Editor’s note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

Nevada’s bet on preserving its red rocks, open ranges and desert waterways is getting bigger.

A $42 million investment announced this month by Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Conserve Nevada Program is heading into the next phase, with money directed to trails, habitat restoration and recreation infrastructure across the state.

Conserve Nevada, under the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, will distribute more than $12 million in grants to preserve nearly 35,000 acres of recreation area and critical habitats while opening nearly 49,000 acres to the public.

Much of the money is flowing into Northern Nevada, targeting habitat restoration and recreation along the Humboldt, Muddy, Carson, Truckee and Walker rivers. Officials also flagged “significant investments” at marquee destinations including Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument and McCullough Hills in Clark County; Ash Canyon near Carson City; and Tahoe Meadows in Washoe County.

Rounding out the conservation work: wildfire mitigation in the Ruby Mountains and Warm Springs Natural Area, postfire landscape restoration in the Carson City Bureau of Land Management District, and wetland and riverbank enhancements in Smith Valley in southwestern Lyon County.

“This investment reflects the dedication of the many partners working to conserve Nevada’s natural resources, enhancing public access and expanding outdoor recreation opportunities across our state,” said Vinson Guthreau, director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “The projects funded through the Conserve Nevada Program will deliver meaningful results on the ground, from restoring habitat and improving public access, to strengthening the long-term health of Nevada’s landscapes.”

State officials have increasingly spotlighted outdoor recreation as an economic driver, pointing to Nevada’s vast stretches of undeveloped land as an untapped asset.

A November report from the Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation put hard numbers to that argument: Outdoor recreation is a $24 billion industry in Nevada, generating nearly $14 billion in total economic output, supporting more than 75,000 jobs and contributing $8.8 billion to the state’s gross domestic product.

The study — commissioned by NDOR with help from Nevada State Parks, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and UNR — is billed as the first data-driven accounting of outdoor recreation’s full effect on the state’s economy and communities.

The numbers behind those figures: Roughly 159 million visits are logged annually at public and private recreation sites across Nevada and the Tahoe Basin; visitors and residents combined spend $3.7 billion on equipment, $1.09 billion on lodging, $919 million on fuel, $838 million at restaurants and bars, $758 million on retail and $537 million on entertainment and recreation services.

“Nevada’s vast landscapes are a core part of our state’s identity, offering generations of Nevadans unparalleled opportunities for adventure and connection. Today, outdoor recreation is also a dynamic sector of our economy, enhancing residents’ quality of life and attracting visitors from around the globe,” Denise Beronio, NDOR administrator, wrote in the report. “This report gives us the clear data needed to build a thriving and sustainable outdoor recreation future for the Silver State.”

Officials in September broke ground in Boulder City on the Nevada Adventure Center — a first-of-its-kind hub designed to connect residents and visitors with the state’s outdoor recreation opportunities.

It’s the first of two centers to be built by Travel Nevada, the state’s tourism promotion arm.

The project has been in the works since 2022, when the Nevada Division of Tourism secured a $3.7 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to fund both centers — a recognition that Nevada, despite ranking second in the nation in outdoor recreation capacity, has long lacked the infrastructure to match.

The timing reflects real momentum: Travel Nevada reported that more than 52 million people visited the state in 2024.

Tourists aren’t the only ones driving demand.

In Travel Nevada’s 2024 Resident Sentiment Survey, 59% of respondents cited outdoor recreation as something they enjoy about their community — the second-highest response of any attribute.

The Conserve Nevada Program is also directing nearly $30 million in additional investments to meet that demand, including more than $19 million for a hands-on science center and immersive Colorado River exhibit at the Springs Preserve’s OriGen Museum. The center and exhibit are aimed at students in Clark County. Another $3 million is headed to major trail systems, including the Vegas Valley Rim Trail, the Wetlands Loop Trail at Clark County Wetlands Park and the Lake Tahoe East Shore Trail.

“Nevada is home to incredible outdoor recreation opportunities and some of the most spectacular public lands in the country,” Lombardo said in a statement. “I’m proud of the work being done across our state to expand access to the outdoors, support local economies, conserve our natural resources and ensure future generations can enjoy these places for years to come.”

Expanding outdoor recreation is smart diversification, but the state needs to build infrastructure fast enough to handle the crowds it’s courting, said Marta Soligo, a sociologist and assistant professor at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality.

Soligo sees outdoor recreation as a natural draw for visitors who skip the casino floor — a demographic that’s growing as younger generations drink and gamble less than their predecessors.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s 2025 Visitor Profile Study found that Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — made up about 7% of the 38.5 million visitors to Las Vegas last year.

Soligo said the bigger concern isn’t attracting enough visitors — it’s what happens when too many show up. Overtourism is already straining Lake Mead and Red Rock Canyon, she said, even as overall tourism dipped last year.

Overtourism describes the phenomenon where an influx of tourists begins to take a toll on cities, landmarks and natural landscapes. Many destinations across the world are searching for solutions, including bans, fines, taxes, time-slot systems and even campaigns to discourage visitors in an attempt to make crowds more manageable.

Locally, overtourism is already affecting plant life in Red Rock Canyon.

The Center for Biological Diversity said in February that heavy visitor traffic in Red Rock Canyon has led to the forming of unofficial hiking trails, which cut through the habitat of the Red Rock sunflower, found only in Southern Nevada.

Frequent compacting of soil by bikers, hikers and other visitors could be preventing seedlings from growing.

Horses and hikers have unintentionally introduced dozens of invasive plant species to the area, while threats like climate change and excessive groundwater pumping could eliminate the small patches of water the sunflower lives off. Fewer than 1,000 of the plants remain in the wild, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The environmental organization and Save Red Rock, a grassroots conservation organization, submitted a 36-page petition earlier this year to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking for the Red Rock sunflower to be listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The sunflower is already classified by the Nevada Division of Forestry as a critically endangered native plant species.

Conservationists warned that continued heavy foot traffic from Red Rock’s nearly 3 million annual visitors could put the sunflower at further risk of being wiped out.

“After COVID, we learned the importance of diversification. If you depend on a single economy, that can be risky,” Soligo said. “But also, when I do research on outdoor recreation in Southern Nevada, we know that there is an overtourism problem in Lake Mead and in Red Rock Canyon, and there are all these tourists. Then, I talk with the agencies working there at Red Rock Canyon, and they say, how can we move tourists around to not all be in one single place? It’s very important for Vegas to spread tourists around, and so, diversification is the key word.”