Clark County Wetlands Park
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The Clark County Wetlands Park is the largest park in the Clark County, Nevada park system. The park is located on the east side of the Las Vegas valley and runs from the various water treatment plants near the natural beginning of the Las Vegas Wash to where the wash flows under Lake Las Vegas and later into Lake Mead.
One purpose of the park is to reduce the environmental impact of the waste water and storm runoff leaving the drainage basin area. This is being accomplished by installing a series of water flow control structures such as dams and weirs and by creating ponds that together slow down the flow of the water, catching silt, and reducing the undercutting of the dirt walls that form the wash. As of June, 2005 nine of these structures were operational.
The sides of the wash are being stabilized by installing native plants and large pieces of demolished construction debris. Some of the native plants, especially those in the areas of standing water, also help to purify the water by removing various pollutants as the slow moving water provides these plants with nourishment. This method of purification is also called natural water polishing.
The second purpose of the park is education. The displays within the park attempt to show visitors how the wash looked before major settlement occurred in the valley and how much impact people have had on the environment.
The park has a visitors center and miles of walking paths.
[edit] Species impact
While the end result of the changes in the park should be to improve the habitat for several threatened or endangered species, their presence, even if only for limited periods during the year, has slowed the improvements. Their presence requires projects demonstrate that they will not endanger the existing sites used by these species or impact these species in a negative manner.
[edit] Las Vegas Wash
The Las Vegas Wash is a 12 mile long natural drainage channel for the Las Vegas Valley. Before development in the valley above the wash, it was able to contain the flows from rain water that fell in the valley and hills above. When the first sewage treatment plant went on line, the flows began increasing to the point that the channel expanded in size as the increased flows eroded the wash's walls.
This erosion also deepened the channel draining one of the largest desert wetlands in the U.S. southwest as the water flowed down the channel rather than flooding the wetlands area. This has had several consequences among them, increased flows of silt into Lake Mead, fewer migratory birds, and reduced water polishing from the native plants.
