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The Cedar Mountain Wilderness is located in northwestern Utah, USA, just south of Interstate 80. The vegetation on the upper elevations of the Cedar Mountains is dominated by junipers (referred to as "cedars" by early pioneers). The foothill and valley regions include mixed desert shrubs. Cheatgrass is prevalent over large areas burned by range fires. The Cedar Mountain Wilderness includes more than half of the 180,000 acre (728 km²) Cedar Mountain Herd Management Area, where feral horses have grazed since they were introduced in the late 1800s. A survey conducted in December 1991 counted 444 horses, and parts of the herd can often be seen on the wilderness. The Bureau of Land Management fills watering troughs for the horses when springs dry up in the summer. This artificial water supply benefits other wildlife species such as pronghorn antelope. The U.S. Congress designated the Cedar Mountain Wilderness primarily in response to an effort by members of the Utah congressional delegation and the Utah governor to block rail access to a proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility on the nearby Skull Valley Goshute Reservation. The project is sponsored by a consortium of nuclear power companies known as Private Fuel Storage, which received a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February 2006. The facility has not yet been built.
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