Acreage Great Basin National Park consists of 77,100 acres of federal land. The Great Basin National Park includes much of the South Snake Range, a superb example of a desert mountain island. From the sagebrush at its alluvial base to the 13,063 foot summit of Wheeler Peak, the park includes streams, lakes, alpine plants, abundant wildlife, a variety of forest types including groves of ancient bristle-cone pines and numerous limestone caverns, including beautiful Lehman Caves. Instead water collects in shallow salt lakes, marshes and mud flats, where it evaporates in the desert air. There is not just one basin here, but many, all separated by mountain ranges running roughly parallel, north and south.
Appearances are deceptive.
As in the ocean, there is much life not immediately apparent. And above the valleys, rising thousands of feet from the sagebrush sea, mountain ranges form a high-elevation archipelago, islands of cooler air and more abundant water. Here we find a rich variety of plants and animals that could not survive in the lower desert. The Snake Range provides a good example of biogeography, the relationship between living things and the landscape. As elevation increases, the climate changes, creating habitats for different plants and animals.