Summary
Current Protection
Designated Wilderness
Management Agency
United States Forest Service
Year Protected
1989
Total Area
115,000 Acres
Arc Dome Wilderness, in the heart of the Toiyabe Range, is one of Nevada's largest wilderness areas. Its 115,000 acres stretch from Ophir summit on the north to Peavine Canyon on the south. Arc Dome Wilderness, designated in 1989 under the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989, is administered by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The area contains a spectacular, glacier-carved highlands, steep, rugged canyons, a diverse mix of landforms and ecosystems, and some of the best trout streams in Nevada. Arc Dome wilderness includes one of the most extensive trail systems within Nevada, including the southern third of Nevada’s longest trial, the Toiyabe Crest National Recreation Trail. Arc Dome itself in the highest point in the Toiyabe Range, reaching an impressive elevation of 11,773 feet. Wildlife is plentiful in the Wilderness, including bighorn sheep, deer, grouse, and chukar.
Agency Information
Managing Agency: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
Local District: Austin-Tonopah Ranger District
Address: PO Box 130 Austin, NV 89310
Phone: (775) 964-2671
Arc Dome is within the traditional homeland of the Newe (Western Shoshone). Arc Dome was originally called Mount Poston and has also been known as Toiyabe Dome or Toyabe Dome. The name Toiyabe originates from the Newe word for mountain. Native people have been living on and with these lands for countless generations.
Friends of Nevada Wilderness commitment to stewardship of the Arc Dome Wilderness includes working with managing agencies and partner organizations to run an intensive trail maintenance crew, assure that area is regularly monitored, ecological impacts are rehabilitated, and vehicular incursions into wilderness are closed and the damage is restored. Friends of Nevada Wilderness also works to ground-truth trails and map the Arc Dome Wilderness (see the Map tab on the left of this page to purchase the newest map).