La Sal and Abajo Mountains

Description

Like a perfectly mated pair, the La Sal and Abajo mountains are the yin and yang of desert ranges, a perfect expression of the male and female energy, dark and light, nurturing and forbidding, giving canyon country its crowning glory and its water of life.

Born after the Colorado Plateau began to rise roughly 35 million years ago, the Sierra La Sal and Abajo are both laccolithic intrusions of liquid magma that would have been volcanic had they broken the surface. Instead they slipped between the sheets, bulging the deep layers of sedimentary rock upwards like a cat buckles the bedclothes, dragging up to the clouds what had been for 100's of millions of years a shallow inland basin. Along with their fellow laccolith, the Henry Mountains, which was the last range to be named in the U.S., Our nation's youngest ranges catch the clouds to provide water to the canyons below and provide a mantle of wildlife-harboring green in what would be an otherwise dry and hostile land. Delightfully beautiful beyond compare are the swept and sculpted, many-layered and swiftly eroding petrified dunefields of the Canyonlands Basin, a maze cut by the Colorado and Green Rivers and cradled by the Abajos, La Sals and Boulder Mountains. This cherished and imperiled landscape has spawned one of the most vigorous and lasting wildlands protection efforts in the brief history of our nation.

The La Sals protrude from the earth's mantle like cut diamonds, sharp, faceted and glittering, its center stone named Tukuhnikivatz, the last place in the sun. They are a gloriously indiscrete range, visible for a hundred miles on a clear day. Utah's second highest range leaps out of a jumble of red rock canyons, pinnacles and mesas sweeping out in vast arcs from the range, tilted like ships on a sea, a promenade of chorus line dancers in sandstone on a rippling dance floor of amorphous salt, marking the nearly 13,000 foot high point of the Canyonlands basin rim with a snow capped crest. The wilderness reaches its most hidden and compelling depths where the imaginary forest boundary marks the beginning of Utah's famous Bureau of Land Management wilderness proposal, known as America's Redrock Wilderness. Many official Wilderness Study Areas abut the forest boundary, including Mill Creek WSA, Mary Jane WIA, Fisher Towers WIA, Beaver Creek WIA, and Sewemup Mesa WSA in Colorado. In addition, adjacent UWC's citizen's wilderness units include Porcupine Rim and Morning Glory.

Utah's most in depth black bear study was done here because of the high density of animals and remoteness of the oak brush belt skirting the range In many places, bear and other wild things can range from alpine tundra to the Dolores or Colorado Rivers at roughly 4000 feet and only cross a single, narrow two-lane road. Because of this and despite their small size, the La Sals host an unusually large population of bear, mountain lions and elk.

While the La Sals shoot up to 12,700 feet and are only 10 miles wide, audacious as a billboard on a country road, the Abajos are subtle and hidden, with gloriously sculpted and terraced canyons hidden beyond a green mantle of gentle peaks. Sprawling isthmuses, peninsulas and plateaus of forested sandstone ledges perch above the surrounding canyon labyrinths like islands in time, a land of spiritual retreat and contemplation, an utterly amazing and incomprehensible array of mighty and endlessly articulated landforms stretching out for nearly 100 miles in every direction. This is truly one of the last great places, undiscovered by whites until late in the last century, wild, free, primordial and abundant, a rather large vestige of the West that has spurred imaginations, challenged lives, and inspired souls around the globe since the discovery of "America."

From the rims of Elk Ridge, the Abajo's western extension, one can stroll through the ancient and uniquely beautiful ponderosa forest of pine, oak, aspen and meadow and gaze over a bewildering array of world renowned canyons sheltering pregnant mysteries, from mountain lions, bighorn sheep, night lizards and spotted owls to ruins and curiously evocative petroglyphs and pictographs, left by ancestral puebloans and others in this land that was abundant enough to host more humans 7 centuries ago than it does today. The only substantial private lands lie in the bean fields to the East, on the Colorado-bound flank, where Hole in the Rock Mormons sent by the church to the last of Utah's frontiers finally settled in two small towns White Mesa Ute lands nestle in the midst of the district's rich archeological heritage. Less than 20,000 humans are here in San Juan County, the largest county by area in Utah.

Existing and proposed wilderness nearly surrounds this forested island in the desert. Elk Ridge, the Western forested highlands of the Sierra Abajo, is headwaters for the canyons of Cedar Mesa, Arch Canyon, Grand Gulch Primitive Area, White Canyon, the Dark Canyon Wilderness, (Southeastern Utah's only designated wilderness), Canyonlands National Park's Needles District, Salt Creek Archeological District, and Indian Creek. Most springs therein rely on the mother mountain for their source. There are few places on earth as rich and vital as this area, free of human disturbance due to its geographic isolation, and perhaps something divine.

