Spring Mountains

For the California wine region with a similar name, see Spring Mountain District AVA.

Spring Mountains
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
Location	Nevada, USA
Nearest city	Las Vegas, NV
Area	315,648 acres (1,277.38 km2)
Established	January 1, 1989
Governing body	U.S. Forest Service Bureau of Land Management

View northeast with Mount Charleston towers nearly 9,000 ft (2,700 m) over the Pahrump Valley floor.

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 down to the border with California. Most land in the mountains is owned by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and managed as the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

The Spring Mountains entry.

Geography

The Spring Mountains range is named for the number of springs to be found, many of them in the recesses of Red Rock, which is on the eastern side of the mountains. The Spring Mountains divide the Pahrump Valley and Amargosa River basins from the Las Vegas Valley watershed, which drains into the Colorado River watershed, by way of Las Vegas Wash into Lake Mead, thus the mountains define part of the boundary of the Great Basin. The Great Basin Divide, (one of the Great Basin region borders) continues north through the Indian Springs Pass region then turns due east at the perimeter mountain ranges north of Las Vegas.

Mount Charleston

The highest point is Mount Charleston, at 11,918 ft (3,633 m). The area around Mt. Charleston is protected in the Mount Charleston Wilderness. Typically 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit (11-17 degrees Celsius) cooler than the valleys below, the area is a popular getaway for Las Vegas residents and visitors; the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort lies in Lee Canyon on State Highway 156.

Other Peaks

In addition to Mount Charleston, other major summits in the Spring Mountains range include Bonanza Peak, McFarland Peak, Mummy Mountain, Griffith Peak, Bridge Mountain, Mount Wilson, and Mount Potosi.

Biological diversity

The Spring Mountains are a sky island ecosystem. With an area of about 860 square miles (2,200 km²), and a vertical range of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km), the mountains encompass a wide variety of habitats, and the biological diversity is probably greater than anywhere else in Nevada. 37 species of trees are known (more than any other Nevadan range), and 600 species of vascular plants have been reported from the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area alone.

The bases of the mountains are part of the Mojave Zone dominated by creosote bush and white bursage, then rising to a Blackbrush Zone, followed by a Pygmy Conifer Zone with juniper, pinyon pine and mountain-mahogany, and topped by a montane zone with many species of conifers around Mt. Charleston and its connecting ridges.

Mount Charleston in the Spring Mountains, Nevada

The cool, forested slopes of upper Kyle Canyon.

The sandstone reefs of Red Rock are seen to bridge the northern and southern parts of the Spring Mountains, in this aerial view from the south

Populus fremontii tree in the Spring Mountains.

See also

• Carpenter Canyon

External links

• official Spring Mountains National Recreation Area community forum, calendar, and website.
• BRRC page on the Spring Mountains
• Spring Mountains Peaks: photos and elevations