Division of Forestry helps The Nature Conservancy with Amargosa toad habitat (TNC)

How can fire help a desert toad that breeds in wetlands? The Nature Conservancy of Nevada is answering that question in the Mojave Desert — a seemingly inhospitable place for a water-dependent amphibian.

The Conservancy is conducting prescribed burns along the Mojave Desert wetlands of the Amargosa River in hopes of restoring the area’s rare and unique species.

Chief among this wildlife is the Amargosa toad, whose numbers have drastically declined because its breeding pools and wetlands have been choked by cattails and reeds. And thus far, the first Torrance Ranch burn has proven amazingly successful.

Read the complete story at The Nature Conservancy.

Plant species conservation

 

State botanist keeps his eye on Nevada’s rare flora

By Bob Conrad

Third-graders in Huntsville, Alabama are singing a new song. It goes: “The roots on the plant go root, root, root, mostly in Madison County.” It’s sung to the melody of “Wheels on the Bus.” The children are vocalizing about the Morefield leather flower, Clematis morefieldii, an endangered plant found only in Alabama’s Madison County.

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This spring Southern Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base received a permit from the Nevada Division of Forestry for new construction on a portion of the Air Force’s property. More than 200 acres, however, will remain undeveloped for the sole purpose of protecting a plant found only in the Las Vegas area—the Las Vegas bearpoppy, Arctomecon californica.

Endangered plant gains conservation ground in Las Vegas

Las Vegas bearpoppy habitat to be preserved at Nellis Air Force Base under new agreement with Nevada Division of Forestry

LAS VEGAS–If the Las Vegas bearpoppy could speak, it might say, “thank you.”

Under a new permit granted by the Nevada Division of Forestry for the Nellis Air Force Base to develop a portion of the base’s land, the Air Force will set aside more than 230 acres for permanent bearpoppy habitat.