Granite Mountains (western San Bernardino County, California)
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The Granite Mountains are a mountain range in San Bernardino County, California, United States. They are east of Victorville and Apple Valley, west of Lucerne Valley, and are one of four mountain ranges in the Mojave Desert to share this name. The range is about 8 miles east to west, and 8.4 miles north to south.
Geography
[edit]The highest elevation is 5131 feet, at 34.5026882, -117.0798862. (34 30 9.68 N, 117 4 47.59 W).[1] Small valleys separate the range from Deadman Hills[2] and Fairview Mountain[3] to the west, Sidewinder Mountain[4] to the north, and White Horse Mountain[5] to the east. The area is in the Granite Mountains Recreation Management Zone, which is part of the Bureau of Land Management Stoddard/Johnson Valley Special Recreation Management Area.[6] The BLM Bendire's Thrasher Area of Critical Environmental Concern includes the northern edges of the Granite Mountains.[7]
Geology
[edit]Most of the mountain range is composed of monzonite and quartz monzonite from the Triassic period, with some Jurassic or Cretaceous granodiorite. In the northeast part of the range, the rocks have less hornblende and pyroxene, and more garnet and epidote.[8] The Helendale Fault bisects the mountains with a valley running northwest to southeast; it is a right-lateral strike-slip fault with a high angle.[9]
Wind energy project
[edit]Renewable Energy Systems proposed 28 wind turbines in the northeastern Granite Mountains; the project was withdrawn in 2013 due to the presence of golden eagle nests nearby.[10]
Biology
[edit]The wind energy project Environmental Impact Assessment included a survey of plants and animals. Plants in the proposed project area include the Joshua tree and other Yucca species, Cymopterus panamintensis, Eriogonum fasciculatum, Larrea tridentata, and Cryptantha clokeyi. Animal species include Papilio indra (Indra's Swallowtail), American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), Bendire's thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), Northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni), willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), Pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus), Townsend's big-eared bat (Plecotus townsendii), and desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).[11]
See also
[edit]- Granite Mountains (California) (eastern San Bernardino County)
- Granite Mountains (northern San Bernardino County, California)
References
[edit]- ^ https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/271393. The peak is not named on USGS topographic maps, but is called Deadman’s Peak at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Deadman's+Peak/@34.5027609,-117.1521397,12z/, not to be confused with the Deadman Hills nearby and Deadman Peak 560 miles to the NNW in the Klamath National Forest.
- ^ https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/1841674
- ^ https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/242151
- ^ https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/249428
- ^ https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/1666750
- ^ https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/lup/66459/20012656/250017256/SRMA_Combined.pdf
- ^ https://ia.cpuc.ca.gov/Environment/info/aspen/ivanpah-control/pea2/pea_4.11_land_use_and_planning.pdf
- ^ https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/0132/pdf/fif_map.pdf, https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/Regional-Geologic-Maps/RGM_003A/RGM_003A_SanBernardino_1986_Sheet1of5.pdf, Thomas W. Dibblee, Jr. 2008. Geological Map of the Lake Arrowhead & Lucerne Valley 15 minute quadrangles, San Bernardino County, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_84179.htm
- ^ https://www.sbcounty.gov/uploads/lus/desert/deis-eir-volume1.pdf
- ^ https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/GraniteWind.html
- ^ United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management & County of San Bernardino Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for the Granite Mountain Wind Energy Project, volume 1, April 2010, http://www.sbcounty.gov/uploads/lus/desert/deis-eir-volume1.pdf. The biological survey was in Appendix F, which was published as a CD, and does not seem to be available on the internet. Some of the birds were notable not because they live there, but because they fly through the area where the wind turbines are proposed.