Ash Meadows events

Over on the right, within the 'Pages' links are flyers for upcoming Ash Meadows NWR events that you definitely need to check out!!! Make your plans now to be with us on these Saturdays. Don't miss the Let's Explore: Time travel event... it will be AWESOME!!! We'll see you at Ash Meadows NWR!!!

Autumn colors at Ash Meadows NWR

All photos curtesy of Cyndi Souza

Bird Song Loop trail

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all the folks who helped us with the trail construction over the past few weeks. That's the groups of the Red Rock Audubon Society, the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and the Southern Nevada Conservancy (arm of Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association). We were also joined on November 6 by members of Alpha Epsilon Delta and Chemical Interactions from UNLV. We wish to thank all these groups, their members and the independant individuals who joined us. Over the 3 days of trail construction we saw 82 volunteers who donated a total 434 hours to construct about 3200 feet of trail.

Here's a link to some selected photos of day 3

Here's day 2

And here's day 1

Ash Meadows NWR celebrates the Point of Rocks boardwalk Grand Opening next Saturday, October 30. Folks are welcome from 10 to 2. The boardwalk has new interpretive panels, cool custom made bridges, is ADA compliant and is a great way to immerse yourself in nature.

Click here for all the details.

Visit our table and say hi. And while you're there, sign up to be a member!!!

Need directions? Look in the 'Southern Nevada Wildlife Refuges' area below in the right side column, then click: Ash Meadows NWR.

The Friends and FWS say THANK YOU to 32 of the most AWESOME volunteers in Las Vegas!!! Special thanks goes to Kurt Kuznicki and his crew from the Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Bob Wilkin and members from the Red Rock Audubon Society. Also thanks goes to Blaine Benedict and the Southern Nevada Conservancy for the food. Your hard work and attention to detail completed about 1500 feet of trail and it looks STUNNING!!! GREAT JOB!!!

Phase II continues Saturday, October 30th. We'll see you there!!!

You're invited to Corn Creek this Saturday!!!

on Desert NWR

Trail building / Membership drive!!!
FREE Food / Kids activities!!!
Make a difference - Make new friends
Give back to your community - Lend a helping hand
Have an impact - Experience nature
Come help build the new Bird Song Loop Trail
Trail building from 8 am to noon
Co-sponsored by
Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the Red Rock Audubon Society
Lunch for participants courtesy of the Southern Nevada Conservancy and refuge staff
Kids activities for the little ones
It's a membership drive
Sign up for Friends of the Desert NWR Complex membership
Trail building continues after lunch for the more ardent.

Flame Skimmer The only place in the world where you could see the scene below is at Ash Meadows NWR: a bee inspects a Spring-Loving centuary.
Images by Cyndi Souza

Results of the Friends of Desert NWR Complex
Visioning Meeting September 10 and 11

This one and half day session focused on establishing a collaborative partnership between the Friends organization and refuge staff. The workshop was facilitated by Joan Patterson of the DC based National Wildlife Refuge Association. Participants explored the roles and responsibilities of each organization. The joint planning sessions addressed the Friends vision and how it dovetails with the mission of the refuge complex. The Friends, refuge managers and refuge complex staff collaborated to discuss expectations, expressed concerns and applied strategic thinking principles to develop joint project plans.

Mark Petterson Writes an Article on Desert NWR

IF you haven't read it yet, author extraordinaire Mark Petterson has written a wonderfully descriptive article about the Desert NWR. It can be found in the July/August edition of Nevada magazine on pages 22 - 23. Mark has made many trips to the refuge back country and he's always happy to take his friends along. He always takes many photos and unusually shaped Joshua trees hold a special place in his heart. If you know Mark Petterson, then you know he often relays his impression that traveling on the Mormon Well Road through the pass between the Sheep Range and Fossil Ridge is like entering a whole different world. There is also a little blurb about Mark on page 5 of the magazine. Read his article and comment on it here. We'd love to know what you think.

You can read Mark Petterson's article if you click here http://nevadamagazine.com/Nevada_Magazine_turning_book

Tarantula Hawk wasp at Ash Meadows

Ecological technician, April Bradshaw, photographed this Tarantula Hawk in a wash along the North Road (towards Longstreet) on June 30. The 2.5 inch wasp was crawling all over a Desert Milkweed plant, eating its nectar and pollen. If you don't know anything about Tarantula Hawks, they are a huge wasp nearly 3 inches in... length that are spider hunters. They feed primarily on tarantulas and trap-door spiders, luring them out of their burrows by probing the spider's silk entrances. The wasp then stings the spider, injecting paralizing venom. Next the wasp drags the victim into a burrow, lays a single egg on it, then seals the entrance. The larva will hatch and feed on the still-live prey and emerge next spring.