The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected
wildlife refuge
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
located in the
Amargosa Valley
The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California. The south end is alternately called the "Amargosa River Valley'" or the "Tecopa Valley." ...
of southern
Nye County
Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, behi ...
, in southwestern
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
. It is directly east of
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...
, and is west-northwest of
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.
[Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge](_blank)
The refuge was created on June 18, 1984, to protect an extremely rare desert
oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
in the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
. It is administered by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
.
Geography
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is part of the larger
Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex
The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in northwestern Clark and southwestern Lincoln counties, with much of its land area lying w ...
, which also includes the
Desert National Wildlife Refuge
The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in northwestern Clark and southwestern Lincoln counties, with much of its land area lying ...
, the
Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR) is a protected wildlife refuge administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located in the Warm Springs Natural Area in the Moapa Valley of Clark County, Nevada. The refuge is east of Death ...
, and the
Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge
The Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, at the southern end of the Pahranagat Valley and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is north of Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, in Lincoln County, ...
. Inside Ash Meadows is
Devils Hole
Devils Hole is a geologic formation located in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park and surrounded by the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada, in the Southwestern United States.
Devils Hole is habitat for the onl ...
, a detached unit of Death Valley National Park.
Ash Meadows is within the
Amargosa Desert
The Amargosa Desert is located in Nye County in western Nevada, United States, along the California–Nevada border, comprising the northeastern portion of the geographic Amargosa Valley, north of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
The ...
, of the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
ecoregion. The
Amargosa River
The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, int ...
is a visible part of the valley hydrology, and has seasonal surface flow passing southwards adjacent to the preserve, to later enter
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
.
Natural history
Ash Meadows provides a valuable and unprecedented example of
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
oases habitats, that have become extremely uncommon in the southwestern deserts. The refuge is a major discharge point for a vast underground
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
water system, reaching more than to the northeast. Water-bearing
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
come to the surface in more than thirty
seeps and
springs, providing a rich, complex variety of mesic
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s.
Virtually all of the water at Ash Meadows is
fossil water
Fossil water or paleowater is an ancient body of water that has been contained in some undisturbed space, typically groundwater in an aquifer, for millennia. Other types of fossil water can include subglacial lakes, such as Antarctica's Lake Vosto ...
, believed to have entered the ground water system tens of thousands of years ago.
Numerous stream channels and
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s are scattered throughout the refuge. To the north and west are the remnants of Carson Slough, which was drained and mined for its
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
in the 1960s.
Sand dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
occur in the western and southern parts of the refuge.
Endemic plants and animals
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established to provide and protect habitat for at least twenty-six
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
plants and animals, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.
[ Four fish and one plant are currently listed as ]endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
.
The concentration of locally exclusive flora and fauna that distinguishes Ash Meadows is the greatest concentration of endemic biota in any local area within the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It has the second greatest local endemism concentration in all of North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
File:Ash Meadows NWR Amargosa Pupfish (5120919575).jpg, The endangered Amargosa pupfish
''Cyprinodon nevadensis'' is a species of pupfish in the genus ''Cyprinodon''. The species is also known as the Amargosa pupfish, but that name may also refer to one subspecies, ''Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae''. All six subspecies are or wer ...
in Kings Pool
File:Enceliopsis nudicaulis var corrugata 6.jpg, Ash Meadows sunray
File:Crystal Spring in Ash Meadow.jpg, Crystal Spring in Ash Meadow
File:Ash Meadows NWR entry sign 2017-05-14 002.jpg, Ash Meadows NWR entry sign 2017-05-14
Endemic flora
There are many plants endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Ash Meadows, including:
* Ash Meadows sunray (''Enceliopsis nudicaulis'' var. ''corrugata'')
* Ash Meadows blazingstar (''Mentzelia leucophylla'')
* Ash Meadows gumplant (''Grindelia fraxino-pratensis'')
* Ash Meadows milkvetch (''Astragalus phoenix'')
* Amargosa niterwort (''Nitrophila mohavensis'')
* Spring-loving centaury (''Zeltnera namophila'')
Discoveries
In 2010, Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
announced that a team from the school had discovered two new bee species in the genus '' Perdita'' at Ash Meadows.
References
External links
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: official Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge website
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex website
{{authority control
Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Amargosa Desert
National Wildlife Refuges in Nevada
Protected areas of Nye County, Nevada
Ramsar sites in the United States
Wetlands of Nevada
Protected areas established in 1984
1984 establishments in Nevada
Landforms of Nye County, Nevada
Meadows in the United States