Lower Colorado River Valley

The Lower Colorado River Valley ("LCRV") is the river region of the lower Colorado River of the southwestern United States in North America that rises in the Rocky Mountains and has its outlet at the Colorado River Delta in the northern Sea of Cortez in northwestern Mexico, between the states of Baja California and Sonora. This north–south stretch of the Colorado River forms the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and California, and Arizona and Nevada; also between the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora.

It is commonly defined as the region from below Hoover Dam and Lake Mead to its outlet at the northern Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez); it includes the Colorado River proper, canyons, the valley, mountain ranges with wilderness areas, and the floodplain and associated riparian environments. It is home to recreation activities from the river, the lakes created by dams, agriculture, and the home of various cities, communities, and towns along the river, or associated with the valley region. Five Indian reservations are located in the LCRV: the Chemehuevi, Fort Mojave and Colorado River Indian Reservations; at Yuma are the Quechan and Cocopah reservations.

The LCRV, a desert region

Some of the highest desert temperatures-(of North America) are recorded in the LCRV, rivaling Death Valley; specifically Bullhead City, Laughlin, Needles, Yuma, or the southeast deserts of California, west of the Colorado River. The LCRV is defined by three deserts. The Mojave Desert is in southeast California, southern Nevada, and northwest Arizona. To the south is the Sonoran Desert on both sides of the Colorado River. However an ecozone delineation occurs in the transition from Arizona to southeast California; consequently the western side of the Colorado River is defined as the western Sonoran Desert and given the name Colorado Desert; the ecozone of this western Sonoran Desert extends south into the northwest region of Sonora, Mexico and the extreme northeast of northern Baja California, Mexico.

List of major cities and commmunities

*Laughlin, Nevada in Clark County, Nevada
*Needles, California in San Bernardino, California
*Bullhead City, Arizona
*Mojave Valley, Arizona
*Vidal, California
*Parker, Arizona
*Blythe, California
*Quartzite, Arizona
*Winterhaven, California in Imperial County, California
*Yuma, Arizona in Yuma County, Arizona
*San Luis, Arizona
*San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora

Complete list of towns, areas, etc, north to south

*"NEVADA–CALIFORNIA–BAJA CALIFORNIA side" *Laughlin *— *— *Needles *— *— *Blythe-Quartzsite *— *Winterhaven *Los Algodones, Baja California *Colorado River Delta (at Gulf of California)

*"ARIZONA–SONORA side" *Cottonwood Cove, Arizona *Bullhead City *Mohave Valley, in Mohave County, Arizona *Parker *Bill Williams River * *Quartzsite, in La Paz County, Arizona *Ehrenberg *Cibola * *Yuma in Yuma County, Arizona *San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora *Colorado River Delta (at Gulf of California)

ee also

*Rio Grande, the eastern river valley drainage of the Southwest USA
**Rio Grande Valley
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