Breaking News- April 7, 2023

On April 7, 2023, Senator Rosen released a working draft of the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act. A portion of this act includes permanent wilderness designation for 112,002 acres of Sheldon Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) within and contiguous with Washoe County.  The remaining WSAs within the Humboldt County of Sheldon will remain protected as WSAs. 

Honoring Native Lands

The entirety of the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge lies within the traditional lands and and lifeways of the Nuumu (Northern Paiute) People.

Sheldon Gallery

Services, Getting There

From Lakeview, Oregon, travel 68 miles east on 140. From Denio, Nevada, travel 14 miles west on Highway 40. Services: Gasoline and groceries are available in Denio, Nevada (14 miles from the east boundary), Lakeview, Oregon (68 miles west from boundary on Highway 140), Cedarville, California (46 miles from west boundary) and Winnemucca, Nevada (100 miles from east boundary). They are the nearest full-service communities with overnight lodging, auto repair, retail stores, and tourist information. During the summer, the Royal Peacock Mine in Virgin Valley has some supplies such as ice, several furnished overnight accommodations, and a pay phone.

Getting to Denio from Reno, Nevada: travel east 165 miles on I-80 to Winnemucca; then 31 miles north on SR 95 and, finally, follow SR 140 about 66 miles to the west and north. At Denio Junction, SR 140 turns west again for the short, 14-mile, drive to the Sheldon Antelope Range.

Map Information

USGS topo: Alkali Peak, Badger Mountain NW, Bald Mountain, Bear Buttes, Big Spring Butte, Blowout Mountain, Bog Hot Springs, Calcutta Lake, Catnip Canyon, Catnip Creek, Catnip Mountain SE, Coleman Canyon, Gooch Lake, Idaho Canyon Spring, Knott Creek Ranch, McGhee Mountain, Rock Spring Table, Rye Creek, Sage Hen Hills, Summit Lake, Swan Lake, Thousand Creek Gorge, Thousand Creek Spring and Virgin Valley.
DeLorme Gazetteer pages 18, 19.

Watch the Stewards of Sheldon Video

Wilderness Area Status

Wilderness Study Area
Year Designated:

Act or Law:
Acres: 341500
State Region: Northwest Nevada
County Regions: Humboldt  Washoe 

Management

Managing Agency: US Fish & Wildlife Service
Local District: Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge
Contact Info: (541) 947-3315
P.O. Box 111, 18 South G Street, Lakeview, OR97630
Visit the website (will open a new window)

Area Description

The Sheldon is a vast and rugged land that provides year-round habitat as well as major wintering areas for the Oregon-Nevada interstate pronghorn herd. This is the largest protected land scape in Nevada managed exclusively for native wildlife species.  The Sheldon is Nevada's Serengeti. 

This large volcanic upland has been dissected by numerous drainages (seasonal and perennial). While the resulting tables tend to have rolling upper surfaces, their boundaries often are steep or precipitous. Elevations range between 4,000 and 7,200 feet.

The area's sparse vegetation is dominated by sagebrush, grasses and other shrubs with local areas of juniper or patches of mountain mahogany. Along the wetter drainages at lower elevations you can find willow, cottonwood and aspen. Away from the creeks, water sources are rare, and due to the underlying rock and soil, most upland areas are remarkably dry.

The Sheldon Refuge contains some of the highest-quality sage-grouse habitat remaining in North America. Protecting this habitat and enhancing its health is an important part to minimizing the impact of a possible Endangered Species Act listing of the sage-grouse in 2015.

Walking the uplands, the visitor is presented with big sky, wide vistas and the grand scope of nature.

Places like Bitner Butte, Gooch Table, Mule and Catnip Mountains urge the inner explorer to hike a little farther and see a bit more - maybe discovering exactly what led to Catnip's naming.

Domesticated livestock have been excluded from the Range since 1994.

The goal is to give wilderness protection to this isolated region of flat-to-rolling upland tables and the wildlife communities that it supports.

At 341,500 acres, the areas proposed for wilderness designation comprise nearly two-thirds of the entire Charles Sheldon Antelope Range and the Sheldon National Antelope Refuge combined. Designation of these areas as wilderness was first recommended by the Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1970's.

Wildlife: pronghorn antelope, California bighorn sheep, mule deer, pygmy rabbit, sage grouse, prairie and peregrine falcon, Lahontan cutthroat trout, Alvord chub and Sheldon tui chub.