Explore the Amargosa

AMARGOSA WILD AND SCENIC RIVER

The Amargosa River is a groundwater-fed river in the Mojave Desert that flows for 185 miles from Beatty, Nevada to Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California. Sometimes known as the “Crown Jewel of the Mojave Desert, the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River (AWSR) is an underappreciated yet breathtakingly beautiful riparian corridor just outside the southeastern edge of Death Valley National Park. The perennial flow of the river and the dozens of springs and seeps along its reach sustain an abundance of unique, endemic, and endangered species, including the Amargosa vole, Amargosa niterwort, and Least Bell’s vireo, to name just a few.

History

 

 

In the 1960s, Mariam Romero organized field trips of over 40 scientists, academics, interested people, and organizations to the Amargosa region.

This resulted in increased interest, technical papers, and significant citizen support for the Amargosa area. In 1980, Mariam’s efforts led to the BLM establishing the Amargosa Canyon Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and the Grimshaw Lake ACEC. The associated ACEC Management Plans established goals to protect water resources essential to the maintenance of valued resources and management goals for those resources, including threatened and endangered species and habitat as well as cultural, scenic, and historical values. 

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Amargosa Conservancy founding board members Bill Christian and Susan Sorrells advocated to secure designation as a Wild and Scenic River (WSR) for the Amargosa in order to protect its remarkable values and free flowing characteristics from future environmental threats. Amargosa Conservancy was a catalyst for broad support for such designation. As part of their planning process, in 2002 the Bureau of Land Management completed a study to specify the remarkable values of the Amargosa River in California and recommend which portions were eligible for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. 

Perennial pool along the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River

In a 2008 Draft Amargosa Water Report, Christian succinctly described the conservation value of a Wild and Scenic River designation:

“The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act creates an express federal reserved water right that encompasses some or all of the instream flows of designated rivers or river segments in an amount necessary to achieve the purposes of the Act, which is to preserve the free-flowing condition of the river and those values for which the river was protected.”

Waterfall in the Amargosa Canyon south of Tecopa, California

In 2009, these efforts paid off when a 29.7-mile section of the river in California received Wild and Scenic status through the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.  In 2019, the WSR was expanded to a total length of 33.8 miles.

The United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is charged with developing a Comprehensive River Management Plan for the Wild and Scenic portion of the Amargosa River. Once a CRMP is completed, Amargosa Conservancy will continue to coordinate with partners to support implementation of the river management plan.

Today, the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River (AWSR) is a protected reach of the river within the Middle Amargosa Basin where the river flows freely over the ground surface from near Shoshone, through Tecopa, and into the Amargosa Canyon. The river’s crossing of Highway 127 near Dumont Dunes marks the downstream terminus of the AWSR.

Amargosa Conservancy supports recreation in the Amargosa area, including along the AWSR. We are proactive in protecting the many unique values of the Amargosa as well as providing information so that visitors can access and enjoy this unique protected river through hiking, bird watching, nature studies, photography, soaking in the natural hot springs, and four-wheeling.

Hiking into the AWSR along Willow Creek
Flood waters inundate the playa in Tecopa after heavy rain
The AWSR in Sperry Wash north of Dumont Dunes

From our blog: AMARGOSA WILD AND SCENIC RIVER

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