Venture into Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, and you’re likely to find Amy Johnson and Tim Palmer tending to rows of plants that will one day restore a Mojave Desert ecosystem. And you might meet the six female inmates who help them do it.

The Las Vegas State Tree Nursery is a well-kept secret at the northern edge of the valley, providing government agencies and private companies with native and desert-adapted foliage. Whether it’s for a new park or to rehabilitate land altered by wildfire or mining, the nursery is a go-to for large quantities of trees or plants needed quickly.

“Anything we make goes right back into the nursery. We’re not really making profit; we’re just giving people the plants that need to be out there,” said Johnson, with the nursery’s live-in cat, Sid, in tow.

The

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