Saturday

This Week’s Hike 06/08/2012

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
E-P1120070This week I traveled with a friend to the 22,117 acre Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. This Mojave Desert area contains more than 30 seeps and springs that, when combined, produce more than 10,000 gallons of water per minute, providing water for wetlands, creeks, lakes, mesquite and ash thickets, cottonwood trees, meadows, and salt flats, all of which are surrounded by saltbush flats and Mojave Desert Scrub. These wetlands in the desert support the greatest single area concentration of endemic species in the US, with 24 species of endemic plants and animals. There are 13 threatened or endangered species on the refuge, including 4 endangered fish and 1 endangered plant. Check it out here …  Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.