Iron Mountains Potential Wilderness
 Sand dunes in the Iron Mountains potential wilderness. The area includes the sand-drenched Kilbeck Hills, which offer a rare chance to study the flora inhabiting perched sand dunes. The surrounding bajadas also contain the classic southern Mojave creosote-scrub plant community.
Managing agency: Bureau of Land Management, Needles Field Office
Size: Approximately 123,520 acres in two units
Location: In the California desert, between the Old Woman Mountains and Sheephole Valley wildernesses.
Description: The Iron Mountains potential wilderness is one of the largest remaining unprotected, unroaded areas in the California desert. The unprotected wilderness contains two desert mountain ranges, the Iron Mountains and the Kilbeck Hills, as well as the complete bajadas from the edges of the Cadiz and Danby Dry lake playas to the base of the mountains. The northwest bajadas and foothills of both ranges harbor numerous perched sand dune areas. The Kilbeck Hills are sand-drenched and provide a rare chance to study the flora inhabiting perched sand dunes. The surrounding bajadas also contain the classic southern Mojave creosote-scrub plant community, here showered with sand.
 In the 1978 preliminary roadless survey, the Bureau of Land Management included this area as the eastern portion of a very large Iron Mountain /Cadiz /Sheephole Valley roadless area. The entire Cadiz Valley /Iron Mountain section was excluded due to the impacts of salt evaporators in the dry lake and some abandoned mines. It was never surveyed again, even in the inventory done for the California Desert Protection Act; only the small Cadiz Dunes Wilderness on the north boundary was reviewed.
The large viewsheds from both the east and west give a sense of grandeur highlighting the dramatic cliffs of the Iron Mountain Range. This is a little-known and seldom-visited area. The center of the Iron Mountains provides outstanding opportunities for solitude and non-motorized recreation.
This unprotected wilderness area is a wildlife corridor between the Old Woman Mountain Wilderness and the Sheephole Wilderness. The corridor is utilized by desert bighorn sheep herds in both the Old Woman Mountain Wilderness and the Sheephole Wilderness in order to migrate from one wilderness to the other.
The Iron Mountains region was overlooked in previous surveys,
but is generally in pristine condition. As one of the largest roadless areas
unprotected in the California desert, it deserves wilderness protection before
it is piece-mealed into smaller, less diverse segments. The dangers are water
development, increased off-road vehicle usage, and future mining possibilities.
For additional information, please contact:
Bob Ellis
Phone: (510) 525-8742
Email: bobellisds@earthlink.net
Or:
Monica Argandoņa
California Wilderness Coalition
4065 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA 92501
(909) 781-1336
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Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
