Residents of Southern Nevada are being asked to "lend a hand to the lands" during the month of September in celebration of the 13th Annual National Public Lands Day. The event is the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and protect public lands. A record 100,000 people are expected to volunteer at 1,000 sites coast to coast.

The Southern Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program, Get Outdoors Nevada, is sponsoring events at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on September 23 and Lake Mead National Recreation Area on September 30. Get Outdoors Nevada is funded by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act and coordinated by the UNLV Public Lands Institute.

"Residents appear to be eager to pitch in to clean up and improve our public lands," said Nancy Flagg, director of the Public Lands Institute. "More than 60 people have already pre-registered for clean-up and restorations projects at Red Rock Canyon. We look forward to even more volunteers signing up for the Lake Mead event."

Residents can go to www.getoutdoorsnevada.org or call 895-5734 to sign up for the clean-up event at Lake Mead, which will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 30. Lunch will be provided to volunteers who pre-register.

Last year, more than 300 volunteers contributed nearly 1,500 hours to pick up a total of 128 cubic yards of litter at three separate clean-up events in the Las Vegas Valley. In 2005, some 80,000 volunteers were involved in protecting and preserving their favorite places at 800 sites across the country. National Public Lands Day is a program of the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation.

The Public Lands Institute was initiated in 2005 to work in collaboration with federal, state, and non-profit partners to create new knowledge, advance technology, improve education, and engage the community to enhance public lands stewardship. More information about the institute is available at http://publiclands.unlv.edu.