Introduction
The United States Congress designated the Mormon Mountains Wilderness (
map) in 2004 and it now has a total of
157,716 acres.
All of this wilderness is located in
Nevada and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Description
From rolling bajadas speckled with cholla, yucca and Joshua trees, to intricately carved canyons forested with pinyon pine and juniper, and jagged mountain peaks topped with stands of old-growth ponderosa pine. Each landscape contains inspiring beauty and jaw-dropping surprises. The various climates and elevations in these areas provide important habitat for a wide spectrum of wildlife. The low elevations provide habitat for the desert tortoise, the banded Gila monster, the white bearpoppy, Clark mountain agave, desert banded gecko, the sidewinder and the long-nosed leopard lizard. Higher in the mountains, it’s possible to spot desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, bobcat and mountain lion. An impressive variety of raptors live in the area. Burrowing owl, golden eagle, ferruginous hawk, red-tailed hawk, prairie falcon, Cooper’s hawk, northern harrier, merlin and American kestrel are some of the birds of prey that have been spotted in the region. The Mormon Mountains give a glimpse into the distant past, fossils in the limestone hills are snapshots of life hundreds of millions of years ago, when these high inland mountains were merely sediments accumulating at the bottom of the sea. The mountains give a bird’s-eye view of nature’s erosional forces at work.
