The Mount Charleston Wilderness Area is located west of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in the southern part of the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. It was created by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

in 1989 under the provisions allowed by the Wilderness Act of 1964, and is managed by both 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 ...

and the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

Geography

The Mount Charleston Wilderness Area consists of a total of of protected wilderness, with the BLM managing and the rest by the U.S. Forest Service. The Wilderness Area extends across the entire

Spring Mountains The Spring Mountains are a mountain range of Southern Nevada in the United States, running generally northwest–southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and south to the border with California. Most land in the mountains is owned by the Uni ...

Range, including the highest point of

Mount Charleston Mount Charleston, including Charleston Peak (Nuvagantu, literally "where snow sits", in Southern Paiute or Nüpakatütün in Shoshoni) at , is the highest mountain in both the Spring Mountains and Clark County, in Nevada, United States. It is ...

(Charleston Peak), at an elevation of .

Habitat

* The Mount Charleston Wilderness Area is also home to around of

Bristlecone pine The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. T ...

and is the largest collection of these trees in the

Intermountain Region The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west ...

of the United States. * The area also provides the only habitat for the only herd of

Rocky Mountain Elk The Rocky Mountain elk (''Cervus canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of elk found in the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of Western North America. Habitat The winter ranges are most common in open forests and floodplain marshes in the lo ...

located within Clark County, according to the BLM. * The area is home to the endangered species,

Palmer's Chipmunk Palmer's chipmunk (''Neotamias palmeri'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae, endemic to Nevada. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. Description Palmer's chipmunk resembles other chipmunks in ...

, and can often be seen at campsites and trails in the area

Recreation

There are some of trails located within the Mount Charleston Wilderness Area, which can be accessed from the

Spring Mountains National Recreation Area The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) is a U.S. national recreation area, administered by the U.S. Forest Service, west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It covers over . The area runs from low meadows (around above sea level), to the Mount ...

, commonly known as Mount Charleston.

References

External links

Mt. Charleston Wilderness
– Wilderness Connect
Mt. Charleston Wilderness
– Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
Mt. Charleston Wilderness Fact Sheet
– BLM
National Atlas: Map of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
{{authority control Charleston Wilderness Charleston Wilderness Charleston Wilderness Charleston Wilderness Charleston Wilderness

Geography

Habitat

Recreation

See also

References

External links