Wild Lands & Rivers
Chuckwalla Mountains Proposed Wilderness Additions
Size: 13,255 acres
Management Agency: Bureau of Land Management
Description:
This visually stunning 14,480-acre area resembles a fortress of rock rising dramatically above the desert lowlands. It has an amazing variety of features and values, including:
- A plethora of sensitive wildlife species such as the Colorado Valley woodrat, Le Conte's thrasher, Nelson's bighorn sheep, pallid bat, prairie falcon and western mastiff bat, and that is in addition to the chuckwalla, the large, potbellied reptile for which the region is named.
- Desert tortoise population densities of up to 150 individuals per square mile in some places.
- The fact that, according to ecologist George Wuerthner, the last antelope in the California desert lived in the Chuckwalla Mountains before it was hunted to extinction in southeastern California.
- Desert fan palm oasis woodlands, a beautiful and increasingly rare ecosystem that for many is the very archetype of Riverside County’s desert wild lands.
- Populations of the rare Munz cholla cactus. This plant is the largest variety of cholla cactus in the California desert and it only occurs in the Chuckwalla Mountains and in the Chocolate Mountains to the south.
- Fascinating stones available for rockhounds, including calcite, chalcedony, geodes, jasper and petrified wood.
- Many areas marked by rock rings, petroglyphs and other indications of the thousands of years of Native American residence in the Chuckwalla Mountains and surrounding flats.
The area’s often gentle terrain, rich plant and animal life and fascinating geology make it an excellent cross-country hiking and horseback riding destination.