The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge occupies an arid zone of volcanic terrain.
Opal miners have been active in the valley since 1906.
Rockhounds search for precious opal, agates, petrified wood, Carnelian, obsidian, rhyolite, jasper, agate, hyalite opal, psilomelene.
Geothermal hot springs provide some water to a swimming pool and shower house in the camp ground.
The dominant ecosystem plant life consists of drought-tolerant species such as sagebrush, juniper, mountain mahogany, bitterbrush and aspen.
The elevation ranges from 4,100 feet (1,200 m) to 7,200 feet (2,200 m) above sea level.

In this forbidding landscape lives a large population of free-range fauna, with the pronghorn - North America's fastest land mammal - being the best known and numbering around 3,500.
There are also large herds of mustang, mule deer, and a small but self-sustaining population of bighorn sheep.

The bighorn are not strictly native to the Sheldon Refuge, having been extirpated there during the frontier era and reintroduced about 1930.
The pronghorn "antelope" played a key role in the refuge's history, as approximately 94 percent of the current protected land area was originally set aside as the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range in 1936.
The refuge is the home of an endemic fish species of limited geographic distribution, the Alvord chub.
The population of Sheldon horses are the descendants of horses used by the U.S. Army.
Harry Wilson was one of the ranchers that sold horses to the U.S. cavalry.
When the Wilsons owned the Virgin Valley Ranch, they worked with the Army, which provided thoroughbred stallions that were bred with the Wilsons' standardbreds.

Nevada State Route 140 traverses the refuge from east to west and is the only paved road within the refuge.
The nearest community of any size is Denio, Nevada, 14 miles from the refuge's eastern boundary.
The nearest divided highway is Interstate 80 in Winnemucca, Nevada, approximately 100 miles to the south.
County Road 8A connects to Cedarville Ca.
The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge occupies an arid zone of volcanic terrain. Opal miners have been active in the valley since 1906. Rockhounds search for precious opal, agates, petrified wood, Carnelian, obsidian, rhyolite, jasper, agate, hyalite opal, psilomelene. Geothermal hot springs provide some water to a swimming pool and shower house in the camp ground. The dominant ecosystem plant life consists of drought-tolerant species such as sagebrush, juniper, mountain mahogany, bitterbrush and aspen. The elevation ranges from 4,100 feet (1,200 m) to 7,200 feet (2,200 m) above sea level.
In this forbidding landscape lives a large population of free-range fauna, with the pronghorn - North America's fastest land mammal - being the best known and numbering around 3,500. There are also large herds of mustang, mule deer, and a small but self-sustaining population of bighorn sheep.
The bighorn are not strictly native to the Sheldon Refuge, having been extirpated there during the frontier era and reintroduced about 1930. The pronghorn "antelope" played a key role in the refuge's history, as approximately 94 percent of the current protected land area was originally set aside as the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range in 1936. The refuge is the home of an endemic fish species of limited geographic distribution, the Alvord chub. The population of Sheldon horses are the descendants of horses used by the U.S. Army. Harry Wilson was one of the ranchers that sold horses to the U.S. cavalry. When the Wilsons owned the Virgin Valley Ranch, they worked with the Army, which provided thoroughbred stallions that were bred with the Wilsons' standardbreds.
Nevada State Route 140 traverses the refuge from east to west and is the only paved road within the refuge. The nearest community of any size is Denio, Nevada, 14 miles from the refuge's eastern boundary. The nearest divided highway is Interstate 80 in Winnemucca, Nevada, approximately 100 miles to the south. County Road 8A connects to Cedarville Ca.
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge