Imagine nearly smack-dab in the middle of Lincoln County, a 100,000-acre recreation area with a trails system that ensures public land health while providing ATV, motorcycle and other motorized-vehicle users the quality experience they seek.

Now, imagine no more. About 20 miles northwest of Caliente, work is already underway on the Chief Mountain Recreation Area, purported to be the county’s first-ever designated and appropriately-located OHV-trails system.

According to BLM Ely District Outdoor Recreation Specialist Steve Leslie, the non-traditional design of Chief Mountain provides recreationists the very best that today’s public land management practices have to offer – protection of the site’s irreplaceable natural resources combined with a safe, yet enjoyable off-highway experience.

“We began the design, for example, with these large and open trailheads that almost immediately provide the rider with decision points, allowing him or her to disperse in an appropriate manner,” Leslie said Thursday, while pointing to a map detailing three several-acre, graveled parking areas from which multiple trails diverge. An informational kiosk would be included within each parking area, he said.

“…And each kiosk will contain a detailed map of the entire trails system, plus information on ‘Tread Lightly’ and ‘Leave No Trace’ – two programs which promote the safe and responsible use of our public lands,” Leslie said.

Leslie said Chief Mountain would be completed in three phases. He said phase one, involving construction of two of the three trailheads and creation of several trails, would be finished and open to the public in summer 2005. The remaining two phases, or the building of the lone remaining trailhead and completion of the trails system, would be accomplished by fall 2006, he said.

Leslie said that eventually Chief Mountain could become part of Nevada’s Silver State Trail, which proponents hope eventually to extend statewide and link to the Paiute Trail, in neighboring Utah.

The BLM, said Leslie, is not alone in developing Chief Mountain. He said the federal agency is working closely with local residents, as well as members of the business community and representatives from several non-profit organizations, including the Dunes and Trails ATV Club, of Las Vegas; Lincoln County Trails Coalition, Jim Wilkin Trucking, of Caliente; Nevada Chamber of Commerce, Pioneer Territory; and Nevada Conservation Corps. Lincoln County government too is playing a significant role in the project, he said.