What We Do
Resource Monitoring
Borehole Spring, by Andy Zdon
We collect data on the Amargosa’s most unique and vulnerable resources.
The Amargosa Conservancy conducts regular monitoring activities in our watershed to help gather knowledge and establish baseline data for the decision makers who manage our surrounding public lands. In Carson Slough, the outflow area for the Ash meadows National Wildlife Preserve, we conduct regular monthly water depth monitoring as well as plant health monitoring of the federally listed endangered plant, the Nitorwort.
This data is entered into a national water data bank and shared with any public agencies that have an interest
We also conduct periodic monitoring trips through the spectacular Kingston Mountain Range, reporting to the local BLM office about cattle populations, possible grazing problems, or vandalism and needed repairs to the simple facilities at the three public land springs in the range.
Removing Tamarisk from the basin
“Importantly, the Conservancy has played a key role for almost a decade in an extensive spring monitoring, water sampling and analysis program. This first of its kind project has revealed the probable and varied sources of the large amounts of ground water that surface here.”
This valuable information can now be used by land and water management entities to make key decisions that will help preserve this unique desert riparian environment. As climate change and prolonged drought continue, these decisions will be critical in sustaining the natural as well as human populations in the Amargosa region. Areas of the desert that were previously “black holes” of data are now in clearer focus due to this important monitoring work.
From our blog: RESOURCE MONITORING
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...
2020 Amargosa State of the Basin Report
This 2020 State of the Basin Report (SOBR) was prepared by Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. (Partner) on behalf of the Amargosa Conservancy (AC) as part of a much larger effort that is being conducted between AC, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), U.S. Bureau of Land...
Film: Keepers of Bitter Waters
Keepers of the Bitter Waters: A film by Fred Bell.
Stewardship on the Desert Conservation Lands Retrospective: Hydrologic Monitoring
In coming weeks, we expect the Bureau of Land Management to finalize the Desert Renewable Energy and Conservation Plan (DRECP), in which the public lands of the Amargosa Basin are likely to be designated at California Desert Conservation Lands. To celebrate, we are highlighting the decade-long partnership between the Amargosa Conservancy and the BLM to engage in stewardship on these lands
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!