Saddle Peak Hills Wilderness | |
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Location | San Bernardino County, California, United States |
Nearest city | Baker, California |
Coordinates | 35°47′03″N116°20′28″W / 35.78417°N 116.34111°W |
Area | 1,530 acres (6.2 km2) |
Established | 1994[1] |
Governing body | Bureau of Land Management [2] |
Saddle Peak Hills Wilderness is the smallest designated wilderness area created by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. [3]
A 1980 Bureau of Land Management report recommended the area as unsuitable for wilderness designation, as the mineral resources identified in the study were likely to be commercially viable. These included copper, lead, silver and talc, all of which had been historically extracted in the area. [4]
The area was given wilderness status on 21 October 1994. [5]
Vegetation consists mostly of creosote bush and allscale scrubs. No sensitive or significant plant species are known to occur within the wilderness area. [4]
The area is not known to support any listed, sensitive or rare species. [Note 1]
The sandy substrate in an area of approximately 3 square miles (1,920 acres / 7.8 square kilometres) provides habitat for the Mojave fringe-toed lizard, a highly adapted sand-dwelling species. [4]
Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, US, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994, with the enactment of the California Desert Protection Act by the United States Congress, which also established Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park as National Parks. Previously, some lands contained within the Preserve were the East Mojave National Scenic Area, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. At 1,542,776 acres (6,243 km2), within the contiguous United States it is the third largest unit of the National Park System and the first largest National Preserve. The preserve was created within the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service and remains within that jurisdiction today.
The Dead Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, California. The range borders the tri-state intersection of Nevada, Arizona and California, and the Mohave Valley, with the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation bordering the range foothills on the east and northeast, in the three states.
Lassen National Forest is a United States national forest of 1,700 square miles (4,300 km2) in northeastern California. It is named after pioneer Peter Lassen, who mined, ranched and promoted the area to emigrant parties in the 1850s.
The Owens Peak Wilderness is a 73,767-acre (298.52 km2) wilderness area comprising the rugged eastern face of the Sierra Nevada. Owens Peak (8,445 ft) is the high point. The land was set aside with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 by the US Congress.
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed by four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
The Little Picacho Wilderness is a 38,214-acre (15,465 ha) wilderness area under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. The wilderness is found in a southeast extension of the Chocolate Mountains adjacent to the Colorado River, in the southeastern part of California. It should not be confused with the Picacho Peak Wilderness which is located to the northeast.
The Bigelow Cholla Garden Wilderness is in the eastern Mojave Desert and within Mojave Trails National Monument, located in San Bernardino County, California.
National Conservation Lands, formally known as the National Landscape Conservation System, is a 35-million-acre (140,000 km2) collection of lands in 873 federally recognized areas considered to be the crown jewels of the American West. These lands represent 10% of the 258 million acres (1,040,000 km2) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is the largest federal public land manager and is responsible for over 40% of all the federal public land in the nation. The other major federal public land managers include the US Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The Wilderness Society is an American non-profit land conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting natural areas and federal public lands in the United States. They advocate for the designation of federal wilderness areas and other protective designations, such as for national monuments. They support balanced uses of public lands, and advocate for federal politicians to enact various land conservation and balanced land use proposals. The Wilderness Society also engages in a number of ancillary activities, including education and outreach, and hosts one of the most valuable collections of Ansel Adams photographs at their headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Old Woman Mountains Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Old Woman Mountains of the eastern Mojave Desert. It is located south of Essex in San Bernardino County, California.
The Ventana Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Range along the Central Coast of California. This wilderness was established in 1969 when the Ventana Wilderness Act redesignated the 55,800-acre (22,600 ha) Ventana Primitive Area as the Ventana Wilderness and added land, totalling 98,000 acres. In 1978, the Endangered American Wilderness Act added 61,000 acres, increasing the total wilderness area to about 159,000 acres. The California Wilderness Act of 1984 added about 2,750 acres. The Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act of 1992 created the approximately 14,500-acre (5,900 ha) Silver Peak Wilderness and added about 38,800 acres to the Ventana Wilderness in addition to designating the Big Sur River as a Wild and Scenic River. The Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 expanded the wilderness for the fifth time, adding nearly 35,000 acres (14,000 ha), increasing the total acreage of the wilderness to its present size of 240,026 acres (97,135 ha).
The Darwin Falls Wilderness is a protected area in the northern Mojave Desert adjacent to Death Valley National Park. The 8,189-acre (3,314 ha) wilderness area was created by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Bright Star Wilderness is a 8,190-acre (3,314 ha) wilderness area in Kern County in the U.S. state of California.
The Kiavah Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Mojave Desert, Scodie Mountains, and southern Sierra Nevada in Kern County, California, United States. California State Route 178 connects the town of Lake Isabella to State Highway 14 in the east, crossing Walker Pass at the north boundary of the wilderness.
The Piper Mountain Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located in the White Mountains 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Big Pine, California in Inyo County, California.
The Chimney Peak Wilderness is a 13,134-acre (53.15 km2) wilderness area located 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Ridgecrest, in southeastern Tulare County, California.
The Indian Pass Wilderness is 32,418-acre (13,119 ha) wilderness area under the administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The reserve is located in the very southeastern part of the Chocolate Mountains, in the southeastern part of California, just to the west of the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley. It adjoins the Picacho Peak Wilderness to the south, and the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge to the east.
Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness is a 11,712-acre (47.4 km2) wilderness area in the US state of Utah. It was designated March 30, 2009, as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. Located adjacent to the southern edge of the Dixie National Forest, it encompasses and protects a transition zone between the Colorado Plateau to the east and the Mojave Desert to the west. It is bordered by the Cottonwood Forest Wilderness to the northeast and is itself a part of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.
The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is a federal law sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, passed by the United States Congress on October 8, 1994, and signed into effect by President Bill Clinton on October 31 of the same year, that established three separate National Park System units in California's Mojave Desert: Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and Mojave National Preserve.
The Otay Mountain Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in San Diego County, California, 12 miles east of the community of Otay Mesa and just north of the Mexican border. Some parts of the wilderness area rise quickly from sea level, reaching a peak of just over 3,500 feet (1,100 m) at the summit of Otay Mountain.