Spectacular Views • Wetland Habitat • Recreational Trails

The narrow steep-walled canyons and uniquely faulted and folded formations in the natural maze of the Mecca Hills are the result of the San Andreas Fault. In the canyon bottoms, sandy washes are filled with stands of ironwood, palo verde, and smoke trees. In the adjacent Orocopia Mountains Wilderness the forces of nature have produced a similarly striking landscape of colorful and dramatically eroded canyons, and ridges. Bighorn sheep, burro deer, prairie falcon, and desert tortoise are some of the animals that live among these mountains. Spiny-leaved Orocopia sage and purple-flowered Mecca aster grow in washes and on low slopes. Throughout, trails provide a wonderful opportunity to explore this dramatic landscape. These mountains form the northeastern slope above the Salton Sea and waters from the Mecca Hills and Orocopia Mountains drain to the Salton Sea via Salt Creek. Along Salt Creek in the Dos Palmas Area, partnership protection efforts focus on spring-fed native desert fan palm oases, freshwater marsh habitats, and archaeologically significant sites. These wetland areas are home to the endangered desert pupfish and Yuma clapper rail, and the rare California black rail.

 Key lands already preserved: