ABSTRACT
The park is located at the conuence of three major desert ecosystems (the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Sonoran) and receives annual rainfall of less than 15 cm per
year (LAME 2006). Despite these arid conditions, an abundance of plant and animal life exists, each uniquely adapted to the area’s conditions. The park is home to over 900 species of ora and 508 species of fauna. Of these, 24 are either federally endangered or threatened (LAME 2001). Adjacent to the rapidly expanding Las Vegas metropolitan area and within a day’s drive from Los Angeles and Phoenix, the park hosted almost 8,000,000 visitors in 2005 (NPS 2006). In addition, over one million visitors enter the park every year to tour the Hoover Dam that lies within its boundaries (Bureau of Reclaimation 2013).
