(Connor Fields) There are places in Nevada that hold true meaning.

One of them is Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.

It's over 500,000 acres of land just an hour south of Las Vegas.

Today I'm meeting with the people who know this land, manage the land, and hold it sacred.

Come on.

♪♪♪ I'm Connor Fields, your new host for my favorite show, Outdoor Nevada.

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument holds significant cultural and spiritual importance.

Located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, this mountain is considered sacred, playing a central role in creation stories and traditional practices.

Avi Kwa Ame is recognized as a national monument, emphasizing its need for preservation and respect.

Besides its cultural significance, Avi Kwa Ame offers stunning geological features and scenic beauty.

The mountain rises prominently against the desert landscape, showcasing rugged cliffs and unique rock formations.

Visitors exploring the area may encounter petroglyphs and ancient artifacts, further connecting them to the rich history and cultural heritage.

Visitors are encouraged to approach the area with reverence, understanding the spiritual importance that it holds and recognizing the need to safeguard this unique blend of natural beauty and cultural heritage.

The Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness area offers a unique and tranquil desert experience.

This designated wilderness area is renowned for its dense Joshua Tree forest where these iconic spiky trees create an otherworldly landscape.

Today I'm meeting up with Lillian, a biologist with the Bureau of Land Management.

Lillian, we're here at Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness, and there are thousands of Joshua Trees everywhere.

We're only an hour outside of Las Vegas, but I don't see any Joshua Trees there.

Why are they all here?

(Lillian Setters) So Joshua Trees need special habitat requirements.

They typically only grow from about 2,000 feet to 6,000 feet elevation.

They need certain winter precipitation.

They need certain summer and winter temperatures that make it so that this area in Avi Kwa Ame National Monument here in Joshua Tree Wee Thump Wilderness has all of those habitat requirements.

And you've got this beautiful Joshua Tree woodland around you.

-It sounds like they're picky about where they want to grow.

-Yeah.

So like I said, just because of the way they've evolved, they only grow between 2,000 feet and 6,000 feet elevation.

You don't have that in the Las Vegas Valley.

-That perfect sweet spot.

-Exactly.

-What other plants, bushes, shrubs do we have around here?

-We've got a smorgasbord of plants here in-- -A plant charcuterie board, if you will?

-Basically, yeah.

So we are in a biodiversity hotspot here.

Because of where Avi Kwa Ame is located on the transition zone of three different ecosystems, you've just got a ton of biodiversity.

So like I said, we're at the transition zone of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Great Basin deserts.

And so you've just got an assortment of plants and wildlife that can grow, that can grow together here that you won't see growing together anywhere else.

-Well, let's go explore some more.

-Okay.

-What else do we have in this area?

-So we've got cholla species, which we've got right over here.

These are sort of cylindrical cacti.

They do flower, but they mostly reproduce.

When these different segments that you see here fall off and hit the ground, they're able to reroot and start another plant there.

Watch what you're doing when you get to this guy because they'll poke you and it will hurt.

-Oh, yeah.

And what's the-- it looks like it's inside of another bush.

-Something that happens a lot here in the Mojave Desert is nurse plants.

Because conditions can be so harsh, the sun can be so strong, they're such little moisture, you'll often find plants like cholla, Joshua Tree even, growing under the shade of nurse plants.

So these plants provide sort of a microclimate to foster these plants until they're big enough to sustain themselves.

So that provided enough shade for the young cholla when it was sensitive.

The soil is moist under these shrubs, so it provides some moisture to that cholla.

And they just essentially act as nurse plants for that.

-A little bit of plant teamwork.

-Yeah.

You've got to work together here in this harsh environment.

-It looks like over there, there's a couple of different things.

What are those?

-Yeah, so we've got some wolfberry.

It's a lycium species.

And a cool thing about this is that they make an edible berry, sort of related to the goji berry, that you can eat and, historically, the native people in the area did eat.

-Have you tried one?

-I haven't tried one.

-Okay.

-And they do provide an excellent source of food for wildlife, especially birds with that berry.

-What's this big one here?

-So another one of the iconic species here in the Mojave Desert is the creosote bush.

And we've got a massive individual right here.

Something really cool about creosote is they can be incredibly long lived.

There are individuals believed to be over 10,000 years old.

-10,000?

-10,000.

Creosote is a colonal organism, which means it's able to reproduce not only by seed, but also by underground rhizomes that shoot off and produce other plants above ground.

And that's how it's believed to be over 10,000 years old.

It's one individual that has several different above-ground shrubs.

-So if you're a 10,000 year old, how big are you?

-Well, once again, these are incredibly slow-growing species.

