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Kingston Range Proposed Wilderness Additions
Managing agency: Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District
Size: Approximately 41,400 acres.
Location: Southeast of Death Valley National
Park, in San Bernardino County.
Description:
- Designation will complete this important and popular wilderness area.
- High concentration of endangered species and unusual plants.
- Home to desert tortoise and desert bighorn sheep.
- Billion-year-old rock exposures are geologically significant in California.
The 7,000-foot Kingston Range contains one of the highest concentrations of endangered species and unusual plant assemblages in the California desert, due to its extremely diverse terrain and unusual mineral formations. Rare plants thrive here, along with animals as diverse as prairie falcons, bighorn sheep, Panamint chipmunks, yellow-billed cuckoos, desert tortoise, pupfish, and vermilion flycatchers. Joshua tree and barrel cactus are abundant. The proposed wilderness additions would complete the protection of the lower slopes of the Kingston Range and Kingston Wash.
 The
Kingston Range is of interest to geologists because of its complex movements
and rock exposures. Some of the oldest rocks in California are exposed here,
with granites dating back more than a billion years. A wide variety of minerals—including
gold, silver, copper, uranium, zeolite, bentonite, gypsum, talc, and lead—provide
unusual microhabitats for plants and animals, which helps to explain the high
concentration of endangered species found here.
Just 50 miles from Las Vegas and 50 miles from Baker, the Kingston Range proposed wilderness additions offer outstanding opportunities for solitude and backcountry recreation.
For additional information, please contact:
Bryn Jones
California Wilderness Coalition
4065 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA 92501
(909) 781-1336
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Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
