Nearly 40 Million visitors now come to LAS VEGAS for indoor entertainment. But near the Las Vegas Strip, there’s a virtually undiscovered outdoor attraction that could generate thousands of new jobs for struggling Nevada. It’s our Serengeti in the Spring Mountains.
Las Vegas could become the hub of Southwest adventuring as Grand Canyon helicopter tours, Red Rock mountain climbing and Death Valley tours demonstrate. Now that gaming is spreading across many states & continents, we must promote our iconic Wild Horses & Burros in Western landscapes that can’t be recreated in Kentucky, France or China. No other state or nation can offer wild horse safari-style adventure on this scale.
- Quick and comfortable tour vehicles can follow paved roads, hikers can utilize trails, while ATV riders and mountain bikers can follow dirt roads throughout the mountains.
- Horse lovers could take trail rides for a few hours or pack trips lasting several days.
- Wilderness enthusiasts and photographers will pay to sit in remote blinds to photograph Wild Horses & Burros without human backdrop.
- Plein aire painting groups from around the world can spend their days in the horse & burro range and evenings on the Strip.
- Luxury travelers may want to stay in elegant tented camps and lodges near the Spring Mountains.
- Many more visitors – particularly American families – will want inexpensive safari-style open vehicles, campfire meals and even bunkhouse accommodation on nearby ranches.
- As the Chinese economy strengthens, Chinese visitors will be drawn to the iconic American West as Japanese and European tourists have been.
- Local and international companies like Pink Jeep tours, Adventure Las Vegas (ATV & horseback tours), Virgin Atlantic, etc. can promote Wild Horse & Burro Tours.
2011 Visitor quote: “I haven’t seen horses in Red Rock for years. Are any wild horses or burros left near Las Vegas?”
Yes! They are most easily seen at Cold Creek, west of Highway 95 and just 50 minutes north of Las Vegas. They can also be found on the west flank of the Spring Mountains northeast of Pahrump. A handful may still survive in other parts of the Mountains.
Unfortunately a Serengeti-like experience in the Spring Mountains will disappear if the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service (USFS) refuse to try an experimental management program.
If they continue with management as usual, the next BLM roundup will destroy potentially thousands of tourism jobs at a time of great need in Nevada.