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Death Valley National Park Facts & Worksheets

Death Valley National Park is a national park in the USA bordering California and Nevada.

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Death Valley National Park has something to offer everyone, from the appeal of ghost towns, old mining operations, wildlife, and raw natural beauty to the stunning springtime explosion of wildflower blooms.

See the fact file below for more information on Death Valley National Park, or you can download our 27-page Death Valley National Park worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Introduction to the Park

  • Adventuresome travelers enjoy Death Valley for its various extremes and mysteries, such as the sailing stones, since it is America’s lowest, hottest, and driest national park.
  • Death Valley is a stark, hauntingly named desert that is sandwiched between two extremely tall, snow-capped mountains. Death Valley is more vibrant than its name suggests, and travelers are fascinated by the mystery surrounding the existence of life in this desolate and dry environment.
  • Death Valley was long regarded as a profitable mining hotspot in addition to its abundant natural beauty and early American history. Gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, antimony, and borax were all widely mined in the valley. 

About the Park

  • The hottest and driest national park in the U.S., Death Valley, primarily lies in southern California, with a minor fraction in Nevada‘s Bullfrog Hills. Death Valley is home to Death Valley National Park.
  • Additionally, it’s the biggest national park among the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. The Inyo National Forest and the Inyo Mountains border it to the west, while a large portion of its northeastern boundary makes up the Nevada state line. 
  • To the southwest, the Panamint Valley and the Slate Range are located, and the U.S. Its southern neighbor is the Fort Irwin National Training Center for the U.S. military. 
  • Parts of the southeastern boundary are made up of the Greenwater Range and the Amargosa River.
  • In 1933, Death Valley was named a national monument, and in 1994, it became a national park. The current park has an area of about 5,270 square miles (13,650 square kilometers), which is significantly larger than the initial national monument.

Park History

  • Death Valley National Park, designated a national monument in February 1933, credits the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, a great deal for its early development. Twelve CCC companies developed the area from 1933 to 1942 by constructing camps, houses, and pathways. Additionally, they brought water and phone service to some parts of the valley. Today, Death Valley National Park still utilizes a large portion of what the companies constructed.
  • In this wide area, there are as many different human stories as there are hues of color in the hills and valleys. Everyone who came to this valley had a different experience, whether due to the allure of mineral richness or the resort industry. Studying the ethnic history of Death Valley is both intriguing and difficult since it involves examining these distinctions.

Native American Inhabitants

  • Long before the first white man set foot in the valley, the Timbisha Shoshone natives inhabited this area. Along with their families, they hunted and moved according to the seasons in order to gather mesquite beans and pinyon pine nuts.
  • They had all they needed on the land, and many sites were and still are revered as sacred.

Emigrants in Death Valley

  • The group of emigrants who arrived in Death Valley in 1849 underwent an experience that helped to shape Death Valley’s reputation as a horrible place. Some members of this group have histories that are well-known, but others have histories that are unknown.
  • The group of “49ers” who traveled through Death Valley on their tragic journey included three black males. Negro Joe, Little West, and Smith were there. Negro Joe might have been Dr. Fred Carr’s slave. The third man, Smith, was from Missouri, and Little West was a slave with an unidentified owner who was likely from Mississippi.

Chinese Workers

  • Another ethnic group migrated to Death Valley around the same time that people were drawn there by the discovery of silver and borax. In the 1870s, Chinese laborers created Panamint City, but many left the region soon after.
  • At Harmony Borax Works, the second set of Chinese immigrants worked in the productive mining activity. From 1883 to 1888, when the final 20 mule teams left the valley, they paved a route 160 miles long through the salt pinnacles and scraped the borax from the valley floor.
  • Then they too vanished, leaving behind only fragments of crockery, broken glass, and pieces of porcelain.

Basque History

  • There have been a number of notable individuals associated with the Basque history of  Death Valley. In 1900, Dolph Nevares worked for the Pacific Coast Borax Company as the Greenland Ranch caretaker. Later, he was a borax prospector.
  • After leaving the borax firm, he moved to Cow Creek and started a fruit and vegetable farm there. Dolph eventually left Death Valley and relocated to San Bernardino.
  • Domingo Etcharren was referred to as the Ballarat-based butcher who was Basque. Additionally, he was Jack Keane’s prospecting partner. In December 1903, gold was discovered. Domingo invested his money from his profits on land in Darwin, where he rose to prominence.
  • He had a close friendship with another Basque, Pete Aguereberry. In the summer of 1905, Pete traveled to Death Valley to prospect. He discovered gold while traveling with Shorty Harris. The town of Harrisburg was founded as a result of that strike. Pete continued to operate his Eureka mine for a very long time after Harrisburg’s economy had peaked, working there until his death in 1945.

