Nevada parks officials will spend more than $8.5m addressing a boom in illegal roads at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the public lands around the sprawling man-made reservoir above the Hoover Dam.

Officials have documented at least 824 miles of illegal roads in the recreation area, but suspect the true amount could be double that. The unpermitted development prompted officials to close the popular campsite Government Wash in August.

“From an aerial platform, you see dozens and dozens of illegal roads that have been created… An incredible amount of damage that is occurring. We have an obligation to correct,” Trouper Snow, chief ranger of Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the time of the closure, told Fox 5 Vegas.

Snow said the roads have proliferated as the water level of Lake Mead has dropped in recent years, and people set up semi-permanent dwellings with mobile homes along the water.

“This area is not meant to house 300+ residents that are living here… Over the past five years, our enforcement has responded to well over 1,000 incidents,” Snow added speaking with the TV station.

In addition to taxing park resources policing illegal camping, the unauthorized roads damage local wildlife like the Las Vegas bearpoppy, a flowering plant with a rare ability to grow in the Mojave Desert’s gypsum-rich soil.

“In desert areas, off-road vehicles can be quite destructive,” Jeff Ruch, director of the Pacific Regional Office of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September. “They rip up whatever vegetation is there and make the land uninhabitable for wildlife.”

The National Park Service announced a five-year, $8.66 million set of conservation funds for the project in November, funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which devotes money from the sale of public lands around Las Vegas to conservation projects.

“This will be a heavily partnership and community-oriented project,” park superintendent Mike Gauthier said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with the public, tribes, and conservation-focused partners to help protect cultural and natural resources in these key park locations. Together we will take the next steps for the park’s future, working to elevate the beauty and recreation that makes Lake Mead special.”

The water level in Lake Mead has been hovering around near-record lows for years, thanks to a combination of a megadrought, the climate crisis, and the overuse of the Colorado River.

In 2022, the water levels were so low human remains and artifacts began emerging on parts of the shoreline that were previously buried underwater.