The High Schells Wilderness is a 121497 acres (491.7 km²) wilderness area in White Pine County

White Pine County, Nevada

White Pine County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. Its population at the 2010 census was 10,030. Its county seat is Ely. It is the home of Great Basin National Park...

, in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 state of Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. The Wilderness lies within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is the principal U.S. National Forest located in the U.S. state of Nevada. With an area of , it is the largest National Forest of the United States outside of Alaska...

 and is therefore administered by the U.S. Forest Service.

Flora and fauna

The High Schells Wilderness is home to an abundance of elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

, and mountain lion, which thrive in forests of quaking aspen, Douglas and white fir

White Fir

White Fir is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m . It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas Tree...

, Englemann spruce, and limber

Limber Pine

The Limber Pine, Pinus flexilis, is a species of pine tree-the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Southwestern White Pine and Rocky Mountain White Pine...

 and bristlecone pine

Bristlecone pine

The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....

. Golden eagles can be seen soaring the updrafts along the crest of the Schell Creek Range

Schell Creek Range

The Schell Creek Range is a linear mountain range in central White Pine County, in east-central Nevada. Its length is approximately in a north-south direction....

. Riparian vegetation provides key habitat for blue grouse

Blue Grouse

The genus Dendragapus, contains two closely related species of grouse that have often been treated as a single variable taxon . The two species are the Dusky Grouse and the Sooty Grouse...

, sage grouse

Sage Grouse

The Sage Grouse is the largest grouse in North America, where it is known as the Greater Sage-Grouse. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. A population of smaller birds, known in the U.S. as Gunnison Sage-Grouse, were recently...

, chukar

Chukar

The Chukar Partridge or Chukar is a Eurasian upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the Rock Partridge, Philby's Partridge and Przevalski's Partridge and treated in the past as conspecific particularly with the first...

 and many other species. Perennial streams throughout the area support populations of rainbow

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

, brook

Brook trout

The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...

, cutthroat

Cutthroat trout

The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...

 and brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

.

Archeology

Archeological sites in the High Schells Wilderness include petroglyphs and lithic scatters

Lithic analysis

In archaeology, lithic analysis is the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts using basic scientific techniques. At its most basic level, lithic analyses involve an analysis of the artifact’s morphology, the measurement of various physical attributes, and examining other visible...

.

See also

• Nevada Wilderness Areas
  Nevada Wilderness Areas
  In 1989 the U.S. Government enacted the Nevada Wilderness Bill, expanding the one existing Wilderness Area and creating thirteen new areas...
  
  
• List of wilderness areas in Nevada
• List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
• Wilderness Act
  Wilderness Act
  The Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
  
  

External links

• Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest - High Schells Wilderness
• Friends of Nevada Wilderness - High Schells Wilderness
• official Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest website
• National Atlas: Map of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
• NevadaWilderness.org