The Abajos and Elk Ridge shelter a surprising array of unusual communities and rare species, perhaps due the lack of all-season roads circumnavigating the range and a not completely realized liquidation of its old growth assets. The dry, rocky soils and endlessly manifested microhabitats have created an ancient, bonsai ponderosa pine forest, most dramatic on the spectacular canyon rims, where towering, rippling, fat limbed, centuries-old titans sprawl like demi-gods sunbathing, each artfully unique and compelling in their puzzle-bark robe and throne of mossy boulders. Yet a walk in this forest feels like coming home to a gathering of fascinating friends. Very, very big friends!

Man has left his mark here, with the easily accessible giants logged off in the 60's and 70's. Trees still leave for mills over 100 miles away in Colorado, but no commercial cuts have gone to local mills in decades. Uranium mining scarred the fragile soils under the rim ledges and mine debris poisons several drainages, but the ore is low quality and, in a prudent world, likely will never be utilized again. Though a recent rash of oil leases have been made, very little oil has been found or is likely to be found. Successful fields lie far to the Southeast.

Cattle have altered plant communities across the range, ending frequent fires in the ponderosas, contributing to pinyon/juniper woodland expansion, spreading exotic and invasive plants, and causing massive headward erosion and channel downcutting. They have pulverized countless historic sites in this archeologically rich area, and nearly all predators have felt the potent sting of the poisoning, trapping and killing done in their name. Most of the many springs here have been harnessed for their use, limiting natural diversity of plants and animals, particularly amphibians, at these formerly exceptionally diverse and abundant places.

Nonetheless, life is rich here. Hidden in the folds of the endless array of sandstone canyons and curvaceous mesas and other curiously alive landforms are spring-fed pockets of maple, aspen, box elder, birch. At times it feels like you could be in the colorful forests of New England, were it not for the Zionesque cliffs radiating sunlight down though the leaves and the inescapable, palpable feeling of being in a sylvan forest alive with dangerous, mysterious friends. Elk roam in vast herds. Bears forage in oak and manzanita thickets. Spotted owls hoot from canyon depths, only recently discovered. (The largest Mexican spotted owl critical habitat designation in the nation is here.) Ringtails, numerous species of bat, Yavapai land snails, Abert's tassel-eared squirrel, and a few sage grouse still strut here, the showiest of all American game birds, endangered but not gone yet.

Few places outside of Zion National Park greet the visitor with this combination of multi-hued sandstone cliffs and coniferous forests. As in Zion, serpentine canyons carve deeply into colorful sedimentary layers, sculpting stone amphitheaters, arches, pinnacles, ramparts, curvaceous benches, terraced inclines and homey alcoves. Springs well from canyon walls and pour-offs, creating pools and ephemeral streams. Giant pines and firs cling to sheltered hollows and other enchanting natural features in the towering walls, every individual a unique masterpiece of creation. The smooth, red barked manzanita, scrub oak, showy maples, and aspen, in combination with the natural artistry in stone, create a sensually overwhelming experience in the Autumn, fully capable of knocking down a grown man in amazement. It is one of those places that is so pleasurable and beautiful it can draw even the most recalcitrant of humans into a renewed relationship with nature.

Though ATVers are opening old logging and mining routes that have been closed for decades and federal agents are allowing them to create new trails and host ORV events, this is still a landscape of hope, one of the best places to maintain biodiversity and allow mega fauna to roam. Utah's last wolf was shot here in the 20's, but were they here to day, they could wander all the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and only cross a pair of two lane paved roads and a handful of jeep trails. Between the Abajos and Boulder Mountain lies what was, before the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, America's largest roadless area. It is not too late to preserve meaningful wildlife corridors between all the forested islands of Southern Utah, including Boulder Mountain, the Markegaunt Plateau, the La Sals, and the Henry Mountains.

Threats

The La Sals, Abajos and Elk Ridge faces threats from a variety of sources, chief among them unregulated and uncontrolled ORV use. The forest published an updated travel plan in 1989 that restricted cross-country travel and designated routes that were acceptable for travel by wheeled vehicles. Unfortunately, little action has been taken to close and rehabilitate routes that are not legal under the travel plan. This has resulted in a spider web of routes that fragment habitat, degrade aquatic systems, contribute to soil loss and erosion, spread noxious and invasive weed species, and cause a loss of natural quiet on which wildlife and non-motorized recreationists depend. With little or no closure devices in place, future enforcement will be difficult. A casual visitor would have no idea that travel on many routes and trails is, in fact, a violation of the law. Many of these routes are hiking trails.

