2011 Summer Orientation Wilderness 1st Aid Training
Welcome to all our new Research Associates, NCC AmeriCorps Members, and International volunteers! Check out this video of Wilderness First Aid Training during orientation week.
Ash Meadows Ed-Ventures: Making a Splash this Spring!
This spring, educators from the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership have joined with Ash Meadows staff to provide the Refuge’s 5th season of Ed-Ventures programming. Ash Meadows Ed-Ventures is an environmental education program for 3rd grade students in Nye County – a highly underserved area. While meeting important cross-curricular standards, the program also strives to foster an appreciation for Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and its precious water resources in the desert. The hope is that the Ed-Ventures experience will someday translate into a sense of pride and stewardship for their communities and public lands in southern Nevada.
Destination Devils Hole Event Report
The day began with a Jr. Ranger Program at the Point of Rocks picnic area. Ranger Rose led several young children in a lesson about the wildlife that lives in the Mojave Desert – and what they might encounter along the hike. The kids enjoyed listening to some Native American legends and touching the pelts of a bobcat, coyote, jackrabbit, and other native animals.
Stewardship Saturday: Native Planting at Tubb’s Spring
The area around the spring had been farmland prior to the Refuge’s establishment in 1984. After years of lying fallow, it had become overgrown with non-native weeds, particularly Russian knapweed. These weeds provide little value to wildlife and have a tendency to outcompete native plants.
Stewardship Saturday Volunteer Cattail Cutting
Five volunteers from Amargosa Valley and Las Vegas braved the high wind speeds to help cut cattails from Kings Pool outflow. After an orientation to the project by FWS biologist Darrick Weissenfluh, volunteers worked for 2.5 hours, removing cattails with hand clippers along approximately 40 meters of stream channel.
Stewardship Saturday Volunteer Cattail Cutting
While cattails are native to Ash Meadows, historically they were not as abundant as they are today. The reason for their overgrowth in the springs and streams at Ash Meadows is largely due to past habitat alterations – namely, the large-scale farming and ranching that occurred in the 1950s-1970s.
Nevada Conservation Corps members volunteer for MLK Day of Service
Our state honored some of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s legacies on the holiday which bears his name. To honor Dr. King’s devotion to service, Governor Brian Sandoval declared Monday “A Day of Service” in Nevada.
Desert Dumping Program
Las Vegas, Nevada is a sprawling city of nearly two million residents. It is surrounded by natural wonders on all sides, including Sloan Canyon, Red Rock, Sunrise Mountain, Rainbow Gardens and Tule Springs. These are just a few of the Bureau of Land Management’s designated recreation and special use areas bordering the city, which has […]
Flying High at Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park
Have you ever seen a squirrel fly? For most people, the answer is no. For a small group of GBI Research Associates, the answer is yes – many times! Amidst the swarm of summer hikers and mountain bikers at Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park, a five-person field crew spent long hours searching for, and gathering data on, northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus). You won’t see them very often because they’re nocturnal, only foraging for mushrooms and lichen at night. Most Tahoe locals don’t even know they exist. This summer, we often heard, “I didn’t know we had flying squirrels!” or “Yeah right, and flying monkeys too?”
Let’s Explore: Time Travelers
Over 75 people traveled back in time this Saturday at the Longstreet Boardwalk – the site of Jack Longstreet’s restored cabin – to experience life at Ash Meadows in the early 1900s.
