Lake Mead chief on closed site: ‘Homeless people did not cause this problem’

Lake Mead National Recreation Area staffers gathered with community members Wednesday evening to discuss the reopening of Government Wash, a campsite at the park that was closed amid an influx of long-term visitors and sprawling illegal roads.

Lake Mead Superintendent Mike Gauthier invited campers, off-highway vehicle users and anyone who explores the park’s trails and roads to engage in a conversation about how to best reopen the site.

“I’m a big fan of outreach,” Gauthier said. “We’re not making decisions,” he said of Wednesday’s meeting, saying he was there to listen instead.

As a couple dozen people filed into a room at a Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Boating Center in Las Vegas, community members expressed their desire to see the campsite reopened, but with new and improved infrastructure that will prevent the high crime rates previously seen by the site and allow access to resources for recreational users of the park.

While park officials previously described visitors to the site as being almost residential in nature, Gauthier said that though rangers do struggle to enforce the park’s 14-day camping limit, he said he believes the problems at the campsite were caused by “recreationists who don’t know better.”

“Homeless people did not cause this problem,” Gauthier said. “I will argue with you forcefully about that.”

Enforcement challenges

Camping at the park is limited to periods of 14 days, and Chris Noll, who hosts a Facebook group for Lake Mead family boaters, asked officials how the problem at Government Wash came to be, given this limit.

Deputy Chief Ranger Matt Stark said that while this limit applies in law, in reality, enforcing it is hard.

“It’s really difficult for us to timestamp when they arrived and to verify that they’ve been there the whole time,” Stark said.

Park officials previously said that there was a significant trash problem at the campsite. At Wednesday’s meeting, images of sprawling tents and waste were displayed.

Gauthier said that rather than police the area more diligently, which is not feasible with current levels of staffing, he hopes simple infrastructure changes, like requiring a formal reservation with a campground fee, “severely flips that narrative.”

While several park users called for increased gates that limit access, and particularly unpaid access, to the park, Gauthier said that a large number of campers at Government Wash did possess park passes.

Ideas for reopening

As a “lake lover,” Noll said that Government Wash is the only place to camp that’s close to the water. Gauthier acknowledged this, adding that it was an important aspect to consider.

“This is a huge melting pot, this whole room,” said Ken Ravago, a member of the Dune and Trails ATV Club and appointed member of the Off-Highway Vehicle Commission.

“All of us boaters, cyclists, ATVers, campers,” Ravago said, “have to applaud ourselves for being good stewards of the land.”

Looking forward to a reopening, Ravago said responsible recreators are looking to see more access to the park.

Gauthier said that while he does not have a timeline on the reopening, he hopes grant funding will come through, allowing for speedier developments.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.