 Bright Star Wilderness surrounds Kern County's Kelso Peak and drainages to the north, south and east, including Bright Star Canyon and Cortez Canyon.The Wilderness lies within the BLM’s Jawbone-Butterbredt Area of Critical Environmental Concern in the higher Mojave Desert and protects much of the Piute Mountains, of the southern Sierra Nevada (not to be confused with the Piute Mountains to east in Mojave National Preserve).A wide variety of vegetation grows in the Bright Star Wilderness.