Tule Springs is one of the larger

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

retreats in

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 ...

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 ...

, and the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...

. It is a significant

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 ...

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

consisting of a series of small

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s that formed an oasis in this area 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 ...

. Both the springs and the ranch are located within the

Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs is a park in Las Vegas, Nevada. The park is centered on Tule Springs, a series of small lakes that formed an oasis in this part of the Mojave Desert. One of the larger urban retreats in the Las Vegas Valley, Tule ...

which is operated by the City of Las Vegas.

Tule Springs Ranch

Tule Springs Ranch and the associated buildings are listed as a district on 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 ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and located within this area. The ranch district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 1981.

Tule Springs Archaeological Site

The area was home to numerous Native American visitors in the pre-Columbian period. More recently, it served as a guest

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...

for out-of-state residents seeking to "live" in Nevada and gain access to its easy

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

requirements. Several of the ranch's buildings remain, as do a few peacocks. The springs archeological site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1979.

Tule Springs Wash

The

wash WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievi ...

, also known as the Upper Las Vegas Wash feeds into the

Las Vegas Wash Las Vegas Wash is a 12-mile-long channel (an Arroyo (creek), "arroyo" or "wash") which feeds most of the Las Vegas Valley's excess water into Lake Mead. The wash is sometimes called an ''urban river'', and it exists in its present capacity because ...

. The wash area also includes several patches of the rare

Las Vegas bear poppy ''Arctomecon californica'' is a species of poppy known by several common names, including California bearpoppy, Las Vegas bearpoppy, golden bearpoppy, and yellow-flowered desert poppy. It is a perennial herb that is native to the eastern Mojave D ...

. This area is part of the proposed

Ice Age Fossils State Park Ice Age Fossils State Park is a 315-acre state park in North Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, on the northernmost fringe of the metropolitan area. It is located adjacent to the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument near Willie McCool Re ...

, a conservation area and a proposed national park. In 2014, congress designated the area as a national monument, naming it

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, a United States National Monument near Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, was established in 2014 to protect Ice Age paleontological discoveries. The monument is administered by the National Park Servic ...

.Obama signs Tule Springs monument into law
/ref>

References

External links

Tule Springs Ice Age Park
{{Coord, 36.323917, -115.26603, region:US_type:landmark, display=title Oases of Nevada Tourist attractions in the Las Vegas Valley Bodies of water of Clark County, Nevada