Juniper Dunes Wilderness
{{Short description|Wilderness area in Washington, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox Protected area
| name = Juniper Dunes Wilderness
| iucn_category = Ib
| photo = Juniper Dunes (11519764785).jpg
| photo_caption = Juniper Dunes
| location = Franklin County, Washington, United States
| nearest_city = Pasco, WA
| coordinates = {{coord|46|23|30|N|118|51|20|W|display=inline, title}}
| area = 7,140 acres (28.9 km²)
| established = 1984
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management
}}
The Juniper Dunes Wilderness is a protected wilderness area comprising 7,140 acres (28.9 km²) in Franklin County, Washington. Established in 1984, it is noteworthy for the northernmost growth of western juniper trees that live among the area's large sand dunes.{{cite web|title=Juniper Dunes Wilderness |url=http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Juniper%20Dunes |access-date=2008-02-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031111061127/http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Juniper+Dunes |archive-date=2003-11-11 }}
Flora and fauna
Common wildlife found in Juniper Dunes Wilderness include mule deer, bobcat, coyote, badger, skunk, weasel, porcupine, pocket gopher, kangaroo rat, several species of mouse, hawk, owl, raven, quail, partridge, pheasant, dove, numerous songbirds, and rattlesnakes.
Other than the namesake junipers, no trees grow in significant numbers here. Other vegetation found in the Wilderness include rubber rabbitbrush, green rabbitbrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, Indian ricegrass, white sand-verbena, Franklin sandwort, sicklepod milkvetch, turpentine cymopterus, hymenopappus, prickly pear cactus, sand-dune penstemon, lanceleaf breadroot, sand dock, Carey balsamroot, wild-hyacinth, larkspur, wild flax, snow buckwheat, desert parsley Indian-potato, and silverleaf phacelia.[http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben279.html Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area, Franklin County, Washington] - Botanical Electronic News
Image:Juniper Dunes Viewed from East IMG 1291.jpg in the hazy distance behind.]]
Access
As the wilderness area is surrounded by privately-owned land an agreement was reached in early 2007 with landowners that allows visitors, with permission, to travel on one of several old jeep trails that end near the Wilderness boundary.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite news
|author = Eric Degerman
|url = http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/SPORTS/outdoors/juniperdunes.html
|title = The Sahara of Washington Juniper Dunes Wilderness, just {{convert|15|mi|km}} north of Pasco, seems a world away
|publisher = Tri-City Herald
|date = 2002-04-24
|access-date = 2006-06-29
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060615052515/http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/SPORTS/outdoors/juniperdunes.html
|archive-date = 2006-06-15
}}
- {{cite news
|author = Anna King
|url = http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/v-rss/story/8642534p-8534430c.html
|title = Access deal met at Juniper Dunes
|publisher = Tri-City Herald
|date = 2007-02-15
|access-date = 2007-02-15
}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
- {{cite news
|author = Karen Sykes
|url = http://www.seattlepi.com/getaways/032097/hike20.html
|title = Head east to escape the rain at Juniper Dunes Wilderness
|publisher = Seattle Post-Intelligencer
|date = 1997-03-20
|access-date = 2008-02-21
}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- [https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/ncls_wild_orwa_junipermap.pdf Map of Juniper Dunes Wilderness]
- [https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/oregon-washington/juniper-dunes Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area] - BLM page
{{Commons category|Juniper Dunes Wilderness}}
{{Protected Areas of Washington}}
{{Protected areas of the Tri-Cities}}
{{Authority control}}