Ireteba Peaks Wilderness is a 32,745 acre (13,251 ha)

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

spanning the area of the southern part of

Eldorado Mountains The Eldorado Mountains, also called the El Dorado Mountains, are a north-south trending mountain range in southeast Nevada bordering west of the south-flowing Colorado River; the endorheic Eldorado Valley borders the range to the west, and the ra ...

to the northern parts of

Lake Mohave Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This 67 mile stretch of the Colorado River flows past Boulder City, ...

. It is located 45 miles (72 km) south 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 ...

and was designated as a wilderness area in 2002. Iretaba Peaks Wilderness is managed by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and 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 ...

. The western (BLM) portion of the wilderness is part of

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument Avi Kwa Ame National Monument ( ; Mojave: ''ʔaviː kʷaʔame'', "highest mountain", from ''ʔaviː'', "mountain, rock", and ''ʔamay'', "up, above") is a national monument that protects approximately of the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada. P ...

, designated in 2023.

Geography

The peaks were named after one of the leaders of the

Mohave tribe Mojave or Mohave most often refers to: *Mojave Desert *Mojave River *Mohave people *Mojave language Mojave or Mohave may also refer to: Places * Fort Mojave Indian Reservation * Mohave County, Arizona * Mohave Valley, a valley in Arizona * Mohav ...

Irataba Irataba ( Mohave: ''eecheeyara tav'' , also known as ''Yara tav'', ''Yarate:va'', ''Arateve''; – 1874) was a leader of the Mohave Nation, known as a mediator between the Mohave and the United States. He was born near the Colorado River ...

. Native vegetation in the area includes

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were ...

yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...

, desert willow, and several

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

species.

Desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii''), is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexic ...

s, Townsend’s big-eared bats, and

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

can also be found in Iretaba Peaks Wilderness.

References

{{Authority control Wilderness areas of Nevada Protected areas of Clark County, Nevada Bureau of Land Management areas in Nevada

Geography

See also

References