Rice Valley Wilderness is a protected area in California’s Mojave Desert near Blythe and Rice, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Covering 41,777 acres, it includes part of the Big Maria Mountains and a stretch of sand dunes in Rice Valley. Congress designated it in 1994 through the California Desert Protection Act. Its significance lies in the combination of rugged mountain country and dunes that belong to one of California’s largest dune systems, a landscape that gives the wilderness its distinctive character.