TECOPA, Calif. -- In a little over a year's existence, the Amargosa Conservancy notched up some notable accomplishments in trying to protect the river for future generations, according to Brian Brown, owner of the China Ranch date farm and president of the conservancy.

The Amargosa Conservancy was chartered as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation in September 2005. Brown said it's the first local non-profit in the region to address conservation.

"Water is the key. We feel conservation has to have a strong voice and be a seat at the table here and those of us who actually live in the area hope to stay here," Brown told attendees at the recent Devil's Hole workshop in Death Valley National Park.

Conservancy members complained to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management office in Barstow, Calif., about the clouds of dust that arise on busy winter weekends from off-road enthusiasts on Dumont Dunes. Brown said he also intends to address the Inyo County Board of Supervisors to avoid "going to war over it.

"On a heavy use holiday weekend they'll get 30,000 to 40,000 people at the sand dunes, about a 8,000 to 9,000 acre recreational area. Loosely computated that's about four people per acre, each one of them on a quad tearing up for three days and so it reeks up this incredible cloud of dust and dirt that people who live around there often breathe," Brown said.

The Tecopa fire chief documented 24 cases of people driving motor homes draining their sewage on the ground, Brown added. While off-road vehicle club owners say 90 percent of the owners are responsible, that still leaves a couple thousand vehicles, he said.

Part of the problem may be in the maps that aren't easy for drivers to read, Brown said. Some off-road vehicles leave the Dumont Dunes and travel into a wilderness study area, he said.

Conservancy members gave BLM officials from California a tour of the Amargosa River from the headwaters, at the Coffer Ranch upstream from Beatty, down to Saratoga Springs, at the southern end of Death Valley National Park.

BLM officials on both sides of the state line have different philosophies, Brown said. California BLM officials are dealing with an avalanche of population coming over Cajon Pass into Victorville and the Mojave Desert, along with accompanying trespass issues, while Nevada officials supervise depopulating communities that want more BLM land for economic development.

"We wanted them to see the physical river system and there are springs along the way that contribute to this river system and when you do something in one area you're most likely to affect something in the other area. Think of a microcosm, mini-example of the Colorado River Basin," Brown said.

The conservancy also offered three tours to the public into Amargosa Canyon, Willow Creek and other places. Brown said 71 people showed up for one hike.

Brown advocated a spring flow monitoring system in the southern reaches of the Amargosa River watershed. He said nobody knows exactly how much water is coming out of the river. Cooperating land owners could be approached to permit monitors on free-flowing wells and springs.

On a national level, the conservancy hopes Congress will designate 24 miles of the Amargosa River as a wild and scenic river from Shoshone to Dumont Dunes.

A previous attempt was introduced by U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, D-Santa Clarita, and co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer but it stalled in the House Natural Resources Committee chaired by former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo.

"This year we hope to get it reintroduced in portions of upcoming legislative bills," Brown said.

The conservancy is in the second year of a multi-year effort with the BLM, the Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove tamarisk from the Amargosa River drainage south of Shoshone using California Conservation Camp members.

The tamarisk is a water-intensive plant that also crowds out other species.

Brown looked forward to formation of the proposed bi-state commission, in which Inyo and San Bernardino counties in California, Clark and Nye counties in Nevada would resolve water problems shared by both states.

"In this desert area we share the water supply issues and hopefully the four counties will get together and start talking to each other about these issues," Brown said.

Likewise the conservancy has been partnering with other preservation organizations, like the Amargosa Toad working group in Beatty, Brown said. That group is working to prevent listing the Amargosa toad on the endangered species list and management of the river corridor to preserve habitat.

The Amargosa Conservancy is interested in obtaining conservation easements or outright sales of land along the Amargosa drainage area, Brown said. The conservancy already purchased the 160-acre Noon Day Camp, part of the Old Tecopa town site settled in the 1870s, about 12 miles east of present day Tecopa town and several miles upstream from China Ranch.

"We were able to buy that land and eventually make sure it does not get developed and heavy pumping doesn't occur in that Willow Creek drainage that affects the flow of fresh water into the Amargosa area," Brown said.

The conservancy has an 11-member board and a paid full-time, executive director, Tami Tripp-Massey. While it has a good head start, the conservancy has some lofty goals, Brown said, referring to development in Amargosa Valley where the river goes underground, that's paralleling what happened in Pahrump Valley with the heavy agricultural pumping.

"In terms of sustainability you have to wonder how long can this go on, maybe even a decade, and after that what happens?" Brown asked. "Our goal is to ensure the Amargosa River will continue to exist for future generations."