Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness

The Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness is a wilderness area located in northwestern Arizona and southwestern Utah, USA, within the arid Colorado Plateau region. The jagged mountains and gently sloping alluvial plain of the Beaver Dam Mountains straddle the border between the two states. The Wilderness contains some of the lowest elevation land in Utah, and includes a 13 mi section of the Virgin River Gorge. The area comprises some 18,667 acres, 15000 acres of which in Arizona and approximately 3,667 acres in Utah. The area was designated Wilderness by the U.S. Congress in 1984 and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Mojave Desert landscape of the Beaver Dam Mountains features multitudes of Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia). Notable wildlife include desert bighorn sheep, the threatened desert tortoise, and large numbers of raptors. South of Beaver Dam lies the Paiute Wilderness, on the other side of the Interstate 15 corridor and lying partially inside Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

Other sources

 * Lynna P. Howard, Utah's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide (Westcliffe Publishers, 2005) ISBN 1-56579-388-9
 * Bill Cunningham & Polly Burke, Wild Utah: A Guide to 45 Roadless Recreation Areas (Falcon Publishing, 1998) ISBN 1-56044-616-1