ABSTRACT
Background and early project development There are few less likely places for healing the split between humans and nature than Las Vegas, Nevada. Perhaps nowhere embraces, if not outright celebrates, excess with such proud zeal as does this desert metropolis. More than the glitzy neon splendor, the tacky tourist “ amenities,” or the nonstop gambling dens of imagined (or possibly realized) sin, is the proud dežance with which this desert city alternately ¦aunts or ignores its water. As one article in a national magazine stated, “Las Vegas is America’s city of fantasy, and water, not wealth, is its greatest fantasy of all…displayed more lasciviously than sex” (Figure 5.1). On the one hand, tourists along the Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard) are exposed to water displayed as grandiose, carnival-like features, such as imagined Italian fountains, Venetian canals, tropical lagoons, or pirate-infested Caribbean seas. On the other hand, how Las Vegas is dealing with restoring the environmental degradation caused by its stormwater runoff is a story worthy of celebration. The Clark County Wetlands Park System is the largest open space (3,000 acres) in the urban Las Vegas Valley and is considered the hub of the regional trail system. Its creation, generated through development of an incredibly comprehensive master plan, represents over 20 years of involvement and planning.