Numerous ORV trails, authorized and unauthorized, impact spotted owls, springs and associated wildlife, archeological sites, and sensitive plants such as Chatterley's onion on Little Dry Mesa. The Peavine Corridor motorized route actually travels through the middle of the district's only designated Wilderness, cutting through two Mexican spotted owl "Protected" Activity Centers in the process. Snowmobiles are an increasing presence in alpine meadows. Outlaw mountain bikers and outfitters are constructing illegal trails, some in the alpine Mount Peale RNA.

Other threats include overgrazing by domestic livestock, accelerated oil and gas leasing, contamination from uranium mines, mills and tailings, and unsustainable harvest of timber that has removed 95% of the large diameter, pre-settlement ponderosa in timber management areas. Several natural ephemeral lakes are rapidly drying out, a combined effect of unrestricted grazing, sediment-shedding timber sales, drought and global warming. Vandalism, theft, and irresponsible large groups are having a major affect on the Monticello District's rich and abundant archeological assets. Thieves on motorcycles and ATV's actively search from canyon rims for new sites to pillage, a source of ongoing investigations. One of the most substantial punishments to date under ARPA derived from helicopter-assisted theft in Cliffdweller's Pasture.

Location

The La Sals are located south of Interstate 70, just East of Moab, between the Colorado River and the Dolores River, with a portion of the district in Colorado. Just a dozen miles to the East of the Manti-La Sal border lies the Uncompaghre National Forest. Highway 46 skirts the southern edge of the Forest, while a graveled seasonal road on the North end connects Castle Valley to Gateway, Colorado, on the Dolores River. The paved Loop Road connects the communities of Castle Valley and Moab on the west flank and is accessible to casual sightseers. Numerous routes access the private lands surrounded by Forest lands just inside the Utah border. Geyser Pass is a dirt road of gradually increasing difficulty that crosses the range and is plowed to 9,600 feet in winter. Backcountry skiers and a handful of track skiers, snowboarders, sledders and snowmobiles depart from the parking lot. There are developed campgrounds at Warner Lake and Buckeye Reservoir, and private in holdings dot the lower elevations. All trails are open to mountain bikes, which use the easier trails. Other opportunities include hunting, climbing, fishing, camping, hiking, and equestrian trails. Stupendous views of the surrounding red deserts are ubiquitous.

The Abajo Mountains in San Juan County, Utah border the towns of Monticello on the East and Blanding on the South. To the North is Canyonlands National Park, and on the Southwest flank lies Natural Bridges National Monument and Grand Gulch Primitive Area. Dirt roads, seasonally accessible to passenger cars, follow the ridge tops of the western part of the range, known as Elk Ridge. A dirt road connects the towns via North Creek Pass. Several developed campgrounds exist near the towns, with one located just off highway 191, a major North-South route on the Forest's east boundary. Some snowmobiling and backcountry skiing occurs on the high peaks. Numerous hiking trails open to bikes and equestrians exist, as well as abundant opportunities for motorized recreation on an ample unimproved road and trail network.

Wilderness Characteristics

Geology and Landforms

(See also above.)

Laccolithic intrusions surrounded by swept-up mesas and canyons cut into thick, highly erosive sedimentary layers. The dioritic andesite rarely forms cliffs, as do the Entrada, Navajo and Wingate Sandstones. The central trinity of peaks in the La Sals form some of the most archetypal steep sided mountains in the world, due primarily to their youth and 8,700 foot drop to the Colorado River, just 15 miles to the West.

TES species

Threatened, endangered, or sensitive species known to occur in the area are:

La Sal Mountains

Plant Communities

These ranges comprise 75% of all of Utah's ponderosa forests, the most heavily utilized (and altered) forest type in the West. Most of that is found on Elk Ridge and above Sinbad Valley, where towering aspen and pockets of Douglas fir and white fir interact with the dominant ponderosa and understory of scrub oak, manzanita, serviceberry and snowberry. Higher elevations are filled with mature Englemann Spruce and subalpine fir, with the high peaks dominated by talus and alpine vegetation. Pinyon-Juniper woodland covers the most acreage on the forest, and intergrades with the mountain brush community. Microhabitats abound, with a diverse array of unusual plant communities found in slickrock nooks, alcoves, defiles, canyons, and cliff lines. Rare riparian zones are mixed, with cottonwood usually the dominant.

