The Kawich Range is a mountain range in

Nye County Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, beh ...

in southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, just south of the Hot Creek Range. The southern part of the range lies on the

Nellis Air Force Range The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) is one of two military training areas at the Nellis Air Force Base Complex in Nevada and used by the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base. The NTTR land area includes a "simu ...

. The mountains cover an area of about and contain Kawich Peak, at above sea level.''Cactus Flat, Nevada'' 1:100,000 scale topographic map, 37116-EM-TM-100, USGS, 1988 and ''Warm Springs, Nevada'' 1:100,000 scale topographic map, 38116-A1-TM-100, USGS, 1987

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it ...

crosses the pass between The Kawich and the Hot Creek ranges and meets State Route 375 at

Warm Springs Warm Springs may refer to: *Warm Springs Apache, a subdivision of the Chiricahua Apache *Warm Springs, California, in Riverside County *Warm Springs, Fremont, California **Warm Springs Elementary School, elementary school in Fremont, California **W ...

just north of the range.''Warm Springs, Nevada'' 1:100,000 scale topographic map, USGS, 1987 To the east lies the Reveille and Kawich valleys with the

Reveille Range The Reveille Range is the Nye County, Nevada Nye County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah, Nevada, Tonopa ...

to the east of the northern portion and the

Belted Range The Belted Range is a mountain range in Nye County, Nevada, United States. The range is approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas and midway between the Basin and Range National Monument Basin and Range National Monument is a national mon ...

east of Quartzite Mountain at the southern end. The broad

Pahute Mesa Pahute Mesa or Paiute Mesa is one of four major nuclear test regions within the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). It occupies in the northwest corner of the NNSS in Nevada. The eastern section is known as Area 19 and the western section as ...

and Gold Flat lie to the south with Cactus Flat and the Cactus Range to the southwest. To the northwest across Stone Cabin Valley lies the

Monitor Range The Monitor Range is located in south-central Nevada in the United States. The range lies west and northwest of the Hot Creek Range and north of U.S. Route 6 in Nye County. It extends into the southwest corner of Eureka County at its northern ...

. 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, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

manages 50.3% of the mountains, and 39.7% is part of the Air Force Range. A

USFWS The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats in the United States. Th ...

National Wildlife Refuge The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, Department of the Interi ...

makes up 8.9% of the range. Vegetation is primarily

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

scrub and piñon-

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

. The Kawich Range beardtongue (''Penstemon pudicus'') is a rare plant that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the range.''Penstemon pudicus''.
The Nature Conservancy. The mountains are home to

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

s and several species of

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

, and

chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of subtribe Tamiina. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks are classified as four genera: '' ...

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

s, and

gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They ar ...

s can also be found.

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius'') is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. Though it has been called the American sparrowhawk, this common name is a misnomer; the American kestrel is a true falcon, while neither th ...

MacGillivray's warbler MacGillivray's warbler (''Geothlypis tolmiei'') is a species of New World warbler. These birds are sluggish and heavy warblers, preferring to spend most of their time on, or near the ground, except when singing. left, A MacGillivray's warbler ...

Bullock's oriole Bullock's oriole (''Icterus bullockiorum'') is a small icterid, New World blackbird. At one time, this species and the Baltimore oriole were considered to be a single species, the northern oriole. This bird is named after William Bullock (collect ...

, and hairy woodpeckers also inhabit the Kawich Range. Kawich Range was named after an individual Indian chieftain.

References

Biological Resources Research Center
*''Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer'', 2001, pg. 60 Mountain ranges of Nevada Mountain ranges of Nye County, Nevada {{NyeCountyNV-geo-stub