ASH MEADOWS -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that two areas within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge are closed to public entry because of construction.

In the interest of safety, the public will not have access to the Point of Rocks and Longstreet Cabin areas until the work is finished.

When completed, the projects will enhance the experience for the 70,000 people visiting the wildlife refuge each year.

The wildlife refuge itself remains open to the public, and maps of the closed areas are available at entrances and at the office/visitor center.

Work in the Point of Rocks area includes construction of boardwalks, restrooms, group picnic facilities, and improvements to the parking areas.

The boardwalk will improve access to the area, which is slowly returning to a healthy state as habitat for the Ash Meadows Amargosa pupfish and other native and resident species of wildlife and plants.

The boardwalk will guide visitors to all points of interest in the Point of Rocks area, protecting it from trampling as Service staff work to further rehabilitate the fragmented habitat. Construction in the Point of Rocks area is expected to continue through the end of the year.

A boardwalk is also being built at the Longstreet Cabin area. The public will not have access to this area during the construction, which is expected to continue through the summer months.

The historic cabin, once owned by Andrew Jackson "Jack" Longstreet, was restored in 2005 after the spring mound against which it was built collapsed, knocking down the entire structure.

When open, visitors can enter the cabin and gain a sense of what Jack Longstreet's living conditions were at the turn of the 20th century. The boardwalk will improve the walk to the cabin and spring, and will allow for wheelchair access.

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established primarily to conserve the unique threatened and endangered plant and animal species that occur there.

The wildlife refuge includes more than 23,000 acres and provides habitat for at least 26 plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. This distinguishes Ash Meadows as having the greatest concentration of endemic species of any local area in the United States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 547 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.

It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations.

The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts.

It also oversees the Federal Assistance Program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. Go to the service's Web site at www.fws.gov.