Wildlife

Archeology and history

As forested highlands surrounded by a formidable, deeply incised sandstone desert, the La Sal and Abajo Mountains have been utilized by native peoples for millennia as a source of game, wood, plant foods and materials, and cool, wet relief from the summer heat. Fully developed basket maker cultures lived in pueblos and cliff dwellings in the canyons radiating off Elk Ridge and the Abajo peaks, and, to a much lesser extent, the La Sals. Anasazi bean fields to the east of the Abajo peaks fed a larger human population than exists here today. Numerous ruins remain, many of wildly fanciful construct, mirroring the canyon environs they are built in.

Early livestock operators quickly depleted forage in the late 1800's, and natives retaliated by wiping out the game, quite possibly extirpating elk from the Abajos. The last Indian battles occurred late, with Chief Posey of the Utes and the Mormon settlers of San Juan County clashing in 1923. Ute lands exist within and adjacent to the Forest boundary in South Cottonwood Canyon. The Bear's Ears and other features have spiritual significance for the Navajo, and the Hopi have a major migration destination at Fisher Towers, just Northwest of the La Sals.

Inhabitants of Castleton, once the largest town in the area, mined precious metals in Miner's Basin, where patented lands raise the question of future mining operations in this steep, alpine basin. Uranium was found on Elk Ridge and many adits were dug, but low quality ore led to an early end to the boom and a legacy of scattered, leaking, toxic sites in South Cottonwood Wash that are currently the subject of a massive interagency clean-up effort.

Inholdings are few: the La Sal National Forest was established in 1903, leaving the land nearly entirely unencumbered with private developments, other than a few new residential buildings on the La Sal Loop Road. Though grazing persists on these steep, erosive desert ranges, successful operators have large base properties and rely on fertile, irrigated private lands near the Forest as well. Early excesses led to the construction of massive terraces on alpine slopes in the Abajo peaks to control erosion. Long term, excessive grazing has greatly diminished water retention and continues to cause large scale habitat alteration and suppression.

Although Moab has come to depend on tourism after a century of boom and bust mining, it once had a strong agricultural component, as the other small and scattered towns of Southeastern Utah still have, with beans, beef and fruit dominating that trade. A district-wide tree cutting frenzy in the 1960's and 70's stripped the area of most of the easily accessed, profitable timber. The last of several small local mills closed in 2004 in Old La Sal. Infrequent timber sales in the Abajos have gone out of state for the last two decades. Currently, locals depend on the forest primarily for fuelwood, hunting, recreation, and municipal and irrigation water.

Naturalness and other unique features

The South Cottonwood area of Elk Ridge contains possibly the highest concentration of any Forest Service administered land in the country. A huge stock of artifacts in museums, including the Smithsonian and the local Edge of the Cedars Museum, bear witness to abundant wealth preserved by the desert climate. Rock art and architecture from Anasazi culture in the Abajos inter-tongues and overlaps with Barrier Canyon and Freemont styles to the north and with Ute all around. The Monticello District is literally surrounded by protected archeological areas, including Hovenweep NM, Butler Wash, Cedar Mesa ACEC, Grand Gulch, Dark Canyon, Beef Basin, Canyonlands NP, Salt Creek Archeological District, Lavender Canyon ACEC, Indian Creek, Newspaper Rock, and the Edge of the Cedars Museum. On the Forest lies Hammond Canyon Archeological Protection District, Cliffdweller's Pasture RNA, and the Pinhook Battleground.

Mount Peale RNA takes in the highest peaks of the La Sals and the accompanying alpine zone. The Dark Canyon Wilderness is a 2000 foot deep canyon system on the west end of Elk Ridge and is Southeastern Utah's only Wilderness Area.

Hunting is highly prized for the outstanding setting, success rate, and trophy animals. There is a renowned trophy elk unit in the magnificent aspen and ponderosa forests of Elk Ridge. Bear and lion hunters from other states take advantage of relatively strong populations that may be hunted with dogs and bait, unlike bordering states. Several stocked reservoirs provide fishing opportunities.

Outstanding scenery and views of the cliffs, rims, canyons, plateaus and pinnacles of the desert below contrast with rolling plateaus, lush forests, and massive peaks. Despite past excesses, the forests remain exceedingly beautiful and wild. The Abajos and Elk Ridge present one of the last opportunities in the nation to protect a productive, contiguous, wilderness landscape that retains much of its original vitality. It has been proposed for National Park status and is surrounded by protected Federal lands and conservationists, including the Nature Conservancy's Dugout Ranch. Several outfitters rely on the primitive nature of these ranges for the success of their extended backpack trips with troubled youth, survivalists, and others. Scenic backcountry drives, wildlife observation, escape from the summer heat, camping, biking, hiking, skiing, and rejuvenation in a natural setting are all popular activities in the La Sals and Abajos.

Roadless Areas, La Sal Mountains

Roadless Areas, Abajo Mountains