The 2026 report from the environmental nonprofit American Rivers chose the Amargosa because it is threatened by development, including mining, lithium exploration and large-scale solar projects.
Mason Voehl, executive director of the Amargosa Conservancy, described it as a river of groundwater in one of the hottest and driest places on the planet, which nonetheless supports more than 100 species unique to the area.
“It is one of the most important biodiversity havens remaining in North America,” Voehl emphasized. “The landscape, because of these isolated springs and wetlands, hosts an extraordinary concentration of rare, unique species found nowhere else in the world.”
The river runs from the Oasis Valley in Nevada to Death Valley in California. It supplies drinking water to nearby wells and is part of the ancestral homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone, Southern Paiute, Pahrump Paiute and Chemehuevi tribes.
Chantel Dominguez, director of conservation partnerships for American Rivers, would like the Department of the Interior to ban mining for 20 years on 300,000 acres of land in and around the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, which is run by the Bureau of Land Management.
“There are protections that are temporary and due to expire in this coming year,” Dominguez pointed out. “We’re really pushing the DOI to approve this longer-term 20-year mineral withdrawal.”
American Rivers is also asking Congress to designate the Ash Meadows National Conservation Area, which would offer more permanent protection.
