Snapshots of the Lower Carson Slough
Author Josh Jackson’s The Enduring Wild invites readers to explore California’s forgotten BLM lands, including the Amargosa River—revealing their beauty, fragility, and urgent need for protection.
From our AC News Blog:
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Reflecting on Phainopeplas in Shoshone
By Morrigan DeVito, Restoration & Plant Stewardship Coordinator When you find a Phainopepla in a mesquite bosque, everything else comes into focus. I search for them in Shoshone Village by scanning the tops of the mesquites with my naked eye, looking especially...
Amargosa Conservancy seeks qualified individuals for a full-time Restoration and Plant Stewardship Coordinator position
Amargosa Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with over 1,900 members and supporters based in Shoshone, California and has been the leading voice for the conservation of the Amargosa River watershed for almost two decades. The Amargosa Conservancy is...
California Wildlife Conservation Board Awards Amargosa Restoration Projects
By Mason Voehl, Executive Director In a remarkable year for the Amargosa River and Basin, the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) has awarded two critical grants to support the resilience and biodiversity of this unique desert ecosystem. These grants, one...
2024 SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES
Amargosa Conservancy is pleased to announce our 2024 Summer Speaker Series! This third offering of our virtual Summer Speaker Series will feature dedicated employees from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These...
A Brief Geologic Tour of the Amargosa Basin, by AC Board Member Bill Neill
A Brief Geologic Tour of the Amargosa Basin By Amargosa Conservancy board member and secretary, Bill Neill ORIGIN OF PALEOZOIC CARBONATE STRATA THAT ALLOWS LONG-DISTANCE GROUNDWATER FLOW By definition, desert areas have little rainfall and natural water sources such...
Desert Magic
by Taylor Patterson Tribal Affairs Consultant to the Amargosa Conservancy The desert has always represented magic to me. I would sit wide-eyed while my mom regaled tales of dragonflies at the Shoshone pool and hikes in the Kingston Range. I would daydream about what...
Executive Director’s Report: The Ephemerality of Laughter
by Mason Voehl, executive director Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plough, but...
Enjoy this boring plant, while you can
Despite being part of the rose family, there is really nothing about blackbrush -- Coleogyne ramosissima -- that commands your attention. Even after the rare very wet desert springs when it comes into full bloom, its flowers are pallid yellow, pretty close up but...
Rare Plants of Tecopa
by Naomi Fraga Amargosa Conservancy Board Treasurer Director of Conservation Programs, California Botanic Garden The Amargosa Basin is globally renowned among desert locations for its unique and rich biodiversity. Across the length of this “hide and seek” river, we...
Executive Director’s Report: Reflections on this Monsoon Season
Rainbow over Ancient Lake Tecopa By Executive Director, Mason Voehl It is truly difficult to articulate just what this monsoon season has been like in the Mojave Desert. The last few years have been rough on the Amargosa Basin and the southwest as a whole. The drought...
Fishes of the Amargosa Basin
By Patrick Donnelly Vice President, Amargosa Conservancy Great Basin Director, Center for Biological Diversity Before the Amargosa Basin was the hottest, driest place in North America, it was relatively moist. Abundant precipitation during the Pleistocene (as recently...
Warm Weather Hiking: When to go, what to bring
Temperatures are on the rise in the Amargosa Basin, which means it's a good time to reevaluate your approach to warm weather hiking. First, to be completely clear: May, June, July and August tend to be extreme in the Amargosa Basin. Temperatures regularly exceed 115...
Summer Seminar Series, 2022
The Amargosa Conservancy is thrilled to launch its first ever Summer Seminar Series! These seminars will feature presentations by our board of directors on the history, ecology, geology, and other fields related to our work in the Amargosa Basin. This is your chance...
An Amargosa Moment: The Elusive Bend
Join Mason Voehl, our new Executive Director for this exciting new series on our AC blog all the moments and encounters in the Amargosa that leave lasting impressions on us.
