Wild Lands & Rivers
Santa Rosa Proposed Wilderness Additions
Size: Approximately 2,149 acres
Management Agency: San Bernardino National Forest and Bureau of Land Management
Location: Riverside County, west of Highway 86 - 6 miles south of La Quinta and 4 miles west of the Salton Sea
Description:
There are two proposed Santa Rosa Proposed Wilderness Additions.
The first is a large low elevation desert area on the flanks of the southern Santa Rosa Mountains. It’s major washes, alluvial fans and rugged mountain foothills provide critical habitat for Peninsular bighorn sheep. It’s diverse plant communities include cactus gardens with barrel, prickly pear, fish hook, hedge hog, pencil cholla and other species and rare desert dry wash woodland, which is vital to birds and other wildlife. The "desert" addition also includes three quarters of a mile of the shoreline of Ancient Lake Cahuilla. This giant freshwater lake, last present around 1700 was at least 3 times as large as the Salton Sea. It periodically filled and receded millennia as the Colorado River changed course between the Sea of Cortez and the Salton Basin. Evidence of the lakes presence can still be seen with limestone deposits and thousands of fresh water snail and clam shells lining its shoreline. The Cahuilla Indians made extensive use of the Lake and traces of their presence call still be found in the form of well worn trails and rock fish traps.
The second Santa Rosa Wilderness addition is a 14 acre site on the flank of a majestic pair of peaks Toro and Santa Rosa. Toro Peak at 8,716 feet is the highest point in the Santa Rosa Mountain range. This “mountain” addition preserves important habitat for the gray vireo and other rare birds and it encompasses Virgin Spring, an important water source for mule deer and other wildlife.