Snow Mountain Wilderness

Snow Mountain Wilderness
Snow Mountain, East Peak, April, 2003
A map of the United States showing the location of the Snow Mountain Wilderness
A map of the United States showing the location of the Snow Mountain Wilderness
Location of Snow Mountain Wilderness
LocationMendocino National Forest; Lake / Colusa / Glenn counties, California, United States
Nearest cityLakeport, California
Coordinates39°25′00″N 122°43′19″W / 39.41667°N 122.72194°W / 39.41667; -122.72194
Area37,679 acres (152.48 km2)
Established1984
Governing bodyUnited States Forest Service

The Snow Mountain Wilderness is a 60,076-acre (243.12 km2) federally designated wilderness area located 65 miles (105 km) north of Santa Rosa, California, USA in the Mendocino National Forest. The U.S. Congress passed the California Wilderness Act of 1984 which created 23 new wilderness areas including Snow Mountain.[1] It lies within the North Coast Range of mountains.

Elevations are from 1,800 feet (500 m) to 7,056 feet (2,151 m). The wilderness covers the crest of this North Coast Range mountain divide for 13 miles (21 km) and the summit area includes two peaks, East (7,050 ft[2]) and West (7,021 ft[3]).

On October 17, 2006 the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act was signed into law (Public Law No: 109-362) which added 23,706 acres (95.93 km2) to the Snow Mountain Wilderness.[4] In July 2015, the area became part of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.

The Trough Fire burned 24,970 acres (101.1 km2) of Snow Mountain Wilderness and national forest land in August 2001. More than 12 million dollars was spent to contain the wildfire even though most of the area was within the wilderness boundary. This human-caused wildfire started near Fouts Springs, an off-road vehicle recreational area in Mendocino National Forest.[5]

  1. ^ California Wilderness Act of 1984 on the National Park Service web site
  2. ^ United States Geological Survey (USGS) Feature Detail Report
  3. ^ USGS Feature Detail Report
  4. ^ "H.R. 233 (109th Congress): Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act" on GovTracks.us
  5. ^ "Trough Fire — California", Pacific Biodiversity Institute Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine