Las Vegas, NV
|
 |
This project was one of the most interesting and challenging we have ever done. In partnership with the financial firm PricewaterhouseCoopers of Boston, MA, and the non-profit organization Partners for Public Spaces of New York, NY, EDA was tasked to assess the market for interpretive and recreational opportunities at the proposed Middle Kyle Complex (MKC) on the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area outside of Las Vegas, NV. Spring Mountains NRA is a unit of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. |
 Kyle Canyon has daunting management problems. The Upper Canyon is a high-altitude area of mixed conifer forest. It is one of the few areas in southern Nevada to receive significant snowfall. Las Vegas residents eager to go sledding overrun the Upper Canyon following a snowstorm, causing traffic and safety problems, impacting several sensitive plant species and creating stress for residents of the small community of Mount Charleston (which lies at the end of the box canyon on a small corridor of private land). Similar problems plague the area on summer weekends when Las Vegas locals come to escape the heat. |
|
| The Spring Mountains NRA has received significant funding (> $40 million) to develop a parcel of land it acquired in Middle Kyle Canyon. The objective of the development is to relieve stress on the Upper Canyon by providing adequate parking (with shuttle service to the Upper Canyon) and a range of interpretive/recreational opportunities that will not only reduce the impacts of peak-use periods, but also draw weekday visitors to smooth out the spikes and troughs of the current usage pattern. The development plan must describe a facilities complex that will be economically self-sustaining, because no appropriated Forest Service funds will be available for operations and maintenance in the long-term. |
 |
|
| EDA was tasked to inventory and analyze interpretive opportunities in the Las Vegas Valley, and to develop a range of development scenarios that will provide a decision-making framework for the Forest Service. This included crafting interpretive themes, a process almost universally based on resource significance (by asking questions like “What’s unique or special about this place?”). |
 |
While we did not abandon this planning model (it’s the basis of most of what we do), we also had to assess the market potential of the interpretive themes (by asking questions like “Which of these themes have the greatest potential to draw tourists from the Las Vegas Strip?”). We were also tasked to assess the effectiveness of various interpretive media and make recommendations based on our findings.
|
|
EDA’s work products included:
• inventory and market analysis of existing and proposed regional interpretive opportunities
• inventory and analysis of environmental education programs in the Las Vegas Valley
• development and testing of interpretive themes
• review of academic literature regarding the effectiveness of various interpretive media
• survey of professional members of the National Association for Interpretation (NAI) to identify preferred communication techniques and media, as well as to identify outstanding interpretive facilities
|
• facilitation of stakeholder meetings at which themes and media were discussed and rated
• facilitation of three public open houses at which themes and media were discussed and rated
• facilitation of three focus groups, one composed of interpretive professionals, another of representatives of special interest groups (i.e. ATV riders), another of general-interest users of Kyle Canyon and residents of Mount Charleston
• case studies of successful/outstanding interpretive facilities identified through the survey of professional NAI members
• case studies of recreation resources facing challenges comparable to those at Kyle Canyon
• five development scenarios.
|
|
|
Our PWC partner conducted financial analyses of demand for various recreational activities and facilities, while PPS held public open houses targeted at minority communities in Las Vegas to identify their recreational preferences and needs. Our combined work product was a report of nearly four hundred pages. The next phase of the planning process, in which EDA will once again partner with PWC, will be based on the content of that report and provide detailed financial and market analyses of the preferred development scenarios.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
