A Decade of Stewardship: Celebrating the Accomplishments at Gold Butte National Monument
On December 28, 2016, Gold Butte was designated a National Monument, permanently recognizing the extraordinary natural, cultural, historical, and geological resources contained within its nearly 297,000 acres. The designation marked an important milestone—but it was only the beginning of the work needed to care for this remarkable landscape.
Since that day, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), working with the Friends of Gold Butte (FoGB) volunteers, tribal partners, other agencies, and members of the surrounding communities, has made significant progress in protecting Gold Butte and improving the experience for those who visit.
As we look back over the years, it is worth celebrating just how much has been accomplished.
Caring for the Land
Gold Butte is a vast and rugged landscape, and protecting it is no small task. Some of the most important work has happened quietly, away from public view, through restoration, monitoring, maintenance, and volunteer stewardship.
BLM has worked to restore areas damaged by unauthorized vehicle travel and other disturbances. Friends of Gold Butte volunteers have assisted BLM and Friends of Nevada Wilderness in identifying damaged areas and helping with restoration efforts. Because desert vegetation grows slowly, restoration in the Mojave can take decades—even with active treatment—making prevention and education especially important.
The partnership has also tackled practical projects that make a real difference. In 2019, BLM, Clark County Public Works, the Great Basin Institute, and Friends of Gold Butte volunteers worked together to place more than 200 tons of cold-mix material on approximately 15 miles of the paved portion of the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway, helping maintain access to the monument. Similar road-maintenance efforts have been made each year since then, occurring in the late winter and early spring. FoGB volunteers have also participated in over 80 monthly trash cleanups, resulting in the removal of over 10,000 pounds of unsightly, dangerous garbage from the monument.
Improving Signs, Maps, and Visitor Information
One of the challenges of managing Gold Butte is its size and remoteness. Visitors need information to find their way while also understanding how to protect the resources around them.
Over the years, BLM has installed new monument entrance and portal signs, additional directional signs, and updated maps and interpretive information. At Whitney Pocket, for example, BLM installed a kiosk where information is placed as it becomes available.
Friends of Gold Butte developed a map of the monument that is available in their Visitor Center and other locations that is a valuable aid to those visiting the monument. In addition, FoGB opened a volunteer-staffed Visitor Center in Mesquite where knowledgeable volunteers share tips and information that enhance the visitor experience while increasing safety and promoting Leave No Trace principles. There is even a 3D printed topo map of the monument that folks can use to gain a greater understanding of the vastness and terrain therein.
These may seem like small improvements, but in a place as remote as Gold Butte, good information can help visitors travel safely and, just as importantly, avoid damaging sensitive resources.
Protecting Wildlife and Important Habitats
Gold Butte provides habitat for an incredible variety of desert wildlife, including the federally protected desert tortoise and the rare relict leopard frog.
BLM has conducted habitat improvement projects at multiple springs to benefit relict leopard frog populations. The agency has also continued restoration work in areas affected by wildfire, including efforts to re-establish native desert plants such as creosotebush, white bursage, and Joshua trees.
The monument’s desert tortoise habitat remains a major conservation priority. Invasive grasses such as red brome and cheatgrass present an ongoing challenge because they increase wildfire risk and can negatively affect desert ecosystems. BLM continues to address these threats through management, restoration, education, and fire-prevention efforts.
Protecting Gold Butte’s Cultural Heritage
Perhaps nowhere is the importance of stewardship more apparent than in Gold Butte’s archaeological and historic sites.
The monument contains an extraordinary record of human history, including rock art, archaeological sites, historic mining and ranching remains, and places of deep cultural importance to Indigenous peoples. Protecting these resources requires more than signs and regulations—it requires people who care enough to watch over them.
The Nevada Site Stewardship Program has become an important part of that effort. Volunteer site stewards receive specialized training and monitor sensitive archaeological and historic sites, reporting changes or damage to the appropriate agencies. Friends of Gold Butte has helped educate the public about this program and the importance of protecting cultural resources.
