Devils Hole - Ash Meadows Conservation Area (Death Valley National Park, Nevada)

A few months ago, I attended a lecture about an endangered fish species that survived in a remote water hole in the middle of the Nevada desert. The water hole is called Devils Hole and is contained within the Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge Area, a detached portion of Death Valley National Park. The fish is called the Devils Hole Pupfish, and it is critically endangered, as the species only exists in this very specific place. It is closely related to other pupfish in and around Death Valley, but being cut off from their cousins some 25,000 years ago, the specimen here have followed their own slightly different evolutionary path. 

As I was traveling from Las Vegas to Reno on my way home from the Wave and as Devils Hole is only a slight detour, I decided to pay these tiny desert dwellers a visit. The drive takes me through the open desert once more before arriving at the heavily fenced site. Apparently, intruders have damaged the hyper-fragile environment in the past and in an attempt to protect the species from extinction, tall barbed wire fences and gates have been installed all around Devils Hole, including the small mountain behind it.

I pull up and start walking towards the site. It's clear that accommodations have been made for the curious, as a tunnel has been built through the fencing, but protected still from anyone entering the area. It allows me to get close enough to get some pictures of the site at least. 

From the lecture I heard and from my own research afterwards, it seems Devils Hole is actually connected to a truly massive underground aquifer. Because of the size and interconnected nature of this aquifer, it is highly sensitive to earthquakes - anywhere in the world. There are reports from a few years ago that a large earthquake in Indonesia caused the water in this small pool to splash six or so feet up the face of the rocks. Of course, this is bad news for the tiny inhabitants who live in the top few feet of the water and who are completely dependent upon a small ledge jutting out into the water for both their food supply and nesting area. 

Unfortunately, I can only get pictures from a distance and cannot see the fish below. I take a few shots and move on to another section of Ash Meadows, where a closely related species is visible and not in such critical danger of going extinct. I take a few pictures as best I can before heading out. My time here is short and I quickly hit the road again, but I'm glad I stopped to pay the 200-ish remaining members of the Devils Hold Pupfish species a short visit.