Welcome! Come explore the wild side of Southern Nevada and discover outstanding opportunities for solitude and primitive types of recreation. With a rich mixture of culture, natural resources, and scenic beauty, Southern Nevada Wilderness areas are the perfect destination for a family day trip or weekend getaway, for outdoor fun and recreation, or just exploring Wilderness.
Select a
flag now to begin our tour. You will find
Wilderness Areas minutes away from the
Las Vegas lights, natural treasures found no where else in the world, and hiking trails and climbing routes that will have you remembering
Southern Nevada for years to come.
We hope this inspires you to get out there and enjoy these wild lands — and get involved in preserving and protecting these special places for future generations. This website is a great place to start, and we invite you to join us.
The SNAP Wilderness Team was established to develop a coordinated recreational and educational effort for improved visitor experiences in designated Wilderness lands in Southern Nevada. With the unique situation of cross-jurisdictional boundaries, the SNAP Wilderness Team is in a position to become a national model for wilderness planning, management and interagency collaboration. To address the substantial public interest in these remarkable backcountry areas, boundaries have been posted and surveyed as well as informational literature and maps developed. With no on-site agency presence to inform the public about the new status of these lands and clarify appropriate backcountry activities, a volunteer-based monitoring and stewardship program is being developed in 2009, modeled on the successful SNAP Cultural Site Stewardship Program.
Wilderness, by law, are areas devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use. While mechanized transport such as automobiles, ATVs, motorcycles and mountain bikes are not allowed in wilderness areas to allow for the preservation and protection of these special places in their natural condition, a variety of other activities are suitable. These include hiking, horseback riding, hunting, primitive camping, rock hounding, rock climbing and caving, stargazing, volunteer/stewardship activities, and extraordinary opportunities for solitude.
You play an important role in helping to "secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness" as called for by the Congress of the United States through the Wilderness Act of 1964. Please visit the following link; General things to consider when visiting any wilderness, and use Leave No Trace principles and techniques when visiting the Wilderness to ensure protection of this unique area.
Wildernesses managed by the SNAP Wilderness Team
BLM and USFS shared Wildernesses:
o Mt. Charleston, La Madre Mountain and Rainbow Mountain
BLM and NPS shared Wildernesses:
o Eldorado, Muddy Mountains, Ireteba Peaks, and Spirit Mountain
BLM Wildernesses:
o Arrow Canyon, Jumbo Springs, Lime Canyon, South McCullough, North McCullough, and Wee Thump Joshua Tree
NPS Wildernesses:
o Jimbilnan, Pinto Valley, Black Canyon, Bridge Canyon, Nellis Wash
Other wilderness areas in Southern Nevada include: Mt. Irish, South Pahroc Range, Clover Mountains, DelmarMountains, Meadow Valley Range, Mormon Mountains. Wilderness study areas (WSA) are: Sunrise Mountain and Mt. Stirling. Proposed wilderness includes: 1.4 acres on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.
To learn all about Wilderness, go to www.wilderness.net, a website jointly managed by the University of Montana and the four federal agencies that manage wilderness.
For further information contact Lori Headrick, SNAP Wilderness Project Manager at 702-839-5573 or leheadrick@fs.fed.us.
Who We Are and What We Do
In 2002 the ,Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act was signed into law. Through this Federal Act, Congress designated 17 new Wildernesses in Clark County, Nevada as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System and expanded the existing Mt. Charleston Wilderness. Many of these new Wilderness units cross federal agency jurisdictions. In addition, the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act of 2004 designated two Wilderness areas managed by the BLM, a portion of which are located in Clark County. There is currently 508,829 acres of designated Wildernesses in Clark County.
These congressionally-designated wildlands have been entrusted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Forest Service (USFS), and the National Park Service. These four land management agencies, under two departments-the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture- have been given the awesome responsibility of managing these wildernesses in Clark County. All of these agencies strive to meet the challenge of managing the American legacy of wilderness for the use and enjoyment of the people today and in the future.
The agencies also manage and monitor Wilderness Study Areas and Proposed Wildernesses under their jurisdiction, including a 1.4 million acre Proposed Wilderness on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Forest Service is also directed to fully comply with the elements of its 10-year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge for all designated Wilderness on National Forest lands.
Common to all wilderness-managing agencies is the guidance and direction that is provided by the Wilderness Act. By law, these wildernesses are managed differently in order to retain their primeval character and natural conditions, and to preserve wilderness as a special place for humans to examine their relationship to the natural world. Although other wilderness legislation is followed when applicable, and each agency has its own wilderness policy, the Wilderness Act bonds theses agencies together in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of America's wilderness system.
The Federal Managers of the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership (SNAP) directed these four agencies to conduct interagency Wilderness management planning and stewardship and to form a Wilderness Interagency Team.
Vision and Mission of the Wilderness Interagency Team
The vision of the Wilderness Interagency Team is to be a national model for Wilderness management and interagency collaboration …
Where the community understands the benefits and values of Wilderness, and
Where Wilderness character is preserved unimpaired for the use and enjoyment of the American people.
The mission of the Wilderness Interagency Team is to work together using a shared approach to planning and management of Southern Nevada Wildernesses. Each agency's strengths and resources are utilized for efficient, effective and seamless management as whole areas that are not divided by agency boundaries. The team's goal is to leave a legacy of interagency Wilderness planning, stewardship and education excellence.
