Clover Mountains Wilderness is a wilderness.net large

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

southeast of

Caliente, Nevada Caliente , formerly known as Culverwell and Calientes, is a city in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States. The population was 990 at the 2020 census, making it the least populated incorporated city in Nevada. The city's name originated from th ...

in southeast Lincoln County's border region with southwest

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. The wilderness comprises much of the

Clover Mountains The Clover Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada. The Clover Mountains Wilderness makes up a large part of the mountain range. The Clover Mountains are the southern mountains on the east perimeter of the Meadow Valley Wash ...

and has biome influences from the Tule Desert adjacent to the southeast. It also lies in a border region on the

Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it. The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of No ...

, at the northeast of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

and the south-southeast of the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

regions.

Description

The large Clover Mountain region contains numerous spires, rock outcrops, meandering canyons, and perennial streams. The peaks in the mountains rise to more than with areas of

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

; riparian streams also yield species of ash and cottonwood.

Geology

The Clover Mountains Wilderness is a former volcanic region. It contains

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

with various colors, pink, red, yellow, orange and browns. Numerous spires, rock outcrops, meandering canyons, and perennial streams occur in the region.

Flora and fauna

The Clover Mountains Wilderness contains stands of

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

and

Quaking Aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen,

. The southern portion of the wilderness contains species from the

Tule Desert (Nevada) The Tule Desert is located in southeastern Nevada in Lincoln County, near the Utah state line. The desert lies northeast of the Mormon Mountains, south of the Clover Mountains and west of the Tule Springs Hills.''Clover Mts, Nev.–Utah,'' 30 ...

, sagebrush and

Joshua Trees ''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names. This monocotyledonous tree ...

. Some fauna of the region include mountain lion, badger, bobcat,

Desert Bighorn Sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

, prairie falcon, and golden eagles.

References

External links

Clover Mountains Wilderness
Clover Mountains Wilderness Area, BLMClover Mountains Wilderness, wilderness.net
Clover Mountains

Protected areas of Lincoln County, Nevada Wilderness areas of Nevada IUCN Category Ib Bureau of Land Management areas in Nevada Protected areas established in 2004 2004 establishments in Nevada {{LincolnCountyNV-geo-stub

Description

Geology

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links