The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 abolished Death Valley National Monument (established in 1933 & 1937) and recommissioned it as Death Valley National Park. This act also enlarged Death Valley National Park and designated about 91% of the park lands as Wilderness. For the 110,000 acres of Death Valley National Park lands in Nevada, approximately 46,000 acres are designated Wilderness. Many members of Friends of Nevada Wilderness advocated for the passage of the California Desert Protection Act and for Wilderness protection of the wild lands within Death Valley National Park.

The Nevada portion of the Death Valley Wilderness includes beautiful and remote alluvial fans and the highest part of the Grapevine Mountains. This Wilderness lies at the northern end of the Mojave Desert and displays an astounding variety of flora and fauna associated with the transition from the lower deserts ecosystem into the Great Basin High Desert. Joshua tree forest inter mingle with pinyon and juniper as the explorer climbs toward the summit of the mountains.