SAND TO SNOW NATIONAL MONUMENT

INSPIRED BY THE WILDLANDS CONSERVANCY’S SAND TO SNOW WILDERNESS INTERFACE PROJECT

The Sand to Snow National Monument was inspired by The Wildlands Conservancy’s twenty-year-old Sand to Snow Wilderness Interface Project that included more than 60,000 acres of privately-funded land acquisition. This project entailed the acquisition of private properties threatened with development in order to safeguard wildlife corridors and landscape linkages between the San Gorgonio Wilderness, Joshua Tree National Park and Bighorn Mountain Wilderness. The project also laid ground for additional linkages between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains through additional acquisitions. The Sand to Snow National Monument brings a higher level of protection to these non-wilderness wildlife corridors.

PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY

The monument is located in the San Bernardino Mountains, the most botanically diverse mountain range of its size in North America. Plant life in the San Bernardinos is influenced by its location at the convergence of three distinct ecosystems: coastal to the west, Mojave Desert to the east, and Sonoran Desert to the south. Millions of years of glacial expansion and recession deposited more than 1,600 plant species in these mountains, dispersing them throughout diverse niches on the north and south aspects of peaks that rise more 11,000 feet from the desert floor. Plant communities representing Mojave and Sonoran deserts, chaparral, oak woodland, coniferous forest, and alpine ecosystems makes Sand to Snow the most botanically rich national monument in the United States.

A RECREATIONAL WONDERLAND

Sand to Snow National Monument is a four-season recreational wonderland for millions of Southern California residents. Opportunities range from snow shoeing the backcountry ice fields of Mount San Gorgonio to fly fishing the headwaters of the Santa Ana River, world-class bird-watching in Big Morongo Canyon, rugged hiking along dozens of well-maintained trails (including 25 miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail), and photographing seemingly endless vistas.

The peaks and ridges of Sand to Snow National Monument provide an unforgettable backdrop to the daily lives of millions of people, emanating visual solace and beckoning us all with the call of its wilderness. Hikers, hunters, and inspiration-seekers alike are the beneficiaries of the spectacular landscapes that this national monument protects. Regardless of your pastime, this land is yours now—and forever.