Ash Meadows fire contained

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

About 80 interagency firefighters had contained by 6 p.m. Tuesday a wildland fire in Ash Meadows, a unique desert oasis filled with plants, snails and fish.

Lightning early Sunday sparked the blaze that burned 1,670 acres, U.S. Forest Service firefighter Larry Benham said.

"There's just a few hotspots we're watching," Benham said. One helicopter was working the fire along with two ground engines.

This same unique area, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and filled with springs containing wildlife found nowhere else on earth, experienced a wildland fire four years ago "almost to the day," Dick Birger, project manager for the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, said. The previous fire burned the southern end of the refuge.

Unlike the Robber's Fire near Mount Charleston last week, the Ash Meadows blaze did not threaten private homes.

However, the fire began near Ash Meadows Cow Camp, a ranch that hosts chuck wagons in summer months. A ranch crew cleaning up from a Saturday night meal spotted the lightning-sparked blaze and called Amargosa Valley volunteer firefighters.

The efforts of fire crews at Ash Meadows were hampered by environmental protections of the springs and the rare species.

Red fire retardant could not be used because of the threat to endangered species, said Greg Marfil with the Bureau of Land Management fire crew. And the area's springs were off limits as a firefighting resource because of the rare fish.

A private pond close to the fire supplied water for dousing the flames, Marfil said, describing Ash Meadows as "a pretty incredible place."

Jim Deacon, biology professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an expert on Ash Meadows, said that the fire may contribute to the environmental health of the 22,000-acre refuge by burning away non-native grasses near the springs.

There are 25 endemic species of plants, snails, aquatic animals and fish. The four endangered fish species found on the refuge include the Devil's Hole pupfish, Ash Meadows Amargosa pupfish, Warm Springs pupfish and Ash Meadows speckled dace. One endangered plant occurs on the refuge, the Amargosa niterwort.

"It is the highest concentration of unique endemic species anywhere in North American, north of Mexico," Deacon said.

The refuge also hosts the Amargosa vole, a subspecies of mammal found only at Ash Meadows, Deacon said.

"You're losing a lot of habitat at one time," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Cristi Baldino said.

The fire burned north and west through the northern half of the refuge, she said. It ignited near Longstreet Springs, burning vegetation around the springs, then moved northward toward Rogers Springs and Fairbanks Springs, where some plants were saved, Baldino said.

A pair of endangered birds, Southwest willow flycatchers, lost their nest in the fire, Baldino said.

In the mid-20th century, the springs forming Ash Meadows watered farms that grew melons, fruit trees and cotton fields. Invasive weeds brought in during those days reigned in the desert oasis, Baldino said, including salt cedars and grasses.

Biologists will try to control the growth of the salt cedars and non-native grasses after the fire is out.

After the last fire four years ago, the salt cedar and grasses grew back faster than the native plants.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens after this fire is out," Baldino said.