Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area is a

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 ...

, which is a part of the

Muddy Mountains The Muddy Mountains are a large mountain range in Clark County, Nevada. The Muddy Mountains surround a north section of Bitter Spring Valley, which also lies at the northwest perimeter of the Black Mountains, lying on a north shore of an east-w ...

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Nevada with 2,265,461 residents as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county is the location of the state's three largest cities, Las Vegas (t ...

. The area is a part of the

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in Southeastern Nevada and Northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Gran ...

Geography

The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

designated the Muddy Mountains Wilderness in 2002. 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, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

and the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. From the wilderness,

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

can be seen clearly. It is estimated that before 300 million years, the area was at the bottom of the sea. The elevation in the area ranges from to . The Muddy Mountains Wilderness area was a part of

Mojave people Mohave or Mojave (Mojave language, Mojave: 'Aha Makhav) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people indigenous to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert. The Fort Mojave Indian Reservation includes territory within the bo ...

's habitat. Rock artifacts, rock art, and rock shelters can be found in the wilderness, left from people who have inhabited the area for centuries.

Flora and Fauna

In the Muddy Mountains Wilderness,

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 w ...

, desert catalpa trees and rare plants like bear poppy can be seen. Las Vegas buckwheat also thrives in the lower parts of the wilderness. Animals like

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of Ovis, sheep native to North America. It is named for its large Horn (anatomy), horns. A pair of horns may weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates th ...

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 Mexico ...

and

Gila monster The Gila monster (''Heloderma suspectum'', ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to long, and it is the only ve ...

s also roam this area between the mountain.

References

{{Reflist Wilderness areas of Nevada Clark County, Nevada