Alta Toquima Wilderness
| Alta Toquima Wilderness | |||
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| Location: | Nevada , United States | ||
| Next city: | Tonopah | ||
| Surface: | 145.1 km² | ||
| Founding: | 1989 | ||
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The Alta Toquima Wilderness is a protected area of the type of a Wilderness Area in Nye County of the US state Nevada . The area is located in the middle of the Toquima Range and covers an area of around 145 km². It bears the name of the 7,000-year-old prehistoric settlement Alta Toquima below the summit region of Mount Jefferson, which is 3,640 meters high .
description
The reserve was established by the United States Congress in 1989 under the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 . At the same time, 13 further wilderness areas in Nevada with a total area of 2966 km² were designated. As a wilderness area , no tourist or other infrastructure was created, there are no roads, but hiking trails are maintained.
The character of the area is characterized by the high mountains with steep cliffs and gorges. In the west of the Toquima Mountain Range is the Big Smoky Valley with the Nevada State Route 376 and the village of Round Mountain with the Round Mountain Goldmine in the southwest. From the north the terrain rises increasingly rugged. In the center of the mountain range is Mount Jefferson, from whose summit, when the weather is clear, the view extends to the neighboring states of California and Utah. In the east, the terrain slopes down to Monitor Valley . The area is part of the National Forest area Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest and is controlled by the US Forest Service managed.
The 7,000 year old prehistoric settlement Alta Toquima , which was discovered in 1978 in the summit region of Mount Jefferson by David Hurst Thomas , is the highest known settlement of Indian origin.
Almost 100 years earlier, in August 1877, the naturalist John Muir was already exploring the mountains and, in particular, looking at the valley and terrain forms as the effects of glaciers from the Ice Age, which he wrote down as the Glacial Phenomena in Nevada .
Flora and fauna
In the lower elevations the grasses and plants of the Sagebrush steppes grow, in higher areas Pinion-Juniper bush communities, flexible pines and aspens dominate . While trout live in Pine Creek, the slopes feature bighorn sheep , deer, mugwort, and chukar hen . Hawk, saw owl , western fence iguana and barbed iguana complete the range of species.
Individual evidence
- ↑ nevadawilderness.org
- ↑ austinnevada.com
- ↑ John Muir: The Eight Wilderness Discovery Books. The Mountaineers Books, 1992, ISBN 0-89886-335-X , pp. 939ff.
- ↑ wilderness.net
- ↑ nevadawilderness.org
literature
- David Hurst Thomas: The Alta Toquima Village Project, 1981: A Preliminary Report. Desert Research Institute, 1982, ISBN 0-945920-27-X .