Print page

USA Conservation In Nevada

Situated in the Western United States, Nevada is ideally located between California, Utah and Arizona and the national parks of the West including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Arches, Craters of the Moon etc.

Project Location

Locations may vary according to where your help is most needed:

• Lake Tahoe
• Lake Mead
• Great Basin National Park
• Cave Lake Recreational Area
• Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
• Spring Mountains National Recreation Area
• City of Henderson
• Jarbidge Mountains
• South McCollough Wilderness Area
• Black Rock Desert
• Ruby Mountain
• Death Valley

Project Age Limit

To take part in this project you must be between 18 and 35 years old.

Programme Requirements

You will need to be reasonably fit and healthy to take part in this programme. Work hours will be long and difficult, and may require hiking up to three miles per day in strenuous landscape. Despite the hard work, many past volunteers have found this project very rewarding with an immeasurable sense of accomplishment when completing the programme.

Programme Details

The Nevada Conservation Project gives the opportunity to get involved in a diverse, challenging and rewarding conservation project. Duties will include:

• Construct and maintain minimum impact trails and control erosion
• Learn the art of dry stone masonry, using it to construct retaining walls, switchbacks, water bars, and riprap erosion control barriers
• Other responsibilities include recreating tread surface to allow proper trail run-off and removing encroaching vegetation from the trails

Other duties involve a variety of restoration practices, these include: devalue illegal roads, transplant native vegetation to the area, native plant restoration, removal of non-native invasive plants, transplanting of native plant seedlings.

Fall 2010 Project: 16 Sept - 26 Nov (6-10 weeks) - FULL

Project will consist of reseeding and replanting perennial and annual grasses, shrubs and trees along the beautiful Truckee River and Steamboat Creek in Reno, NV. Volunteers will also gain experience in re-building stream embankments and implementing erosion control elements such as willow waddles and pole plantings of native riparian vegetative species. Volunteers will learn about the restoration of ecological structure and function to disturbed environments, as well as ecologically based invasive plant management.

Schedule: In the field Monday through Thursday. Volunteers will return to their local lodging after each day in the field. There will be no camping while in the field. Volunteers will be free to do as they please Friday through Sunday. Volunteers can choose to do 6 weeks or 10 weeks in duration for this project.

Your Typical Itinerary

Your typical itinerary will consist of either a four-day working week, with three days off or an eight-day working week, with 6 days off.

Sample working day:

Please note: Itineraries and activities are subject to change. Please see specific project details for volunteer schedules.

Orientation

When you arrive at the project you will be given a detailed orientation. The orientation will include safety procedures that will apply during your time on the project. You will be given instructions on your assignments when you arrive and before each of the projects you will be involved on.

Programme Support

Throughout your stay, you will have the support and guidance of the programme staff. They will provide you with competent assistance and help you with any questions or advice you may need during your stay. In addition, you will receive a contact for onsite staff when you arrive and we will provide you with a 24 hour emergency contact number before you depart, so that you can contact one of our UK staff at any time should you need to.

Accommodation and Meals

Whilst in the field, volunteers will be either camping in primitive wilderness settings or in developed campgrounds. During your time off you will be accommodated in a house in Reno or Las Vegas. The houses are equipped with multiple beds, two bathrooms, laundry facilities, Internet access, and a full kitchen. If you are based from Reno, the house is located across the street from the University of Nevada- Reno and within walking distance of downtown, therefore providing volunteers ample opportunity to explore the town during their off time.

Living in the field can be hard work, but it also represents good company beside a campfire, watching out for shooting stars, and enjoying the peace and quiet of a short respite from the city. Tents are provided. Volunteers are responsible for sleeping bags, sleeping mats, clothes, and other desired personal items. Weather in Nevada can be unpredictable, so warm and wet weather gear is highly recommended. Food and cooking gear will be provided each day. Every meal will be cooked at camp within a communal dining environment. Special dietary requests will be accommodated.

Please note that if you are doing the Fall 2010 project, no camping will be involved. You will be staying in local lodging each day.

Free Time

There are many activities one can partake in on their time off. The on-site staff will also help organise and lead activities periodically throughout the program. Onsite staff will possibly organize one recreational trip per six-week session. These trips are to premier locations such as Yosemite NP, Lassen NP, and Death Valley NP.

Getting There

Depending on which session you do you will need to arrange your flights to either Reno or Las Vegas Airport.

Project Dates

Please contact us for more programme dates

Prices and Durations

USA Conservation In Nevada - 6 - 8 weeks £549
USA Conservation In Nevada - 8 - 12 weeks £659

What’s Included in the Project

• Orientation on arrival
• Volunteer Project
• All Accommodation
• All Meals
• $150 security deposit (returned to you at the end of your programme so long as you abide by the programme rules and respect the property)
• Full support and assistance from your co-ordinator throughout your time in Nevada
• Buddy list of other volunteers before you go
• 24 hour support number and contact at Real Gap for emergencies

What’s Not Included in the Project

• Flights
• Airport pick-up
• Travel Insurance
• First night accommodation (if needed)
• All items of a personal nature, such as souvenirs, gifts, clothing
• Any excursions over and above your planned itinerary in America

USA

The United States of America is a melting pot of cultures all thrown together 200 odd years ago by the mass immigration to the ‘New World’ by pretty much everyone; Europeans, Asians, South Americans and so on. Throw in the customs of the African Americans brought over by the slave trade and the Native Americans and you’ve got the world’s current super-power.

Made up of 50 states including Alaska and Hawaii the USA is pretty huge! With this hugeness comes a whole variety of geological features, for example, the Great Lakes in the North, the desert of Nevada, the Grand Canyon, the rolling prairies of the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains and the subtropical marshlands of the Everglades in Florida. You have a bit of everything in the USA- including the most famous and cosmopolitan cities New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami, breathtaking National Parks- Yosemite and Yellowstone, right down to the quaint colonial towns and low populous central and Midwest states full of ranches and farms. You can get involved or you can get away, there really is something for everyone and oddly enough because American Culture is so thoroughly known around the world, its all bound to be somewhat familiar. Why not explore this continent a little further and find something a bit different?

Time
The USA has four time zones (not including Hawaii and Alaska) all of which are behind the Greenwich Mean Time. They are:

• Eastern time; five hours behind GMT (New York)
• Central time; six hours behind GMT (Chicago, Texas)
• Mountain time; seven hours behind GMT(Rocky Mountains, Southwest)
• Pacific time; eight hours behind GMT(California, Nevada)

Don’t forget to take Daylight Saving Time into account from mid-March to early November.

Climate

This is really dependent on where you are! Generally though, the temperature throughout the USA is temperate. As a general rule it is hotter the farther south you go (you can still go to the beach in Florida and Southern California in the winter!) with more extreme weather the further North and the further from the coast you are. The USA encompasses all six of the major climate zones from polar through to tropical humid- the only country in the world that does.

If you have any further enquires, please do not hesitate to contact the team at the Real Gap office on 01892 516164 or info@realgap.co.uk

Real Gap Experience, 1 Meadow Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2YG Real Gap Experience is a trading name of Real Travel Ltd.

Company registered at Companies House UK. Registration number 3977046.

Print page