When you see one this big, it's pretty old.

-How old do you think this one is?

-I couldn't say.

We're at, at least 100 years old, 100 years old on this creosote.

Another cool thing about the creosote, which I think is really cool, is that whenever it rains, we get to experience petrichor.

And petrichor is that desert rain smell that you get after it rains in the Mojave.

And that's actually from the raindrops volatilizing the waxy coating on the leaves of the creosote.

-Are these native to this area?

Are they growing elsewhere around the country?

-These are native to the Mojave Desert, but you'll also find them in the other deserts, like the Sonoran, like the Chihuahua, and stuff like that.

But very ubiquitous.

Probably one of the more common plants you'll see out here in the Mojave.

-Have they identified what they think the oldest one is?

-So there's one called King Clone.

-King Clone?

-King Clone.

And they believe that this individual is over 12,000 years old.

-Where's that one?

-I believe it's in Arizona.

-Okay.

Wow!

-Yeah.

-I cannot believe that there is a 12,000-year-old plant.

-Imagine what it's seen.

[chuckle] -Wee Thump provides a haven for nature enthusiasts seeking solitude and a connection with the desert ecosystem.

As visitors wander through the sandy trails, they are surrounded by the distinctive charm of Joshua Trees, creating a serene and picturesque setting in this remote part of Southern Nevada.

How old is the oldest Joshua Tree here?

-The oldest Joshua Tree within the monument is believed to be 800 years old.

-800.

-So the name Joshua Tree Wee Thump Wilderness, the phrase "Wee Thump" is the Paiute phrase for "ancient ones."

So it's a pretty fitting name to give to these trees.

-How old are most of the trees in the area?

-Most trees in the monument are going to be between 100 and 300 years old.

This individual right here, probably 100, 200, maybe pushing 300 years.

-And how do they figure that out?

-It's actually really hard to tell with Joshua Trees.

Because they're not your typical tree that exhibits growth rings, we age it by growth in inches around the diameter, we count the different leaves, as well as we count the height.

Joshua Trees typically grow about an inch per year.

So by measuring the height of the tree, you can get an estimate of how many years it's been growing.

-You said something that really caught me off guard.

You said "leaves."

Now, I don't see anything but spiky-looking things at the end there.

Are those leaves?

-Those spiky green things are the leaves of the Joshua Tree.

Similar to all yuccas, this is going to be a trait that's shared by most of the yuccas, these spiky, pointed leaves that sort of protect the tree.

Something really cool about the Joshua Tree is that it has a symbiotic relationship with the yucca moth.

And so that means that both the yucca moth and the Joshua Tree benefit from this relationship.

The yucca moth will pollinate the Joshua Tree flower, it'll start creating seeds, and the yucca moth lays its eggs in that seed pod, eats some of the seeds, and emerges back out to pollinate more Joshua Trees.

-I love that.

It's like a nice little partnership they have going.

-And you can tell they have evolved over years and years to have that relationship.

-Wow!

Amazing.

Lillian, thank you so much for telling me so much about this wonderful area.

Being able to walk around with a biologist is an eyeopener.

I couldn't stop pointing at different plants and asking, What is that one?

Who knew there are so many types of plants and cacti.

Next up, I met with Jimmy.

Jimmy is a land manager with the Bureau of Land Management.

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument is part of his responsibility.

One thing I was curious about was the York Fire.

This fire started in California and quickly spread into Nevada and into Joshua Tree Forest.

There was a fire here.

What is the current status of the impact that fire had?

(Jimmy Linares) So I'm sure a lot of folks heard we had a fire, the York Fire that came through here in August of 2023.

It eventually burned a little over 90,000 acres.

It began in the Preserve in California, the Mojave National Preserve, made its way into Nevada a couple of days later and ultimately burned 8,000 acres in Nevada, all of which were here in the Monument.

Unfortunately, this landscape is just not adaptive for fire, so recovery is really slow.

For all intents and purposes, we've lost that habitat and that vegetation community for many decades.

It'll be a long time before we get that back.

-What was the primary factor contributing to the fire, and have you guys determined the cause?

-The primary factor for fire intensity was wind.

It was a very wind-driven fire.

The fire started, I think, day one at about 800 acres; day two, 3,000, if I remember correctly; day three, it spread almost 30,000 acres.

-Exponential.

-Yeah, absolutely.

And it was all-- I think it ran about 14 miles in a matter of, gosh, six hours or something like that.

-Wow!

-In any event, it was wind driven.

At the same time, when you look around the landscape, there is a lot of what normally used to be bare ground between vegetation.

Now you see a lot more of invasive species that come in and then they fuel that fire.

