Distribution and Recovery Of Vegetational Assemblages In Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada

Abstract

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nye Co., Nevada, is a small oasis in the northern Mojave Desert. Changes in use of land through irrigated agriculture and associated pumping of groundwater, as well as mining peat moss, altered the environment prior to its designation as a refuge in 1984. We evaluated relationships between land use, land cover, and groundwater in Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge from 1948 to 2004. Recovery of land cover was documented following cessation of agricultural activities and pumping of groundwater. Land-use activities from 1948 to 1980 reduced land cover by 1,141 ha, while later changes in land-use activities allowed recovery of 935 ha of land cover. Limited change in groundwater might have aided in recovery of land cover, although no relationship was established between depth-to-groundwater and land cover.