DAN SIMMONS / PVT Animal control workers transplant ducks and geese in cages at the Bowman Pond Monday. Advertisement

The quacking of ducks and honking of geese was a little quieter around the Calvada duck pond Monday morning, after a host of animal control officers drastically thinned the flock, transplanting them to the Bowman pond temporarily.

Nye County Manager Rick Osborne said he authorized the move. Osborne said he consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We lost several hundred fish. So we took water samples and the water samples showed high levels of ammonia that was the result of a lot of fecal matter," Osborne said from his offices at the old Nevada JobConnect building on the Calvada Eye.

Osborne said it looked like "a duck ghetto."

Nye County Emergency Services Director Brent Jones said the operation at 8 a.m. took only about 40 minutes to transplant over 30 ducks and geese.

Animal control left about two dozen ducks and geese at the Calvada pond so residents can relax and feed them. A few wild water fowl can also fly in occasionally to chill out.

"Until the construction is finished at the Calvada Eye we're going to transplant them to the Bowman pond. The Focus Group gave us permission," Jones said.

The Bowman pond is in a fenced-in area at the south end of town off Hafen Ranch Road. The pond is stocked with fish from a northern Nevada fish hatchery and open to organized groups.

Construction crews recently demolished the old Calvada building. County commissioners hired Nevada Geo-Tech on June 2 to design a new county administration building and meeting room at the Calvada Eye. Commissioners are considering building either a stick-built, steel or modular building.

It's uncertain when the building construction will be completed. But Jones was optimistic.

"The county manager and board of commissioners, I know they're working on plans for a new facility. The options are being considered and I think it'll be sooner rather than later," Jones said.

Jones said the county plans to drain the pond and put in a new liner to make it more pleasant for the public before filling it up again.

"They seem to have adapted already, and it is a much nicer facility down there," Osborne said of the new home for the ducks and geese.

Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky said at a recent meeting he is researching grant money to build other improvements around the Calvada Eye, like some pedestrian walkways. Nye County acquired the 32-acre Calvada Eye in 2004 for $3 million.

In 2007 the Pahrump Arts Council and the Rotary Club of Pahrump Valley were given a lease for a three-acre slice of the Calvada Eye for a new visual and performing arts center.

The area around the Calvada Eye was designated a town center zone in the Pahrump comprehensive zoning map approved in June 2007. Planners envisioned zoning for a pedestrian-friendly, town center district similar to Green Valley in Henderson with businesses like boutiques and art galleries.

The Calvada Eye was picked as the town center over a few proposed locations during a survey in 2006.

Osborne said the duck pond is a popular place for local residents. He wants to see it spruced up and looking better.