out to be the real turning point for the camp.

Skolnik again appeared before the subcommittee with a budget line item of $105,000 to put the camp in mothballs, and the committee members told him that was not acceptable.

Legislators advised Skolnik they would not accept closure of the Tonopah camp and he needed to go back to the drawing board and find funding to keep it open.

McClain's suggestion was to allocate the funds for the proposed expansion of 16 new crews at Three Lakes Valley Conservation Camp (Indian Springs) to fund the camp.

At that meeting, Skolnik agreed to allow the legislators to work with NDOC's budget staff to find the necessary funding.

When reached for comment, Department of Corrections Deputy Director of Support Services Laurie Bagwell said, "We are more than willing to work with the Legislature on the budget to be able to fund Tonopah. It was always a matter of economics with us, and if the funds can be made available by postponing expansion at another facility, we don't have a problem with that."

Bagwell also advised the department had not made the final decision but certainly a possibility is the delay of the proposed expansion at Three Lakes Valley.