The Amargosa Toad & Oasis Valley
The Amargosa Toad is unique to the Oasis Valley and Beatty area. It is found in the Amargosa River and in the seeps and springs in the foothills along the river valley.
The Amargosa River is the longest underground river in the world. Its headwaters are at the north end of Oasis Valley and wind south through Beatty, then mostly underground through Amargosa Valley. The river surfaces again in Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge, Shoshone, and Tecopa, California, before ending in the south end of Death Valley, California.
Why the Habitat Matters
The springs and wetlands through Oasis Valley and Beatty are ideal for the survival of the Amargosa Toad and other native or unique flora and fauna. The area is also a flyway for migrating birds and a nesting ground for numerous seasonal and year-round resident birds.
How the Committee Began
The Habitat Committee was formed by the Beatty Town Advisory Board in July of 2000 to protect the Amargosa Toad and about 39 other flora and fauna considered sensitive or threatened.
Included in the goals were efforts to prevent the area from being designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the Bureau of Land Management. With Dr. James Marble, PhD, of the Nye County Natural Resources Office as an advisor, it was soon realized the plan might be more palatable to everyone if trails through the area were added to the plan. The Habitat Trails Project then became the focus of the Beatty Habitat Committee.
Habitat Protection
The committee focused on protecting the Amargosa Toad, the Amargosa River, local wetlands, and other sensitive plants and animals in the Oasis Valley area.
Trail Opportunities
The idea was to create walking trails through the toad habitat areas from the Narrows at the south end of Beatty, through Beatty and Oasis Valley, a distance of about ten miles.
The trails were designed to protect the habitat while also giving recreational opportunities to townspeople and visitors.
Working Together for the River
The Habitat Committee was transferred to the Beatty General Improvement District in 2006 and became a free agent in October of 2007. For several years, the Beatty Habitat Committee had been cooperating with the Amargosa Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Shoshone, California, because the goals of each group were the same: to preserve the Amargosa River and the water that flows through it, to protect habitat for many unique plants and animals, and to preserve the rural lifestyle along the river.
After the Beatty Habitat Committee became a free agent, the Amargosa Conservancy agreed to become the fiscal agent for the Beatty Habitat Committee and to work cooperatively to achieve the stated goals.
The First Cleanup Project
The first project of the Beatty Habitat Committee, with help from community volunteers, was to start cleaning up the Amargosa River flowing through Beatty. For several Saturdays, the group worked along and in the river to remove tons of trash, including old car parts, wind-blown trash, part of a burned-out building with the help of a volunteer and his backhoe, and piles of dead saplings that were cut out of the river so they would not impede its flow.
The trees were chipped and used for trail beds and mulch around future plantings. Even though much trash was removed, there is still more to clean.
Written by Shirley Harlan
