Elko District Office
| Contacts: | Lesli Ellis | , 775-753-0386 | , ellis@blm.gov |
California Trail Center Season Ends
ELKO, Nev. –The California Trail Center closed its doors Sept. 5 until its official Grand Opening in Spring 2012, but will open for special occasions such as school field trips, group tours and community meetings.
According to Center Director David Jamiel, the Trail Center will close for the third and final phase of exhibit installations. Jamiel stated, “We are getting very close to completion. By the end of spring 2012, we will have all of our permanent exhibits installed plus all the audio-visual components.”
The California Trail Center opened for the summer with about two-thirds of its permanent exhibits in place, plus two temporary exhibits; Gum San and Seeds of Change. New for 2011, in addition to phase two exhibits, was almost a mile of interpretive trails, an outdoor wagon encampment and a Shoshone wickiup, or traditional Native American dwelling. The summer season began with the eighth annual California Trail Days on May 21 & 22, which attracted more than 1,000 visitors. During the course of the summer, the Trail Center hosted more than 5,000 visitors from 46 different states and numerous foreign countries.
The California Trail Interpretive Center, operated by the Bureau of Land Management, is eight miles west of Elko at Hunter exit 292. The California Trail Center welcomes school field trips, group visits and community organizations for meetings and tours on a prearranged basis. Visit www.californiatrailcenter.org or www.blm.gov/cv5c or call (775) 738-1849 for more information.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Elko District Office 3900 E. Idaho St. Elko, NV 89801