Grass Valley Wilderness is a wilderness area in San Bernardino County, California, near Ridgecrest. It mainly consists of low-lying hills and flat desert covered by vegetation typical of the

Mohave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in s ...

, like creosote bush,

desert scrub Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this ...

, and isolated stands of

Joshua trees ''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...

. Fauna consists of the desert tortoise and the

Mohave ground squirrel The Mohave ground squirrel (''Xerospermophilus mohavensis'') is a species of ground squirrel found only in the Mojave Desert in California. The squirrel was first described in 1886 by Frank Stephens of San Diego. It is listed as a threatened spe ...

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installat ...

borders the area to the east and a non-wilderness road bisects the area. The area is managed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

Ridgecrest Field Office and was established as a part of the

California Desert Protection Act of 1994 The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is a federal law () sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, passed by the United States Congress on October 8, 1994, and signed into effect by President Bill Clinton on October 31 of the same year, that ...

References

{{Protected areas of California Protected areas of San Bernardino County, California