Granite Mountain Wilderness

The United States Congress designated the Granite Mountain Wilderness (this area has not yet been added to Wilderness.net's map) in 2009 and it now has a total of 34,342 acres. All of this wilderness is located in California and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  A geologically varied landscape of open alluvial basins, basaltic plateaus and granite ridges, the Granite Mountain Wilderness is an excellent Great Basin addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The sagebrush steppe habitat of the Granite Mountain Wilderness is currently underrepresented in the system. The area contains sage grouse, deer migration corridors, abundant raptor nesting sites and wild horses. The wilderness is home to an amazing diversity of terrain. Rounded, buff granite outcrops along steep ridge lines and as lone buttresses in alluvial flats, and dark, chunky basaltic flows form the high plateau of Cowtrack Mountain. Numerous archeological sites, many of which have already been disturbed by illegal artifact collection, are scattered throughout the pinyon-juniper woodland. Mono Lake Paiutes historically wintered here, on the east side of the lake, to escape the heavier snows nearer to the Sierran crest.