Winter hours begin at Ash Meadows Visitor Center

As the seasons shift and the cold air flows into the area, the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is now operating on its winter schedule.

The center, located on Spring Meadows Road, is now open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The visitor center provides visitor services, information, interactive exhibits and a bookstore, as well as classrooms and meeting space. The building also houses administrative offices for refuge staff.

Additionally, the Ash Meadows Visitor Center is offering weekend programs in December.

The programs include Crystal Boardwalk tours on Saturdays and Sundays, starting at 1 p.m., and birding tours on Sundays at Crystal Reservoir, beginning at 8 a.m.

After heavy rains fell on the area last month, roads in the area saw heavy damage. After working diligently to reopen those roads, all refuge roads and entrances are open at this time with the exception of Longstreet Road, which is still closed due to flood damage.

The U.S. Department of Transportation provided a $50,000 grant to repair the flood-damaged West Entrance Road leading into Ash Meadows.

Public Affairs officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Jim Balduini said that no programs, or anything else besides road damage at Ash Meadows, was affected by the flooding incidents.

Ash Meadows is located about 30 miles northwest of Pahrump and covers nearly 24,000 acres of spring-fed wetlands and desert uplands that provide habitat for at least 26 plant and animal species that occur nowhere else in the world.

For more information call the visitor center at 775-372-5435 or check the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge website at www.fws.gov/refuge/Ash_Meadows or their Facebook page for updates on the condition of Longstreet Road.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.