Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

(Redirected from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Preserve) Protected area in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, Nevada

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Ash Meadows habitat, in the Amargosa Desert.
Map of the United States
Location	Nye County, Nevada, United States
Nearest city	Pahrump, Nevada
Coordinates	36°25′30″N 116°20′00″W / 36.42500°N 116.33333°W / 36.42500; -116.33333
Area	23,000 acres (93 km)
Established	1984
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

Ramsar Wetland
Designated	18 December 1986
Reference no.	347

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 90 mi (140 km) west-northwest of Las Vegas.

In 1983 The Nature Conservancy purchased 12,613 acres that had been slated for development to protect Ash Meadows. The Nature Conservancy transferred the land to the Fish and Wildlife Service and the refuge was created on June 18, 1984, to protect this extremely rare desert oasis in the Mojave Desert.

Ash Meadows is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Geography

The 23,000-acre (9,300 ha) Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is part of the larger Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. Inside Ash Meadows is Devils Hole, a detached unit of Death Valley National Park.

Ash Meadows is within the Amargosa Desert, of the Mojave Desert ecoregion. The Amargosa River is a visible part of the valley hydrology, and has seasonal surface flow passing southwards adjacent to the preserve, to later enter Death Valley.

Natural history

Ash Meadows provides a valuable and unprecedented example of desert oases habitats, that have become extremely uncommon in the southwestern deserts. The refuge is a major discharge point for a vast underground aquifer water system, reaching more than 100 mi (160 km) to the northeast. Water-bearing strata come to the surface in more than thirty seeps and springs, providing a rich, complex variety of mesic habitats.

Virtually all of the water at Ash Meadows is fossil water, believed to have entered the ground water system tens of thousands of years ago.

Numerous stream channels and wetlands are scattered throughout the refuge. To the north and west are the remnants of Carson Slough, which was drained and mined for its peat in the 1960s. Sand dunes 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 plants and animals, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world. Four fish and one plant are currently listed as endangered species.

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. It has the second greatest local endemism concentration in all of North America.

The endangered Amargosa pupfish in Kings Pool
Ash Meadows sunray
Crystal Spring in Ash Meadow
Ash Meadows NWR entry sign 2017-05-14

Endemic flora

There are many plants endemic to Ash Meadows, including:

Discoveries

In 2010, Utah State University announced that a team from the school had discovered two new bee species in the genus Perdita at Ash Meadows.

References

"Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
^ Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Archived June 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
"Places We Protect, Ash Meadows". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
FWS.gov: Profile . accessed 10.1.2013
"Welcome To Ash Meadows NWR". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2010-02-17. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
^ "Two bee species discovered near Las Vegas". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Associated Press. 2010-04-19.

External links

v t e Ramsar sites in the United States
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Bad River Slough Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge Bolinas Lagoon Cache River National Wildlife Refuge Caddo Lake Cape May National Wildlife Refuge Catahoula Lake Chesapeake Bay Cheyenne Bottoms Congaree National Park Connecticut River Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge Delaware Bay Dixon Waterfowl Refuge Elkhorn Slough Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge Everglades National Park Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Francis Beidler Forest Grasslands Wildlife Management Area Heron Pond – Little Black Slough Nature Preserve Horicon Marsh Humbug Marsh Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Kakagon Sloughs Kawainui Marsh Laguna de Santa Rosa Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge Niagara River Corridor Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Olentangy River Wetland Research Park Palmyra Atoll Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Quivira National Wildlife Refuge San Francisco Bay Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve Tomales Bay Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge White River National Wildlife Refuge

Ramsar sites in the United States

Protected areas of Nevada

Federal

National Parks and Monuments	Avi Kwa Ame NM (BLM) Basin and Range NM (BLM) Death Valley NP Gold Butte NM (BLM) Great Basin NP Tule Springs Fossil Beds NM
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National Wildlife Refuges	Anaho Island Ash Meadows Desert Fallon Moapa Valley Pahranagat Ruby Lake Sheldon Stillwater

State

Historic Parks	Elgin Schoolhouse Fort Churchill Mormon Station Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Ward Charcoal Ovens
Recreation Areas	Big Bend of the Colorado Lahontan Rye Patch South Fork Walker River Wild Horse
Other	Beaver Dam Berlin–Ichthyosaur Cathedral Gorge Cave Lake Dayton Echo Canyon Ice Age Fossils Kershaw–Ryan Lake Tahoe–Nevada Spring Mountain Ranch Spring Valley Valley of Fire Van Sickle Washoe Lake
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National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

v t e Death Valley and Death Valley National Park
Fauna, flora and minerals	Amargosa springsnail Badwater snail Borax Chuckwalla Death Valley monkeyflower Death Valley pupfish Death Valley June beetle Devils Hole pupfish Saratoga Springs pupfish
History	Amargosa Opera House and Hotel Badwater Death Valley '49ers Death Valley Railroad Greenwater Harmony Borax Works Lake Manly (Badwater Basin) Skidoo Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Twenty-mule team
Places	Amargosa Range / River / Valley Ash Meadows NWR Badwater Basin Ballarat Beatty Black Mountains Chloride City Cottonwood Mountains Dante's View Darwin Falls Death Valley Junction Devil's Golf Course Eureka Valley / Dunes Funeral Mountains Furnace Creek Panamint City / Panamint Range / Panamint Springs / Panamint Valley Rainbow Canyon Racetrack Playa Rhyolite Saline Valley Saratoga Springs Scotty's Castle Stovepipe Wells Telescope Peak Trona Ubehebe Crater Zabriskie Point
Transportation	California: SR 127 SR 178 SR 190 Trona Railway Nevada: US 95 SR 267 SR 373 SR 374

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