| Sand to Snow National Monument | |
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| Location | San Bernardino County,California,US |
| Coordinates | 34°05′N116°41′W / 34.08°N 116.68°W /34.08; -116.68 |
| Area | 154,000 acres (62,000 ha) |
| Authorized | February 12, 2016 (2016-02-12) |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management,U.S. Forest Service |
| Website | [1] |
Sand to Snow National Monument is aU.S. National Monument located inSan Bernardino County and northernRiverside County,SouthernCalifornia.
It protects diverse montane and deserthabitats of theSan Bernardino Mountains, southernMojave Desert, and northwesternColorado Desert.[1]
The national monument protects a total of 154,000 acres (62,000 ha), with theBureau of Land Management (BLM) managing 83,000 acres (34,000 ha) acres, and the USFS−San Bernardino National Forest managing 71,000 acres (29,000 ha).[2][3][4] It extends from around 1,000 feet (300 m) on theCoachella Valley desert floor up to over 11,000 feet (3,400 m) in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of the national monument are within theSan Gorgonio Wilderness area, which was designated by Congress in 1964.[2][3] An eastern border in theLittle San Bernardino Mountains abutsJoshua Tree National Park. An detached section of the monument, Black Lava Butte, expands theBighorn Mountain Wilderness area to the northeast.
Thirty miles (48 km) of thePacific Crest National Scenic Trail pass through the monument.[3] Theheadwaters of theSanta Ana River,Whitewater River, Morongo Creek, andSan Gorgonio River are within it. The park protects a significantwildlife corridor and landscape linkage between theSan Bernardino National Forest/San Gorgonio Wilderness area,Joshua Tree National Park, and Bighorn Mountain Wilderness area.[5]
Diverseplant communities in the park support flora of the higher Mojave and lower SonoranColorado Deserts,chaparral,California oak woodland, coniferous forest, andalpine ecosystems, making it the most botanically rich national monument in the United States.[5]
Plant life native to the San Bernardino Mountains is influenced by their location at the convergence of three distinct ecosystems:California chaparral and woodlands to the west, Mojave Desert to the east, andSonoran Desert to the south. There are over 1,600 different plant species native to the range.[5][6]
Sand dunes are home to the endangeredfringe-toed lizard at the lower elevation confluence of the Whitewater and San Gorgonio Rivers, whileDesert bighorn sheep are found at higher elevations.[5][7]
Sand to Snow National Monument was designated byPresident Obama on February 12, 2016 along withCastle Mountains National Monument andMojave Trails National Monument.[2][8][9] It is governed by theUnited States Forest Service and theBureau of Land Management.
The Sand to Snow National Monument was inspired byThe Wildlands Conservancy’s twenty-year-old Sand to Snow Wilderness Interface Project that included more than 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of privately-funded land acquisition, including private properties threatened with development.[5] The Conservancy establishedWhitewater Preserve,[10]Mission Creek Preserve,[11] andPioneertown Mountains Preserve.[12] TheBig Morongo Canyon Preserve was protected as a wildlife reserve in 1982, and later included in the monument, forming thus its most developed area. The aggregate set of preserved lands extends recreational opportunities in the Coachella Valley region.[13]
