Spring Mountains National Recreation Area is a vast protected mountain landscape west of Las Vegas, Nevada, managed by the U.S. Forest Service within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Encompassing more than 316,000 acres beside Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, it rises from meadows near 3,000 feet to 11,918-foot Mount Charleston, the range’s highest point. First established as the Charleston Forest Reserve in 1906, it expanded in 1989 and received its present designation from Congress in 1993. Protection of threatened plants and animals, including through the Mount Charleston Wilderness, helped shape its preservation. Its desert-to-alpine setting supports year-round recreation, from hiking and biking to winter skiing at Lee Canyon.