Japanese-American Internees

  • A group of 65 Japanese and Japanese-American internees were sent to Death Valley for protection when a riot broke out in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp in December 1942. For around three months, they lived and worked with a skeleton workforce of National Park Service employees in historic CCC barracks near Cow Creek.
  • By the middle of February, they had sponsors and employment lined up in other areas of the nation, so they left Death Valley.

Nature in the Park

Animals

  • Death Valley National Park, being below sea level, is ravaged by drought and heat and receives less than two inches of rain per year. These extreme conditions are harsh for humans but support the diversity of wildlife in the park. The animals have adapted well to these conditions.
  • Desert bighorn sheep have learned to require less water to survive. They can last up to several days without water. Although they lose weight from dehydration, they eventually gain it back once they are provided with a water source — consuming several gallons of water at a time to rehydrate.
  • Another animal that does not have to worry about dehydration is the kangaroo rat. They are indeed so well adapted to arid regions that they don’t even require water to survive. Water that has been assimilated from their vegetarian, seedy diet will sustain them. Kangaroo rats release waste in highly concentrated urine and dry feces, conserving their body’s valuable water.
  • The desert tortoise excels at dodging the sun. The tortoise spends the majority of the year in its burrow because it cannot control its body temperature. It is shielded from severe weather underground.
  • Many animals rest during the sweltering summer months and are active at night rather than “sleeping” for the majority of the year. Nocturnal fauna leave traces on the sand dunes.

Plants

  • Death Valley National Park has a wide variety of vegetation, despite its reputation as a lifeless wasteland. There is no vegetation in the salt pan, and there is little flora on the lower slopes and valley floor elsewhere. However, when there is water, there is typically a lot of plant life.
  • Creosote bush, desert holly, and mesquite are among the plant life found in the several vegetation zones, which range from sub-alpine limber pine and bristlecone pine woodlands to shad scale, black brush, Joshua tree, and pinyon-juniper.
  • Escaper plants avoid developing during periods of high heat and dryness and instead wait for optimal growing conditions, such as rain and cool temperatures.
  • Resistor plants — such as the mesquite tree, can survive the intense heat and aridity of Death Valley and remain active all year round. The mesquite tree, which can reach water deep underground with roots up to 80 feet long, is an example.
  • Evader plants — such as pickleweed—avoid harsh conditions by locating themselves close to springs and streams.

Park Activities

  • With more than three million acres of wilderness and hundreds of miles of backcountry roads, Death Valley is a sizable national park. For outdoor enthusiasts, the park has a staggering variety of topographical interests, historic monuments, vegetation, and animals to explore.
  • In order for future generations to experience Death Valley, it is your duty to leave no sign of your visit.
  • Activities around the park include sightseeing, hiking, camping, backcountry driving, backpacking, road and mountain biking, night exploration, watching the sunrise/sunset, running/trail running, and even a self-guided Star Wars Driving tour! (For those Star Wars fans out there, the park was one of the shooting locations for the films.)

Death Valley’s Haunting Name

  • A group of daring pioneers who got stranded in the desert in the late 1800s gave the region the moniker Death Valley.
  • Apparently, only one of the group perished, despite the fact that everyone was certain they would all perish.
  • According to the National Park Service, two of its young men, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers, who had become scouts, saved them.
  • A nickname was created when one of the men said, “Goodbye, Death Valley,” as they managed to get away.

Hot in the Valley

  • Due to the valley’s towering mountain ranges and low places that descend 100 feet below sea level, hot air is trapped there.
  • The majority of the desert bottom is made up of sand and rocks, which emit a lot of heat.
  • In order to prevent cars from overheating in the high heat, park officials advise visitors to switch off the air conditioning in their vehicles.

Death Valley National Park Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Death Valley National Park across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Death Valley National Park, which is a national park in the USA bordering California and Nevada.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Death Valley National Park Worksheets
  2. Fun Facts
  3. History Trail
  4. Park Rules
  5. Animal Watch
  6. Plant Kingdom
  7. Park Tour
  8. Check Your Understanding
  9. Exploring Time
  10. Pledge to the Environment
  11. New Name Alert

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Death Valley National Park so unusual?

Death Valley is one of the most extreme places on Earth. It is home to the hottest, driest, and lowest-elevation national park in North America. Some areas of Death Valley receive less than two inches of rain per year, making it the driest place in North America. The highest temperature ever recorded in the United States was 134 °F, which was registered in Death Valley on July 10, 1913.

How long is Death Valley National Park?

Death Valley is the biggest national park in the United States. You can get to different places in Death Valley by driving on either paved or dirt roads. Even though there are a lot of places to go, 93% of the park is considered wilderness.

What is the mystery within Death Valley National Park?

In Death Valley National Park, located on the border of California and Nevada, there is a mystery that scientists have been trying to figure out for a long time: rocks that move along the desert ground without any visible force pulling them.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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