History
For many centuries Big Morongo Canyon was used by nomadic Indians as an easy route between the high and low deserts. In the canyon, water was plentiful and the grade was gentle. The last people to inhabit the canyon before the advent of white settlers were the Morongos, a powerful clan of the Serrano Indians. In 1846 the Morongos were moved to a reservation, and the canyon passed from one rancher to the next until 1968, when 80 acres were sold as a partial gift to The Nature Land Conservancy by J.L. Covington. Soon afterward 160 acres of adjacent land to the north was obtained by San Bernardino County to form the Big Morongo Canyon Regional Wildlife Preserve. In order to prevent Big Morongo Canyon from becoming a biological island without viable connection to larger habitat blocks, it is essential to preserve the remaining corridors connecting Joshua Tree National Park, Big Morongo Canyon, the San Gorgonio Wilderness and San Bernardino National Forest to maintain genetic diversity of desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife.
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SIZE & LOCATION
HISTORY
GEOGRAPHY
PLANTS
WILDLIFE
