Nancy’s Garden was created in 2023 by Virginia Range Wildlife Association (VRWPA) by a vote of
the organization. It honors the legacy of Nancy Kilian, who at the time of her passing was
President of VRWPA. Nancy lived in the Highlands for about 20 years and volunteered her time
and effort to make Storey County a better place. Nancy’s passion was the area’s wildlife and
particularly the wild horses She was active in VRWPA shortly after moving here. Her first job was
shoveling horse manure at Sherry O’Mahoney’s then diversionary feeding site. She became an
active participant at monthly board meetings. Over the years she participated in special VRWPA
events informing the public of the work that this all volunteer 501c3 organization was
undertaking. She was involved in necessary diversionary feeding to help prevent horses being
hit on the roads. She helped locate injured horses and often coordinated their care with the
range manager. And Nancy was one of the first wild horse advocates to volunteer with American
Wild Horse Campaign which had received permission from the Nevada State Department of
Agriculture and the Governor to start a pilot program to administer birth control vaccines to
wild horse mares on the Virginia Range. It was an experimental program to reduce the wild
horse population and show the Bureau of Land Management that there was a viable alternative
to inhumane wild horse roundups using helicopters. Those roundups always resulted in the
separation of family bands and the deaths of many of the horses. The program has been
successful and the numbers prove it. Hopefully this project will eventually demonstrate to
Congress that nearly $100 million dollars every year can be saved while letting a reduced
population of wild horses no longer be wards of the U.S. Government and be allowed to be wild
and free.
Nancy was also a volunteer as a site steward for the Petroglyphs at Lagomarsino. She regularly
drove her ATV out there to document incidents and theft and vandalism at this site which is a
rich part of Nevada’s history.
And Nancy also volunteered as a member of the Story County CERT team. She assisted in
searching and locating missing persons, helped with traffic control during special events and
was always available in the event of a natural disaster to assist in the event of a wildfire or
earthquake.
Nancy’s Garden was established by VRWPA as a memorial as well as a place to meditate, pray
and view the wild horses, deer, birds including eagles, hawks and owls. Not to mention bobcats
and coyotes.
The enclosed viewing area was designed and built by Ashton Roy with help from his parents.
Ashton became an eagle scout upon completion of this project.
There are many friends and neighbors who made Nancy’s Garden possible. The VRWPA Board of
Directors co-ordinated the project. Major contributors inlude Suzzanne Roy and AWHC, Lacy ]
Dalton and Let ’em Run John Kilian, Lance Gilman, Dr. Tejvir Singh, and Wayne Johnson. WHPL
Bruce McKay, who d rlled the well, and Tim Torrel,w ho hand carved the wooden bench at the
request of Marty Wright, Nancy’s close friend. And special thanks to dozens of Facebook friends
and Highlands friends and fellow wild horse advocates also contributed. And to the volunteers
who monitor the site on a daily basis, thanks for your contribution to keep our wild horses wild
and free.