Travel to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada with Nathan Marcy, our Senior Federal Lands Policy Analyst, to protect the refuge and it’s threatened and endangered species from the threat of a proposed mining activities. You can help protect this unique and sensitive habitat by adding your signature: https://act.defenders.org/page/64184/action/1
Video Transcript:
Usually, I work in our Washington, D.C. headquarters, but today I’m in the field at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada.
The Ash Meadows Refuge is located in the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert might be the hottest and driest desert it in the United States.
But I’m here on a January day and it’s cold and there is snow on the ground.
The thing that makes the refuge unique is a series of over 30 groundwater fed springs that support a remarkable diversity of life.
There are at least 26 species of plants and animals that are endemic to the refuge, which means they are found nowhere else on earth. 12 of those species are also listed as threatened or endangered.
The springs and the species that depend on them are protected by the refuge.
But because they depend on groundwater, they are vulnerable to activities that occur outside the refuge’s boundaries.
I came to the refuge to participate in a meeting to discuss proposed mining activities that could threaten the sensitive environment here at Ash Meadows.
This is Point of Rock Spring, one of the springs in the Ash Meadows Refuge. The water is crystal clear. And on this cold day, there’s steam rising from it.
I can see some tiny fish swimming around, they are about 1 to 2 inches long and silvery blue in color.
I think they might be the Ash Meadows Amargosa Pupfish, or maybe one of the other threatened or endangered species of pupfish that are endemic to the springs here in the refuge.
These fish species would be at great risk if the water in the spring were to be depleted by mining activities that are proposed to occur just outside the refuge boundaries.
Defenders of Wildlife works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America. Together, we can ensure a future for the wildlife and wild places we all love. works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America. Together, we can ensure a future for the wildlife and wild places we all love.
Defenders of Wildlife