So between the wind, drought conditions, and now invasive species in those interspaces, those are the main contributors to that fire.

-What are some things people can do to contribute for the prevention of future fires?

-A number of things, I think.

One is practicing leave-no-trace principles, one of which is respect fire, be careful with fire.

So if you have a fire, make sure it's out when you're done with it.

Make sure it's an appropriate size, not too big.

You don't need a giant bonfire to stay warm.

Respect fire restrictions.

Fire restrictions in the desert and in Southern Nevada and in a lot of the Southwest extend from usually about May to October, prohibits the use of open fires.

So respect those and comply with those fire restrictions.

-The York Fire devastated a large portion of Avi Kwa Ame.

It is not only sad, it's frightening to see the damage and to know just how fast it happened.

Aside from the fire, a massive part of Jimmy's responsibility is to the monument itself.

Being a new monument, there are a lot of details that have to be attended to.

What are the broader land management and conservation goals of the monument?

-Well, the proclamation directs us to make sure that we conserve, preserve, and restore where we can, objects and valleys of the monument.

Generally, the landscape is protected under there and all of its components, so the trees, the plants, the animals.

The goal is really to maintain it as pristine as we can.

Understand that there are limitations to that.

We have roads and highways that go through the monument which are important for transportation, but we can't get rid of those.

But beyond that, it's really ensuring that we're maintaining the landscape as it is.

But beyond that, the monument was designated because it's so important to the tribes.

To many tribes here in Southern Nevada and the Southwest, it's a very important area.

And it's ensuring that we are preserving and conserving those values that are important to them, the significance of this area, that isn't necessarily tangible, like a plant or an animal.

It's a spiritual connection they have to the area, and we just want to ensure that we're communicating with them and they're communicating with us as far as what's important to them so that we can then help preserve those values for them and with them, really.

-So you're almost contributing to help steward the land and kind of keep it as is, rather than allow too much change?

-Yes.

We want to keep it as is as much as possible.

And in that stewardship, we're directed to work with the tribes under a core stewardship agreement and also with the Park Service and their comanagement agreement.

I think collectively, we're going to work-- I'm optimistic we're going to work together to really create a solid plan for how we're going to preserve this area as it is and, obviously, for the future.

-Thank you for what you do to preserve this beautiful land.

I know I speak for many that really just appreciate you keeping it as is.

-Well, thanks for having me.

And I hope that the public understands that this is a beautiful place, it's theirs, it's for them to enjoy, and we're going to try to make sure that it's here for future generations.

-From here, I headed to the southern portion of the monument to meet up with the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe.

The Fort Mojave Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe with a reservation located along the Colorado River in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

The tribe has a rich cultural heritage and history with traditions deeply rooted in the Colorado River Valley.

Fishing, farming, and trade have historically played important roles in their way of life.

I was honored to be welcomed by several elders of the community to learn more about the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and Avi Kwa Ame.

Obviously, protecting the space was super important to you.

How do you think that'll affect future generations on this land?

(Shan Lewis) Well, protection, especially here.

We're sitting inside of our culture building right now.

So as you look around at the different things that we even have displayed on the wall, that's all about protection of our land, all the way from protecting our river to protecting our traditions.

And so the Avi Kwa Ame is looked at the same way.

It needs to be protected, and making sure that nothing, you know, comes bad of it.

But also, it's a chance, through that protection, to educate other people besides ourselves and also be part of the plan for the protection.

-What is the most important thing to you to protect and preserve?

(Charlotte Knox) For me, on the protection of the land has always been there.

And our elders in past have always tried to fight for that protection.

And now it came into fruition.

And that is, it's really powerful to me.

(Marla Jenkins) When Avi Kwa Ame came, it was a really blessing, you know, to know that, how the power of prayer, dancing, singing, and being, for me, it was a really a beautiful feeling to be right there in Washington when President Biden said the word.

-I also feel like that, you know, Avi Kwa Ame is special to our people and our children, especially for me, because they're our future generation, and they need to know the significance of protecting and preserving.

And now we have the monument.

So that's there, and they know that.

-I think the most important thing as of right now was making it a national monument status.

That brings a lot of different things, protection that, through the federal government, that wasn't there before.

But not only that is obviously protecting it.

That's where our creation story started.

So it's one of our, if not our most, sacred site for the Fort Mojave tribal people.

So I think that's where it reached its highest level with the monument status.

And from that, I think protections are going to be able to be there more than they were before.

-It really resonates with me.

I can tell that it helps you relax, knowing that this special sacred place is not going to be disturbed.

That has to help you sleep at night a little bit easier now.

-Absolutely.

