Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge lies in southwestern Arizona, in the United States, between Yuma to the south and Quartzsite to the north. Established in 1939 to protect desert bighorn sheep, it covers more than 665,400 acres of the Yuma Desert within the Sonoran Desert, including the gently sloping foothills and sharp peaks of the Kofa Mountains and Castle Dome Mountains. The Kofa Wilderness occupies 547,719 acres of the refuge, making it the second largest wilderness area in Arizona, and the refuge holds Palm Canyon, home to native California fan palms, along with scattered waterholes that attract diverse bird species and the rare endemic Kofa Mountain barberry. Its desert bighorn sheep population has recently been estimated at about 428 animals. It is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and classified under IUCN protected area category IV.