Page 7 - Summer 2012 magazine-2

With the BLM’s budget limitations, it’s easy to see why partnerships
are crucial to the health of the public lands.

But, you’ve got to have Friends…
The BLM formally created the 10,000-acre
Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Lands in
1967. This was the BLM’s first experience at
managing an area dedicated to recreation

With the opening of their first in the nation Visitor 1982 - Orginal Visitor Center in construction.
Center in 1982, the BLM became aware that they
would need a trained core of volunteers to assist in
managing the Recreation Area. BLM staff members
Chuck and Carol Ward, Joel Mur and Dave Hunsa-
ker were instrumental in developing the first BLM
volunteer group in the nation: the Friends of Red
Rock Canyon Society. They worked tirelessly with
key concerned citizens to establish an independent
nonprofit entity. Anga Rebane, Friends of Red Rock
Canyon Society’s first President, and William
Civish, the BLM’s Las Vegas District’s Stateline
District Manager, signed a Cooperative Manage-
ment Agreement on September 10, 1984.
2008 - Construction on the new visitor center complex

And two friends are twice as nice.
Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association
(RRCIA) was created in 1988 at the request of the
BLM in order to have both a dedicated educational
branch as well as a fund raising vehicle through a
nonprofit organization. The first board meeting of
RRCIA was on April 5, 1988, with founders K.C.
DenDooven and Danny Riddle along with BLM
managers Runore Wyckoff, Dave Hunsaker, and
Joel Mur participating. Friends of Red Rock
Canyon loaned RRCIA $10,000 to assist with the
start-up costs; this loan was repaid in the summer of
1989. (continued on page 14)
2010 - New Visitor Center

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