And not only being preserved, but also being shared with the rest of the world in a proper way, where when we do get visitors and when they do have people up there that go and visit the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, specifically Grapevine Canyon, Spirit Mountain right there, they'll know why it was preserved and why it came to the point of having that monumental status is such an important thing to us.

It's also important to other tribes, not just for Mojave.

So there was other tribes that were involved in the process.

But we feel, being closest to the mountain, we feel like protectors.

And yeah, it's a very special feeling.

-I was also privileged to see a group of tribal youth perform.

It is so inspirational to see younger people take part in the traditions of their culture.

♪♪♪ The next day, we met up with Ashley from the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and Chris with the National Park Service out at the Grapevine trails to learn more about the history and cultural significance of this area.

The Grapevine trail is located within Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

It offers a captivating hiking experience through the stunning desert landscapes of Southern Nevada.

As we walked toward the trailhead, I took notice to what I thought was a tennis ball.

What's that yellow thing I'm seeing in there.

(Ashley Hemmers) That's a coyote melon.

It's actually an indigenous food for our tribe.

It's kind of like the mix between a squash and a honeydew, and we kind of eat it the same way.

We still use it in traditional foods to this day.

-What does it taste like?

-It kind of tastes like a squash.

-I'll have to try one.

-Yeah.

-It's been so long since I've learned about a new fruit.

[laughter] -That is incredible!

You can see petroglyphs all the way up to the top.

-Yeah.

It's a very special place, very sacred place for my people.

-What does this place mean to the Fort Mojave Tribe?

-Well, it's an inherent to our identity.

It's a part of our history, but it's also part of who we are right now.

And so it's a living history.

And that's why when we talk about taking care of places outdoors, it's not just honoring the past, but it's also learning how to continue it into the future.

-And what would you say is the most important thing that visitors in this area are aware of?

-I think that, you know, one of the biggest threats to the area is people.

And not so much because they're out here and being destructive, but they're not being mindful.

So learning how to participate in spaces like this and respect it is a really big deal.

Because once it's like that, even though we have our restorative processes for the desert, these things take a long time.

-Mm-hmm.

-And sometimes those restorations take longer than we'll see in our lifetime.

And so if we can just do our best to protect it now as a group, then we won't have to risk losing something for future generations.

-And how important is it for the Park Service to make sure that this is preserved?

(Christine Nycz) It's extremely important for us.

We like to work with the tribes on different restoration methods.

As you'll see, the water processes but also people just walking up the side slopes here have created tremendous amounts of impact with the erosion.

If you look at the landscape in its natural form and then where folks have been going up and down the side slopes, you'll see the impacts from that.

Not only on the landscape, but there could be some boulders that might slide down the hill.

So we really encourage folks to stay within the wash and view and appreciate the landscape from here.

-And you're right there.

You're so close to these petroglyphs.

You can walk up and touch it, but I imagine that's the worst thing you could do.

-Yeah.

I think it's important to think about it like going into someone's house.

You don't just go in and open their fridge and be like, Hey, this looks good.

I'm gonna grab something.

-Not if you want to be invited back.

Yeah.

Appreciating it in the wash is really a good idea, especially because even if you're walking and you slip and you try to lean against a rock, the oils on your hands could affect something and impact something maybe you didn't even want to impact or you didn't know would impact.

-Do you ever have a problem with people defacing the petroglyphs?

-Yeah, we do.

And we work together with our partners to help protect it as much as we can.

But people have come in and either tried to chip away and take them home or shot paintballs at them or done other things that people shouldn't be doing.

And I think it's really important for us if we're going to have something this nice for all of us to enjoy that we have to have this commitment to each other to respect it.

-And as caretakers of your ancestral lands here, we take that very seriously.

It's very unfortunate some folks don't understand and respect these resources in that way.

And so when we do have graffiti or other damage, we do come out immediately and sometimes work with the tribe or conservator to remove the graffiti from that, but it's never really the same.

Once you damage a cultural resource, especially as special and fragile as these, they'll never return to what they were before.

-I'd have to imagine it's very illegal to do something like that.

-Oh, yes.

Taking any artifacts, rocks, soil, petroglyphs, plants from federal lands is against the law.

-So to put it really simply, leave it untouched how you found it?

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

-Respect the desert and the desert will be nice to you.

-"Avi Kwa Ame" means spirit mountain.

And this, this is Spirit Mountain.

I am so thankful to the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the people of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe for sharing with me.

You know, Nevada is so rich in its history and its culture.

And this area, this land, is a true testament to that.

I hope you'll take time to get out and explore and enjoy this area.

But make sure you do so responsibly.

Till next time, I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