Life in Lake Mead Country

The Joshua tree, the bighorn sheep, the burro, and the inimitable kangaroo rat are also big attractions in this recreation area's natural scene-often just yards from the water's edge. Life in Lake Mead Country

The Lake Mead National Recreation Area claims fame as a leisureland of boating, camping, fishing, waterskiing, and other water-oriented fun and games. Few of its annual 5 million-plus patrons probe more than a few hundred yards beyond the water's edge, which helps preserve the recreation area's natural scene-dividend domains that send botanists, zoologists, naturalists, and like scientists into fits of Latin rhetoric. And fewer yet ponder the irony involved in this world's largest inland collection of man-made freshwater being set in two of the world's hottest, driest deserts, the Lower Sonoran and Mojave.

This, Lake Mead Country's natural world, spreads across five biotic communities: Woodland, Desert Shrub, Transzonal, Shoreline, and Aquatic. Woodland, with such flora as Utah junipers, pinyon pines, and Gambel oaks and fauna like mule deer, bobcats, coyotes, and rodents, is represented in high plateaus to the east and on a few mountaintops. Proportionately, it makes up but a small part of Lake Mead Country's 3000 square miles. The other three communities are in the relative lowlands of two desert regions: Mojave and Lower Sonoran. With less than six inches of rainfall per year, it takes very specialized plants and animals to exist here. Roots of perennials probe deep and wide for moisture; annuals complete their life spans in a few weeks; some-the creosote bush and brittlebush specificallysecrete lethal chemicals that terminate other plants attempting to take root in "their" territories, infringing on meager water rations.

Although the Mojave and Lower Sonoran deserts rub shoulders in the recreation area, each shows marked differences from the other. Plants abundant on one may be sparse or nonexistent on the other. Shrubby vegetation, primarily creosote bush and bur sage, dominate Mojave; trees are largely limited to catclaw which seek out the arroyos and washes. On the Lower Sonoran, the same type of drainage supports a heavy growth of several kinds of mesquites and paloverdes. Common on both deserts are various and sundry species of cacti, including chollas.

Lake Mead Country's aerial and terres-trial creatures prove less selective, many readily step back and forth across the boundaries of the two deserts. Sixty species of mammals have been observed here, among them mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, gray and kit foxes, badgers, ringtail cats, jackrabbits, and cottontails. On the shorter side, there are kangaroo rats, pocket mice, wood rats, white-footed mice, ground squirrels, and other rodents. Two hundred and fifty kinds of birds have been logged, including 60 types of waterfowl. These range from hummingbirds to both golden and bald eagles. To this list add 42 species of lizards and snakes, two examples of turtles, and six, of amphibians.

Of all the plant and animal options within the recreation area, three have become major attractions for nature lovers and the intermittently curious: The tame-gone-wild (feral) burro, the desert bighorn sheep, and the Joshua tree forests.

The Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, grows 15to 30-feet high, one to three feet in diameter and is a member of the lily family. The blossoms are lily-like and open at night. Lay-folk, particularly Easterners, spot the bayonet leaves and generally mistake it for a cactus. Joshua trees are scattered broadly over the Mojave Desert, but one of the best stands in all of the Southwest can be found in the Lake Mead National Recreation area. The Pierce Ferry road bisects it, the turnoff-being about 40 miles southeast of Hoover Dam, on U.S. 93.

Desert bighorn sheep are harder to find, though they have been known to stray into the city limits of Boulder City causing periodic evasive-driving maneuvers on U.S. 93, where it cuts through the Black Mountains. The bighorn ewe has no big horns and is somewhat similar to the domestic goat. The hunter rates the bighorn ram as the personification of challenge and reward. Just seeing it in the wild and watching it negotiate a habitat of dangling ledges and sheer cliffs, you have no less respect and admiration.

Bill Burke, resources management specialist for the National Park Service, at the recreation area, estimates there could be as many as 2000 bighorns in his area. July and August are the best time to find them, but the worst-the hottest-for humans. Then, most of the backcountry (Right) The Lake Mead National Recreation Area hosts a huge variety of wildlife from water birds to large desert mammals. Herons can be found along the Colorado River, standing quietly in shallow water spearing or probing for animal life. Jack Dykinga photo (Below) Feral burros roam the desert areas surrounding the lakes while the desert bighorn sheep, bottom, prefer the high rocky perches of the mountains. An abundance of browse and preference for different habitats allow these two species to coexist and thrive along the Colorado River. James Tallon photos

(Left) Joshua trees, Yucca brevifolia, are said to be named for Joshua of the Old Testament. Dick Dietrich photo (Above) The mourning dove is but one of 250 species of birds in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. James Tallon photo (Right) A coyote, mischief and magic personified, pauses on the way to an evening's hunt. James Tallon photo water holes have dried up, and the sheep come to the lakes to drink. Subsequently, they hang around until it cools off and scattered rains resupply their regular roosts. "If you want to get a look at bighorns and perhaps take some pictures, then, rent a boat at Willow Beach, or bring your own, and cruise that general area of Black Canyon. It's not uncommon to see 40 to 60 of them," Burke said.

In the wildlife field, it is practically impossible to discuss desert bighorn sheep at the management level without bringing in the feral burro. The two compete for food and water and living space in certain environmental situations, and the bighorn is invariably the loser. But the problem is minimal at the recreation area. The burros prefer the bajadas, those rocky aprons that slope away from buttes and mesas; the sheep like higher, much more rugged territory. The only time the twain are likely to meet is enroute to Lake Mead and Lake Mohave for a drink.

Burke believes 1000 to 1200 burros use Lake Mead Country, and that is a twist since, in a given piece of desert real estate, burros usually outnumber bighorns. With the layman, the burro often exceeds the bighorn sheep as an object of curiosity. There is something about this cocky animal that makes you like him even when you think you shouldn't be liking him. Burke said burro afficionados should be able to easily find the herds that hang out in the vicinity of Katherine Landing, on Lake Mohave, and across Lake Mead from Temple Bar. Others are scattered about the area, and, again, a boat may serve best to find them.

My prime interest in Lake Mead Country is neither bighorn, burro, or Joshua tree. It is the kangaroo rat. This little guy with the big eyes and the strange nose and the funny legs was structured to never require a bona fide drink. If it is capable of thought, I wonder if it ever considers the double irony of living in one of the nation's hottest, driest deserts with two of the biggest water holes around (Lake Mead and Lake Mohave) just a hop away and never needing to take so much as a sip.