Gila Wilderness
Encyclopedia
Aldo Leopold Wilderness
Aldo Leopold Wilderness, along with Gila Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, is part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. It became part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1980 by an act of the United States Congress and has a total of...
and Blue Range Wilderness
Blue Range Wilderness
Blue Range Wilderness, along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Gila Wilderness, is part of Gila National Forest. It is located on the western border of New Mexico where it adjoins the Blue Range Primitive Area of Arizona and west of U.S. Route 180 between Reserve and Glenwood. The wilderness is...
, the 558014 acre (225,820.5 ha) wilderness is part of New Mexico's
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
Gila National Forest
Gila National Forest
The Gila National Forest is a protected national forest in New Mexico in the southwestern United States established in 1905. It covers approximately 3.3 million acres of public land, making it the sixth largest National Forest in the continental United States...
. The wilderness is approximately 27 miles (43 km) from north to south and 39 miles (63 km) east to west. The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is a U.S. National Monument in the Gila Wilderness of southwestern New Mexico. The national monument was established by executive proclamation on November 16, 1907, by President Theodore Roosevelt. It is located in the extreme southern part of Catron County...
is found within the wilderness.
The Gila Wilderness is located in southwest New Mexico, north of Silver City
Silver City, New Mexico
Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 10,545. It is the county seat of Grant County. The city is the home of Western New Mexico University.-History:...
and wrapping around Reserve
Reserve, New Mexico
Reserve is a village in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 387 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Catron County. Currently the village has several stores, a bar, and a health clinic...
. It contains the West Fork, Middle Fork and much of the East Fork of the Gila River; riverside elevations of around 5000 ft (1,524 m) are the lowest in the wilderness. The Mogollon Mountains
Mogollon Mountains
The Mogollon Mountains or Mogollon Range are a mountain range east of the San Francisco River in Grant and Catron counties of southwestern New Mexico, between the communities of Reserve and Silver City. They extend roughly north-south for about 30 miles , and form part of the divide between the...
traverse an arc across the southwest of the wilderness. The tallest peak within this range, Whitewater Baldy
Whitewater Baldy
Whitewater Baldy is the highest point of the Mogollon Mountains in the southwestern part of the US state of New Mexico. It is also the highest point in the entire southwest portion of New Mexico . It is located in Catron County in the Gila Wilderness, part of the Gila National Forest...
at 10895 ft (3,321 m), anchors the western point of the wilderness. At the northeast corner is Black Mountain
Black Mountain (Black Mountain quad, New Mexico)
Black Mountain is a mountain located in Catron County, New Mexico, in the Gila Wilderness.Black Mountain stands within the watershed of the Gila River, which drains into the Colorado River and thence into the Gulf of California in Mexico....
at 9287 ft (2,831 m).
History
The MimbresMimbres
Mimbres may refer to:* Mimbres culture , a subdivision of Mogollon culture* Mimbres pottery, a particular style of pottery decoration from the Mimbres culture* Mimbres Valley AVA, an American Viticultural Area in southwestern New Mexico...
people, a subgroup of the Mogollon were active between 1000 and 1130 in the Gila Wilderness area, leaving cliff dwellings, ruins and other evidence of their culture. The Chiricahua
Chiricahua
Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...
band of Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
came into the area between 1200 and 1600. Because of their fierce protectiveness, the area remained undeveloped into the 1870s. In 1922, Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac , which has sold over two million copies...
, a United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
supervisor of the Carson National Forest
Carson National Forest
Carson National Forest is a national forest in northern New Mexico, United States. It encompasses 6,070 square kilometers and is administered by the United States Forest Service...
proposed that the headwaters area of the Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
should be preserved by an administrative process of excluding roads and denying use permits. Through his efforts, this area became recognized in 1924 as the first wilderness area in the National Forest System. Gila became first congressionally designated wilderness of the National Wilderness Preservation System
National Wilderness Preservation System
The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed land areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964...
when the Wilderness Act
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
in 1964.
Flora and fauna
Arizona Mountains forests
The Arizona Mountains forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of the southwest United States with a rich variety of woodland habitats and wildlife.-Setting:...
ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s are found in this transition zone between the Chihuahuan Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert, and an ecoregion designation, that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra...
and Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. The wilderness includes mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
, Apache Pine
Apache Pine
Pinus engelmannii, commonly known as the Apache Pine, is a tree of Northern Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental with its range extending a short distance into the United States in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona...
and is the northern-most range of the Chihuahua Pine
Chihuahua Pine
The Chihuahua Pine is a tree, in Mexico is also called Tlacocote and ocote chino with a range primarily in Mexico with a small extension into the United States in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. The Mexican range extends along the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre del Sur from...
