By: Catherine Daleo
Reading time: 2-3 minutes

Local environmental organization, Get Outdoors Nevada, has shifted its focus since the start of the pandemic to continue keeping the community clean in the safest way possible.

Get Outdoors Nevada is a local Las Vegas non-profit organization that works to connect people of all backgrounds and ages to our public lands and spaces, reminding Nevadans that their public lands are like their own backyard. Almendra Johnson, the Volunteer Program Director for GON, shared how the organization accomplishes this. 

“We strive to do this in three main ways: creating environmental literacy with our education programs, inviting volunteers to join us in helping care for the local parks and trails, and working closely with local partners in the community to increase awareness of the outdoors,” Johnson said. 

Due to the pandemic, GON has had to hold off on much of their projects and work where people were physically present. Johnson shared that at the beginning of the pandemic, on March 13th, the organization had postponed all of their in-person education programs, field trips and volunteer events. 

In responding to the pandemic, Johnson explained how they quickly moved online and put more focus on their social media platforms. “We have adapted many of our programs to videos and virtual learning modules, [and] we have even participated in virtual meetings with other companies shifting to work from home to offer trail guidance and suggest recreation sites to their teams!” she said. 

Regarding the outlook of the organization, Johnson said that the GON team has continued to be committed to meeting the organization’s missions despite the setbacks of the pandemic, and that they are planning on how they can continue to address the changes and issues the Las Vegas community is experiencing. 

“In the last few months, so many in our community have been turning to our outside spaces for comfort, normalcy and recreation!” Johnson said. “We have been providing guidance for those recreating for the first time and in different ways and we will continue to adapt our education programs for a virtual audience until we can present them in person.”

Having moved online, and working on virtual events, GON has been busy coming up with programs that people in the community can do on their own and at home.  

“We are currently promoting a virtual volunteer opportunity – a thank you letter-writing campaign, for the local heroes that have been taking such good care of our parks, trails, and public land areas during this time of increased use,” Johnson said. “We have developed safety protocols and look forward to hosting in-person volunteer events for small groups of 10-15 volunteers next month.”

Get Outdoors Nevada also has a chalk-art contest currently going on until August 4th.

You can check out all of GON’s upcoming events at getoutdoorsnevada.org/events

Get Outdoors Nevada also works closely with several other local organizations here in the Las Vegas community and in nearby Clark county jurisdictions. 

“We would like to give a loving shout out to our public land partners at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Spring Mountains Recreation Area, and Red Rock National Conservation Area,” said Johnson, who continued by saying, “You all are doing amazing work to keep our special places looking great for us all to enjoy and trek through!”

The best way to support GON and get involved with them is by visiting their website, getoutdoorsnevada.org, as well as checking out their virtual content on social media which you can follow @GetOutdoorsNV. Johnson elaborated on this by saying, “We have some really helpful info, youtube trail videos, and fun programming to get people outside and enjoying their local places.”

Johnson concluded by sharing that our local public spaces outside are for everyone’s enjoyment and experience. “We really want to make nature accessible to everyone in the community and we invite your audience and locals to reach out to us with questions so we can help make it happen.”

Get Outdoors Nevada and our magazine are currently working on collaborating to do a cleanup on Saturday, August 8th. Please stay tuned for more information!  

You can follow GON and check out their virtual content at the following links:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/getoutdoorsnv/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/getoutdoorsnv/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getoutdoorsnv

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3gWUAzyS8P4BowEZEsFvIg