The Bureau's public lands in the Ridgecrest Resource Area form an important link to the region's diverse natural and cultural landscape. These wildlands mark the transition between the West Mojave and the Sierra, Great Basin and San Joaquin Valley bioregions. The wide variety of landscapes in this region support a rich biodiversity as well as a nationally significant arid wildland recreation resource. Segments of nineteen distinct mountain ranges are located here, with the highest elevation reaching over 11,000 feet above sea level. Other landforms such as tufa towers, badlands, deep canyons, lava flows, dry lakes, sand dunes, cinder cones, wide valleys and alluvial fans provide a varied setting for desert exploration, discovery and solitude.