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Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site R029XY061NV
FAN COLLAR 12-16 P.Z.
Last updated: 2/20/2025
Accessed: 02/24/2025
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
MLRA notes
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 029X–Southern Nevada Basin and Range
The Southern Nevada Basin and Range MLRA (29) represents the transition from the Mojave Desert to the Great Basin. It is cooler and wetter than the Mojave. It is warmer and typically receives more summer precipitation than the Great Basin. This area is in Nevada (73 percent), California (25 percent), and Utah (2 percent). It makes up about 26,295 square miles (68,140 square kilometers). Numerous national forests occur in the area, including the San Bernardino, Angeles, Sequoia, Inyo, Humboldt-Toiyabe, and Dixie National Forests. Portions of Death Valley National Monument, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Nevada Test Site, the Hawthorne Ammunition Depot, and the Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada and the China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California also are in this MLRA. The northeast part of the Paiute Indian Reservation and the southern third of the Walker River Indian Reservation are in the part of this MLRA in Nevada, and the Lone Pine, Fort Independence, and Big Pine Indian Reservations are in the part in California.
Physiography:
The entire area is in the Great Basin Section of the Basin and Range Province of the Intermontane Plateaus. The area of broad, nearly level, aggraded desert basins and valleys between a series of mountain ranges trending north to south. The basins are bordered by sloping fans and pluvial lake terraces. The mountains are uplifted fault blocks with steep side slopes and not well dissected due to limited annual precipitation. Most of the valleys in this MLRA are closed basins or bolsons containing sinks or playa lakes.
Geology:
The mountains are dominated by Pliocene and Miocene andesite and basalt rocks, Paleozoic and Precambrian carbonate rocks prominent in some areas. Scattered outcrops of older Tertiary intrusives and very young tuffaceous sediments (Pliocene and Miocene) are in the western and eastern thirds of this MLRA. The valleys consist mostly of alluvial fill and playa deposits at the lowest elevations in the closed basins.
Climate:
The average annual precipitation is 3 to 12 inches (75 to 305 millimeters) in most of this area. It may be as high as 29 inches (735 millimeters), on the higher mountain slopes. Most of the rainfall occurs as high-intensity, convective thunderstorms during the growing season. Summers are dry, but sporadic storms are common in July and August.
Water Resources:
Water resources are scarce. Ground water and surface water sources are limited. Streams are small and intermittent. Quality of surface water in naturally degraded as streams cross area of valley fill effected by dissolved salts. Irrigation water may raise the levels of dissolved salts and suspended sediments causing contamination.
Soils:
Dominant soil orders include Entisols and Aridisols.
Ecological site concept
This site is on alluvial fan collars. Slopes range from 8 to 15 percent. Elevations are 6,000 to 7,000 feet. The soils are deep and well drained.
Associated sites
F029XY095NV |
PIMO-JUOS WSG 0R0501 12 to 16 This site is on mountain summits and sideslopes on all aspects. Slopes range from 15 to 75 percent. Elevations are 5,500 to about 8,600 feet. Soils of this site are typically shallow to moderately deep, deep and well drained. These soils have extreme amounts of very large, exfoliating ignimbritic boulders on the surface. Available water capacity is very low, but trees and shrubs extend their roots into fractures in the bedrock allowing them to utilize deep moisture. |
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Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
Not specified |
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Shrub |
(1) Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana |
Herbaceous |
(1) Leymus cinereus |
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