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Mojave Basin and Range

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NameColor on MapEPA Code‡
Eastern Mojave Basins14a
Eastern Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes14b
Eastern Mojave Mountain Woodland and Shrubland14c
Eastern Mojave High Elevation Mountains14d
Arid Valleys and Canyonlands14e
Mojave Playas14f
Amargosa Desert14g
Death Valley/Mojave Central Trough14h
Mesquite Flat/Badwater Basin14i
Western Mojave Basins14j
Western Mojave Low Ranges and Arid Footslopes14k
Western Mojave Mountain Woodland and Shrubland14l
Western Mojave High Elevation Mountains14m
Mojave Lava Fields14n
Mojave Sand Dunes14o
Lower Grand Canyon14p

† Status: ✓ = Complete ○ = Needs Image … = Incomplete ∅ = Stub Only

This code refers to the US EPA's Level 4 ecoregion codes for the continental U.S., see here.

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About the Mojave Basin and Range

The Mojave Basin and Range is a region encompassing a series of Warm Deserts stretching from interior southern California through southern Nevada and into northwestern Utah. It is the northernmost portion of the warm deserts in North America.

This region consists of broad basins and scattered mountains that tend to be lower-elevation and warmer than the Central Basin and Range to the north.

Vegetation is markedly different from regions to the north and south, and consists mostly of shrubland dominated by creosotebush. The Mojave desert features creasotebush, white bursage, Joshua trees, other yuccas, and blackbrush. Alkala flats support saltbush, saltgrass, alkali sacaton, and iodinebush. Mountains have lusher growth of sagebrush, juniper, and singleleaf pinyon. The highest elevations have some ponderosa pine, white fir, limber pine, and bristlecone pine.

This region is threatened by heavy use of off-road vehicles and motorcycles, which disturbs the soil, leaving it vulnerable to erosion by wind and water.

Most of this region is federally owned and protected. There is little grazing, limited by the lack of water and sparse vegetation for forage.

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References

1. Wiken, E., Griffith, G. "North American Terrestrial Ecoregions - Level III", Commission for Environmental Cooperation, (2011) Web.