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Description:
Ash Meadows NWR is approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in southern Nye County. The refuge provides habitat for at least 26 plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Four endemic fishes are currently listed as endangered. This concentration of indigenous life distinguishes Ash Meadows as having a greater concentration of endemic species than any other local area in the United States, and the second greatest in all of North America.Ash Meadows provides a valuable and unprecedented example of desert oases that are now extremely uncommon in the southwest United States. The refuge is a major discharge point for a vast underground water system stretching more than 100 miles to the northeast. Water-bearing strata come to the surface in more than 30 seeps and springs, providing a rich, complex variety of habitats. North and west are the remnants of Carson Slough, which was drained and mined for its peat in the 1960s. Sand dunes appear in the western and southern parts of the refuge. Numerous stream channels and wetlands are scattered throughout the refuge. Virtually all of the water at Ash Meadows is "fossil" water, believed to have entered the ground water system thousands of years ago. Directions:
15 miles south on State Rt. 373 from Amargosa Junction to Spring Meadow Rd., then turn east 5 miles to refuge headquarters.
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