[1] The national monument is located in the Upper Las Vegas Wash and protects part of the Tule Springs.

[2] The wash area also includes several patches of the rare Las Vegas bear poppy.

The land was designated after a local campaign to permanently protect the landscape as a national monument.

[3][4][5] Paleontology studies began at Tule Springs in 1933 when the bones of a Columbian mammoth were discovered by quarry workers.

[6] Other fossils found at the site include Camelops, ground sloth, dire wolf, Teratornis, Smilodon Fatalis and American lion, and range from 7,000 to 250,000 years old.