Introducing: An Amargosa Moment
Join Mason Voehl, our new Executive Director for this exciting new series on our AC blog all the moments and encounters in the Amargosa that leave lasting impressions on us.
History and Change on the Old Spanish Trail
For several decades after 1829, Los Angeles and Santa Fe were linked by a 700-mile trade route known as the Old Spanish Trail. Mule trains crossed the Amargosa region, between Las Vegas and the Mojave River, via a series of springs a day’s travel apart. A 22-minute...
Photo Series: Amargosa Seasons – winter
Winter in Amargosa is a season of drama.
Film: Keepers of Bitter Waters
Keepers of the Bitter Waters: A film by Fred Bell.
Vole party + leaving Shoshone
Experiences as an intern: babysitting a colony of voles and leaving Shoshone
Back on the Tracks
After a few hectic weeks, the Amargosa Conservancy interns are getting back to their normal routine.
The Great Old Broads Visit for a “Broadwork”
The Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a national organization that engages and inspires activism to preserve and protect wilderness and wild lands. Their mission statement says that they bring knowledge, commitment, and humor to the movement to protect our last wild places on earth, and boy- they did not disappoint.
Afton Canyon Conservation Campout
Staff from the Amargosa Conservancy, BLM, Sierra Club, and Leave No Trace completed final preparations for the arrival of the campers. Joining us in this camp were the Junior Rangers, conservationists in training from Barstow, ranging from ages 8-13 and Two family groups representing the Council of Mexican Federations (COFEM)
Spring Updates – Wildflowers of 2017
As they days lengthen in the Amargosa Basin, some spring flowers are starting their show.
While it’s not the great super-bloom of last year, for those willing to go explore there are plenty of treasures to find out there!
Out and About in Afton Canyon
In partnership with the Hispanic Access Foundation, the Amargosa Conservancy has been leading trips to Afton Canyon to provide information and access to the beautiful lands that belong to all citizens of United States.
Small River, Big Waves
Two of our major areas of work were featured in a series on climate change produced by the Desert Sun and distributed via USA Today!
Bulrush in Blossom: Spring in the Amargosa Valley
Growing Native Bulrush in human care. We hope that supplementing the already existing bulrush in the marsh will help to facilitate even more successful growth rates. Soon enough, all of this happily growing bulrush will be more than ready to house it’s furry friend, the Amargosa vole.
Destination: Kingston Range
Located in northeastern San Bernadino county in Eastern California, the Kingston Range and Wilderness partially drain into the Amargosa Basin. The 7000+ ft peaks rise in the distance to the southeast of Shoshone and Tecopa.
Superbloom Continues, Grows
The Death Valley Superbloom continues!
Amargosa Conservancy in the News
The early spring bloom in Death Valley and the Amargosa Basin brought a lot of attention to the Amargosa Conservancy. Several large media outlets picked up the story.
2016 Desert Wildflower Update 1
It may be a few months early, but wildflower season has begun!
Visit the Amargosa Basin – Crown Jewel in the Mojave Desert
The Amargosa River is over 175 miles long occasionally resurfacing to create lush oases surrounded by a harsh dry desert environment. Theses oases are isolated from one another, and, as a result, each one provides unique habitats for species that are found nowhere else in the world except along this desert river.
The Silurian Valley Spared – But will it be Conserved?
Spanish energy giant Iberdrola proposed a massive solar facility in the Valley. The Bureau of Land Management Barstow Field Office denied Iberdrola’s application, stating that the potential impacts of the project to wildlife, historical resources, and recreational and scenic values, “likely could not be mitigated,” and ultimately deciding that, “the project would not be in the public interest.”
Nitre Lands of California: A Report on the 1903 Building
Prepared by Carol A. Corbett Great Basin Research 5036 N. Cimarron Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89149 For U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management 2800 Cottage Way Sacramento, CA 95825 Order No. BAP990119 January, 2000 View the full 30-page report as a PDF...