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.[3]
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 desertoases 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.[2]
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.[4]
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.[5][6] 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.
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