Primm has been Nevada’s lotto town for decades. For some, though, the real jackpot is spotting a rare bird.

A stopover on the drive into Las Vegas from Los Angeles, Primm was once a thriving outpost for travelers, complete with themed casinos, an outlet mall and a lotto store that is technically in Nipton, California, to avoid Nevada’s lottery ban. The town’s slow decline now has a completion date.

Its resort-casinos are set to close in July. With it, a little-known respite for migratory birds may disappear. A small patch of trees and grass that birders have unofficially dubbed the “Primm Forest Preserve” is an unusual yet popular oasis, sometimes to the chagrin of casino workers who live at the apartment complex across the street.

“It has an element of excitement,” said Tom Baxter, a Las Vegas birder and field biologist. “It feels like anything in the bird world could show up at Primm on any given day, especially during migratory peaks.”

Baxter, 35, said he moved to Las Vegas about a year ago and has quickly become this year’s top citizen scientist for the habitat on eBird, a Cornell University Lab of Ornithology website that allows enthusiasts to keep a log of the birds they spot at different sites. He has seen rare birds in Primm that wouldn’t otherwise be spotted in Southern Nevada, such as a Baltimore oriole and a painted bunting.

A spokesperson for The Primadonna Co., the resort-casino operator, said it would maintain the grounds of the town’s resorts until they close and referred any further inquiries to the Primm family, which owns the area’s real estate.

The Primm family’s spokesman declined to answer questions about whether irrigation of the area would continue, but shared a statement Thursday that it is “tirelessly working to find potential solutions for the Primm properties” and is working toward a revitalization.

But whether they know it or not, the Primm family is sitting on a secret.

The grassy, unassuming area off the main drag offers one of the only spots with leafy trees and grass within a 50-mile radius — something that offers a much-needed Mojave Desert respite twice a year during spring and fall migration.

A loss for birders …
but not so much for birds

According to eBird and birders interviewed for this article, the site experiences an unexpectedly high volume of migratory bird diversity.

The potential closure may be more impactful for the birding community that loves the spot than it is for birds themselves, said Dave Anderson, a Las Vegas birding guide with The Wild Sights and vice president of the Red Rock Audubon Society.

Migration patterns lead birds to follow the length of the Colorado River, Anderson said, and Primm was a natural spot between the river cities of Laughlin or Bullhead City and the mountain ranges of Southern Nevada.

The official term is a “vagrant trap,” though Anderson says it’s less of a trap and more of an oasis.

Most birds will just adjust their migration patterns, he said, perhaps spending their time in the mountain ranges that ring the Las Vegas Valley. However, birds that get lost and need somewhere to recuperate could die.

“That type of bird probably would perish if it hadn’t found that spot,” Anderson said. “It could hang out for a week, a week and a half, almost grow its tail back, and continue on its migration. … It’s a very small-scale impact, but impact nonetheless.”

Because the patch is so condensed and stranded, it offers a more concentrated birding experience, he said.

The 204 species count on eBird is just shy of half of Nevada’s bird species, Anderson said. That’s a remarkable feat, he said, especially for an accidental oasis not much bigger than a tennis court.

“There are other oases that are bigger; they have more trees; they have more curb appeal,” Anderson said. “But, somehow, Primm has some type of magnet that makes it surprisingly productive.”

Could birds be the
key to Primm’s comeback?

Even if the Primm family shuts off irrigation, California birder Ben Zyla said the preserve might survive anyway.

Zyla, 46, once led birding tours with the now-defunct Bird Las Vegas and said it was one of his friends who came up with the unofficial title for the preserve. On his way into Southern Nevada now to visit, it is a no-brainer: a 15-minute-maximum stop off Interstate 15.

“With Primm, anything’s on the table in terms of seeing birds from the East Coast, Alaska or south of the border,” Zyla said.

Most of the trees are heat-tolerant species and not ornamental, Zyla said.

He believes the trees could “take a licking” from the extreme desert heat without regular irrigation and be just fine.

Baxter, the Las Vegas birder and field biologist, said birds could be the solution to Primm’s woes as the family searches for ways to keep the resort-casinos alive. He hails from Cape May, New Jersey, an international destination for birding that has capitalized on its identity to generate tourism revenue.

Thus may emerge a lucrative, somewhat unexpected rebranding for Primm.

The Primm family should lean into the birding season and create a more official preserve with more trees and a water feature, Baxter said. Primm could quickly become a favorite for environment-related professional conferences.

“It’s a hypothetical,” Baxter said, “but it has potential.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.