. Gila contains one of the world's largest and healthiest Ponderosa Pine
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
forests. Arizona Sycamore
Platanus
Platanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae....
, walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
, maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, ash
Ash tree
Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
, cottonwood, alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
trees are found along rivers and in canyons.
Gila is home of predators such as the Bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
and Cougar. Mule Deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
, White-tailed Deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
and Pronghorn
Pronghorn
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
are all found in the Wilderness. Other mammals include the American Black Bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, Collared Peccary
Collared Peccary
The collared peccary is a species of mammal in the family Tayassuidae that is found in North, Central, and South America. They are commonly referred to as javelina, saíno or báquiro, although these terms are also used to describe other species in the family...
, Grey Fox and White-nosed Coati. The critically endangered Mexican Wolf
Mexican Wolf
The Mexican Wolf is a subspecies of the Gray Wolf. It is native to North America, where it is the rarest and most genetically distinct subspecies.- Physical features :...
was reintroduced to the wilderness in 1988 with eleven captive-raised individuals. Most died or were killed and more were released the following year. As of 2006, four packs have established themselves within Gila. Because of conflicts with livestock owners, the federal predator control program has killed or removed several animals.
Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn Sheep
The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to , while the sheep themselves weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae...
were common throughout the region until about 1900 when they became locally extinct through hunting. Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep were reintroduced to the Gila Wilderness after 1958 from a growing herd of Canadian releases in the Sandia Mountains
Sandia Mountains
The Sandia Mountains name posu gai hoo-oo, "where water slides down arroyo") are a mountain range located in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, immediately to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is largely within the Cibola National...
. Elk were reintroduced by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish in 1954 with sixteen animals from Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
.
Game birds include Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
and Dusky Grouse; birds of prey include Common Black Hawk
Common Black Hawk
The Common Black Hawk is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks and Old World vultures. It formerly included the Cuban Black Hawk as a subspecies...
, Zone-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
The Zone-tailed Hawk is a medium-sized hawk of warm, dry parts of the Americas. It feeds on small vertebrates of all kinds , including birds up to the size of quail....
, Goshawk, Osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
and Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
; American Dipper
American Dipper
The American Dipper , also known as a Water Ouzel, is a stocky dark grey bird with a head sometimes tinged with brown, and white feathers on the eyelids cause the eyes to flash white as the bird blinks. It is 16.5 cm long and weighs on average 46 g...
s are found in mountain streams. The wilderness is home to the largest population of Near Threatened
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
Mexican Spotted Owls, which prefer Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...
or white fir
White Fir
White Fir is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m . It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas Tree...
stands and can be found in Ponderosa Pine forests with a well-developed Gambel oak
Gambel oak
Quercus gambelii, or Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub widespread in the foothills and lower mountain elevations of the central southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico: its range is centered on the Colorado Plateau–Four Corners states of Utah-Colorado,...
understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
.
Reptiles such as the Arizona Coral Snake
Coral snake
The coral snakes are a large group of elapid snakes that can be subdivided into two distinct groups, Old World coral snakes and New World coral snakes...
and Gila Monster
Gila monster
The Gila monster is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora...
are rarely present; common snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s include the black-tailed rattlesnake, rock rattlesnake
Crotalus lepidus
Crotalus lepidus is a venomous pitviper species found in the southwestern United States and northern central Mexico. Four subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.-Description:...
, and Sonora mountain kingsnake. Brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
and bass
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
are found in rivers and streams. The endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
Gila trout
Gila trout
The gila trout is one of two subspecies of trout in O. gilae, the other being the Apache trout . Both are native to the Southwest United States. The gila trout is a species of salmonid, related to the rainbow and cutthroat trouts. The Gila trout has been considered endangered with extinction....
is present in Iron, McKenna and Spruce Creeks. It prefers sufficiently deep water, such as American Beaver
American Beaver
The North American Beaver is the only species of beaver in the Americas, native to North America and introduced to South America. In the United States and Canada, where no other species of beaver occurs, it is usually simply referred to as "beaver"...
ponds, which provide hiding places and can withstand both floods and drought.
Recreation
The Gila Wilderness provides opportunities for fishing, hunting, backpacking, horseback riding and camping. It has miles of trails starting at over fifty easily accessible trailheadTrailhead
A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles...
s. A visitor center near the cliff dwellings site is about two hours north of Silver City, New Mexico on State Route 15. Hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
s are found within the wilderness. Because it is a wilderness, visitors must minimize their impact on the natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
by observing the Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...
principles.
In 2007, a hiker was found alive after being lost 40 days in the Gila Wilderness, setting a new state record for the number of days for a lost person to be found alive. It is not uncommon for hikers to become lost in the Gila; some are never found.