Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
| Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge | |||
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| Location: | Nevada , United States | ||
| Next city: | Pahrump , Nevada | ||
| Surface: | 93 km² | ||
| Founding: | 1984 | ||
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The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . It is located 140 km northwest of Las Vegas , Nevada in southern Nye County . The 9,300 hectare (93 km²) sanctuary is part of the larger Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex , which also includes the Desert National Wildlife Refuge , Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge , Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge and Amargosa Pupfish Station .
The reserve was created on June 18, 1984 to provide a habitat for at least 26 endemic plant and animal species. Four fish and plant species are present in the Endangered Species Act as ( "high risk" endangered ) listed. The concentration of endemic life in Ash Meadows is greater than any other region in the United States and the second highest in North America.
Ash Meadows provides a valuable example of desert oases that are extremely rare today in the southwestern United States. The reserve is a major relief point for a huge underground water system that extends more than 160 km to the northeast. Aquiferous layers that come to the surface in more than 30 water reservoirs and springs offer a rich, complex variety of habitats. To the north and west are the remains of Carson Slough's hot water springs, which were drained by peat build-up in the 1960s. There are sand dunes to the west and south of Ash Meadows. There are also numerous flow channels and wetlands throughout the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
Flora and fauna
The endemic fish taxa include the devil fish ( Cyprinodon diabolis ), which occurs exclusively in Devils Hole , an underground water reservoir, Cyprinodon nevadensis mionectes , Cyprinodon nevadensis pectoralis and Rhinichthys osculus nevadensis . The desert vole Empetrichthys merriami and the Ash Meadows vole ( Microtus montanus nevadensis ) have been considered extinct since the 1950s and 1930s, respectively. One endangered species of freshwater snail found in only six springs in Ash Meadows is Pyrgulopsis erythropoma . The rare swimming bug species Ambrysus amargosus has a very small distribution area in Point-of-Rocks Springs. Native plant taxas include Enceliopsis nudicaulis var. Corrugata , Grindelia fraxino-pratensis , Nitrophila mohavensis , Astragalus phoenix and Zeltnera namophila . In 2010, two new species of bees from the genus Perdita were discovered in Ash Meadows .
Individual evidence
- ^ Welcome To Ash Meadows NWR . US Fish and Wildlife Service . February 17, 2010. Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved on September 4, 2012.
- ↑ a b Two bee species discovered near Las Vegas . In: Las Vegas Review-Journal , April 19, 2010.
