The Rice Valley is a dry shallow basin with a north-south orientation, bounded by the Turtle
Mountains to the north and the Big Maria Mountains to the south. The edges of the valley
are more weakly defined to the west by the Arica Mountains and to the east by the West
Riverside Mountains. These mountain ranges are rugged and provide habitat for Nelson’s
bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) and desert dry wash woodlands. The sand dunes
along the southern end of the valley are nest site opportunities for golden eagles (Aquila
chrysaetos) and prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus). The valley is dominated by a creosote scrub
community interrupted by part of a large sand sheet that stretches from Cadiz to Ward
Valley.
The rugged mountain areas, lowland valleys, and dunes with diverse topographical features
provide a habitat for a variety of plant and animal species. The lack of CNDDB records in
the area, in particular for the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), is likely because of lack of
studies in this area. Dune areas are often occupied by rare and endemic plant and animal
species. Because of the limited resources and limited recent development pressure in the
Rice Valley, much of the local focus has likely been on the surrounding Desert Wildlife
Management Areas (DWMA) and Wildlife Management Areas (WMA).
Although considered within the West Basin of the Colorado River, which drains primarily
into the Salton Sea Trough, Rice Valley is a sink within no broader hydrological
connectivity. Rice Valley has a small watershed and lacks any major washes. Although it is a
sink, there are no perennial surface water sources and there is no evidence that a lake ever
formed in the Valley during wetter climatic periods (BLM, 2007).
Current activity is primarily concentrated on the north end of the valley evident by the
heavily disturbed east-west linear corridor composed of the Colorado River Aqueduct, the
Arizona-California Railroad, and SR 62. These three parallel features present a major northsouth
barrier to wildlife passage and interrupt local hydrology.
The community of Rice, the Rice Airfield, and the Camp Rice infantry and artillery training
camp were also located along this corridor. Today these long-abandoned sites are more
evident from aerial photos than on the ground. At least 50 years of volunteer plant
revegetation now provide relatively sparse-to-moderate vegetative cover of these areas.
Most of the Rice Valley was likely used for military training exercises in the early 1940s.
Also, an Army-Air Force exercise called Joint Exercise Desert Strike took place in this area in
1964.
General Patton’s soldiers are credited with one of the few historical records of banded gila
monster (Heloderma suspectum cinctum) in California from a capture in the Granite
Mountains in the adjacent valley to the west (CNDDB, 2009). The Rice Valley dunes are
relatively shallow and do not appear to have held much appeal to off-road enthusiasts. This