Photo: Ron Mader, Durango Trail (Some rights reserved)
Nevada’s gem of the Ice Age is brighter than ever in the Mojave Desert on the northern fringe of Las Vegas // La joya de la Edad del Hielo de Nevada brilla más que nunca en el desierto de Mojave, en el extremo norte de Las Vegas.
Spotlight on the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument and new in 2024, the neighboring Ice Age Fossils State Park.
Google Maps
goo.gl/maps/Qtv7bqvnQsh8B26AA
Key Links
nps.gov/tusk
Durango Loop Self-Guided Tour
Directions
Maps
Facebook
Headlines
Protectors of Tule Springs mark 10 years of national monument in Nevada
Officials: Error led to routing planned transmission line through national monument – The Nevada Independent
Elsewhere on the Web
protectorsoftulesprings.org – Facebook
Upper Las Vegas Wash
Ice Age Fossils
parks.nv.gov/parks/ice-age-fossils
history
Stray Notes
- The monument is 35 square miles and stretches along US Highway 95 north of Aliante and Centennial Hills to Creech Air Force Base.
- Created December 2014
- Size: 22,650-acres
- 1,300 acres are allocated to the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas
Nearby: Ice Age Fossils State Park
parks.nv.gov – Facebook
New Nevada state park opens this month, showcasing 25,000-year-old fossils – Las Vegas Sun News
Wikipedia
The 315-acre park, southeast of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, 8660 N. Decatur Blvd, opens January 20. Entry: $3. The Nevada Division of State Parks first announced the $12 million project in 2017.
Initially, park hours will be limited to weekends only from 8:00am-4:30pm.
Officially announced in January of 2017 as part of Governor Brian Sandoval’s “Explore Your Nevada Initiative”, this 315 acre park features a portion of the upper Las Vegas wash that is rich in both paleontological and historical resources. During the Pleistocene, also known as the Ice Age, the wash provided verdant habitat for several species of now extinct mammals, including Columbian mammoths, American lions, camels, dire wolves, and ground sloths. The discovery of abundant fossils onsite triggered a long history of scientific research, which includes the famous “Big Dig” of 1962-3, the largest inter-disciplinary scientific expedition of its kind up to that point.
History
The Tule Springs Expedition, also called the Big Dig, ran from 1962 to 1963. It revealed that humans and large mammals of the Pleistocene era, which lasted from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, never coexisted in the area.
Transportation
Bus service from Las Vegas to Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument is available through the Regional Transportation Commission. Route #119 travels from the Las Vegas Strip to Elkhorn and Aliante Parkway in North Las Vegas.
Las Vegas and North Las Vegas are bike-friendly cities. Bicycle routes, bicycle lanes and shared-use paths are available from Las Vegas to the Southern portion of the park in both the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.
Videos
Tule Springs Bingo
Big Dig – Fossils – Ice Age – Las Vegas – Megafauna – National Monument – Nevada – Springs – State Park – Tule Springs
Wikipedia
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
Planeta.com