The Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR) 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 ...

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 oth ...

, located in the

Warm Springs Natural Area The Warm Springs Natural Area, also known as the Warm Springs Ranch, is located near the Moapa Indian Reservation in Clark County, Nevada, at an elevation of . The area is owned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). The area is a natura ...

in the

Moapa Valley Moapa Valley is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 6,924. The valley in which the community lies, also named Moapa Valley, is about long and lies roughly northwest to sou ...

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, across ...

. The refuge is east of

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 ...

and northeast of

Las Vegas, Nevada 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 ...

. The refuge was created as 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 ...

, on September 10, 1979. The Desert National Wildlife Refuge complex also includes the

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. It is directly east of Death Valley National Park, and is west-northwest of Las Vegas.

, 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 w ...

, 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, in Lincoln County, Nevada. The refuge ...

History

One of the areas of the MVNWR, now called the "Plummer Unit," was a public, family-owned recreational park. A former general manager of the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Bob Plummer, purchased a parcel of land with an

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 ...

California Fan Palm ''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zi ...

s (''Washingtonia filifera'') and natural

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

s. It became known as "Desert Oasis Warm Springs." During the 1970s and 80's he converted the property into a spa, resort and retreat enjoyed for over several decades by Las Vegas area families, with fond memories at the "Jewel in the Desert". By 1990 the resort changed from an open-to-the-public venue into a private time-share spa. The Desert Oasis Warm Springs Resort continued to operate until a wildfire swept through the area in 1994. After the fire, the resort remained unused until 1997 when the property was purchased by Del Webb Inc., turned over to the Fish and Wildlife Service, and incorporated as part of the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Moapa dace fish

The refuge was established to provide and protect the

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 ...

of the

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 ...

Moapa dace The moapa dace (''Moapa coriacea'') is a rare cyprinid fish of southern Nevada, United States, found only in the upper parts of the Muddy (formerly Moapa) River, and in the warm springs that give rise to the river. It is the only species of the ...

of which about 1,900 exist in the Muddy River area. The habitat on the refuge consists of stream channels feeding the Muddy River including six

s emerging near the center of the refuge. Since the 1990s the dace have been in decline mainly due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and modification. Nearby groundwater pumping has decreased stream discharge and streamflows and decreased dace habitat. Competition with

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

such as the

mosquitofish The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the easte ...

and

shortfin molly ''Poecilia mexicana'', commonly known as the shortfin molly or Atlantic molly, is a species of poeciliid fish native to fresh and brackish water in Mexico and Guatemala. One population is found in caves and known as the cave molly. Description ...

have also added to the dace's decline. In August, 2005 the

National Wildlife Refuge Association The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization that works to conserve American wildlife by strengthening and expanding the National Wildlife Refuge System managed by the United State ...

and again in September, 2005 the

Defenders of Wildlife Defenders of Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization based in the United States. It works to protect all native animals and plants throughout North America in their natural communities. Background Defenders of Wildlife is a n ...

listed the Refuge as one of the 10 most endangered refuges in 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 ...

Notes

References

Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge - Intro

Bob Plummer

External links

Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge website

* ttp://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1311/pdf/ofr20061311_appA.pdf History of Water-Resources Development within the Warm Springs Area Near Moapa, Nevada {{authority control Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex Protected areas of Clark County, Nevada Protected areas of the Mojave Desert National Wildlife Refuges in Nevada Protected areas established in 1979 1979 establishments in Nevada