Education is particularly important because many cultural sites are fragile and irreplaceable. A scratched petroglyph, moved artifact, or vehicle traveling off an established route can permanently damage evidence of thousands of years of human history.
Building a Stronger Partnership with BLM
Since the monument’s designation, Friends of Gold Butte has worked to establish an effective working relationship with the BLM.
That partnership has included regular communication with monument staff, participation in planning efforts, providing information and documentation about issues in the monument, and working together on projects that benefit visitors and resources.
Friends of Gold Butte signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BLM and provided substantial input into the monument’s Recreation Implementation Plan. The organization also worked with BLM on a successful grant for a vault toilet, information kiosk, and tables at Cabin Canyon, funded through the Nevada Recreational Trails Program. The toilet, which was the first piece of infrastructure in the monument, was installed in 2024 and the kiosk and tables will be installed in the fall of 2026.
These projects demonstrate what can happen when a federal land-management agency and a local nonprofit work together toward a common goal.
Learning More About Gold Butte
Friends of Gold Butte has also expanded opportunities for people to learn about the monument without simply “driving through” it.
Over the years, Friends has offered educational programs, speaker presentations, guided outings, photography trips, volunteer opportunities, and information about Gold Butte’s geology, wildlife, history, archaeology, and cultural resources.
In the past ten years, FoGB has hosted a speaker series covering nearly 100 different topics related to GBNM and the surrounding Mojave Desert. The organization has also developed educational materials and online resources to help visitors explore the monument responsibly. As of this writing, our volunteers have led over 220 hikes and driving tours, with more being scheduled all the time. FoGB has held more than 160 miscellaneous events, ranging from paint nights to stewardship projects within the monument to staffing the above-mentioned visitor center.
In 2024, BLM and the Nevada Department of Wildlife hosted Gold Butte’s first Bioblitz, bringing people together to document and learn about the monument’s biological diversity. Events such as this expand our understanding of Gold Butte while encouraging a new generation of stewards. Since then, FoGB volunteers have taken the lead in conducting a semiannual Bioblitz wherein information is shared with the BLM and other agencies.
Volunteers Make the Difference
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all is the community of people who have stepped forward to help care for Gold Butte.
Volunteers have helped with cleanup projects, road maintenance, restoration, monitoring, education, special events, and cultural-resource stewardship. In one early post-designation National Public Lands Day project, 29 volunteers worked with BLM and Friends of Gold Butte to paint kiosks, repair flood-damaged fences, and install road caution and desert tortoise crossing signs.
The work continues year after year.
Friends of Gold Butte’s annual reports show an organization that has continued to grow its stewardship, education, advocacy, and preservation programs. The organization’s most recent annual reports describe continued accomplishments and new projects made possible through the support of members, donors, and volunteers.
Looking Toward the Future
The designation of Gold Butte National Monument in 2016 gave this special landscape an additional layer of recognition and protection. But designation alone does not preserve a place.
Preservation requires ongoing work.
It requires BLM employees in the field. It requires tribal consultation and participation. It requires volunteers willing to spend a day picking up trash, repairing a fence, monitoring an archaeological site, or helping restore damaged habitat. It requires visitors who choose to stay on designated routes, leave artifacts where they are found, protect rock art, pack out their trash, and respect the desert.
And it requires organizations such as Friends of Gold Butte to bring people together around a shared commitment to this extraordinary place.
The accomplishments of the past ten years demonstrate what is possible when that commitment is shared.
Gold Butte is still wild. It is still rugged. It is still wonderfully imperfect. And that is part of what makes it worth protecting.
As we look toward the future, Friends of Gold Butte is grateful to the BLM, our tribal and agency partners, volunteers, donors, members, and everyone who has helped care for this remarkable landscape since its designation in 2016.
There is much more work to do—but there is also much to celebrate. FoGB is doing just that on Saturday, December 5, 2026 at our annual Anniversary Celebration and online auction, so look for the announcement on our Meetup page and in social media.
Gold Butte National Monument was designated by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016, and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The monument encompasses approximately 296,937 acres and contains nationally significant cultural, historic, geological, scenic, and biological resources. You can read the actual designation here.
