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July 23, 2004
Ash Meadows looks to eco-tourism
Or rather, to better bring people from other places to visit its desert oases and 30 springs. The refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, with a public party planned for Oct. 16. Already the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has been recently filming a documentary at the refuge. Refuge manager Sharon McKelvey said she spends most of her time writing for grants these days, but has hopes for a congressional appropriation of funds this year to improve the services the refuge offers to visitors. Currently a bill for several million dollars aid for "eco-tourism" is working its way through the Department of the Interior and Congress, McKelvey said. Two new boardwalks are planned, one of which will extend over a mile long, to take visitors through the oasis wetlands, she said. Also in the works are plans for a visitor center, new interpretive exhibits and restrooms. The historic Longstreet cabin, the pioneer home of 19th-century desperado and desert curmudgeon Andrew Jackson "Jack" Longstreet, is slated for restoration as a cultural site. All of the cabin's walls have collapsed, but the goal is to restore the ruins back to its original appearance in the late 1890s. Longstreet built the cabin into the side of a mound, giving him private access to a spring and storage cavern. The refuge adjoins Devil's Hole, which is administered by the National Park Service as part of Death Valley National Park. Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1984. |
