Wasatch Plateau

"Along a base line nearly 50 miles in length the Tertiary strata bend upward to the summit in a single sweep, diversified by minor inequalities arising partly from minor fractures, partly from erosion, but never of such magnitude as to mask the general plan of the uplift, nor even to greatly disfigure its symmetry. The minor features, though elsewhere they might seem of considerable moment, are mere ripples upon the great wave"

Description

Headwaters for stunning and internationally renowned desert landscapes, the Wasatch Plateau provides an island of lush habitat for wildlife. This cool forested island high above the San Rafael Swell provides refuge for an incredible diversity of species. From the Wasatch Plateau flow numerous sources of life-giving water that nourishes the surrounding desert, among them, Muddy Creek, and the San Rafael and San Pitch Rivers.

Viewed from east to west, the Wasatch Plateau is the first in a series of high plateaus that act as a division between the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin ecoregions. The plateau, locally called the Manti Top or the Manti Mountains, rises to 11,300 feet elevation at its high point. On the east, it ascends to top a dramatic shear escarpment 1,000 to 2,000 feet above Castle Valley. On the west, it falls by steep slopes into the Sanpete Valley. The high elevation top contains several notable peaks and broad rolling ridges. The scene is reminiscent of other plateaus in the region with mixed conifer forests, open wildflower-filled meadows and dense Aspen stands, noted for their intense fall colors.

A popular spot for hunters, birders, hikers, horseback riders, anglers, and car-bound sightseers, the Wasatch Plateau contains many special places that are deserving of wilderness protection, including the following roadless areas: Benion Creek, Big Bear - Rock Canyon, Big Horseshoe, Black Mountain - Birch Creek, Bulger - Black Canyon, Cedar Knoll, Coal Hollow, Dairy Knoll, East Mountain, Heliotrope, Knob Mountain, Middle Mountain, Muddy Creek - Nelson Mountain, Musinia Peak, North Horn Mountain, Nuck Woodward, Oak Creek, Pleasant Creek, Price River, Rolfson - Staker, San Pitch Canyon, Sixmile Canyon, Trail Mountain, Trough Springs Ridge, Twelvemile Creek, White Mountain, and Wildcat Knolls, totaling approximately 612,000 acres.

When considered for wilderness protection, popular and well-traveled ATV trails that compose the Arapeen ATV trail system eliminate some places from consideration for wilderness protection. The UFN's wilderness proposal seeks to strike a balance for human users with the best interests of the land at the forefront. There is plenty of room here to preserve the wild and primeval character of a rugged landscape while allowing for motorized recreation where appropriate.

Threats

The Wasatch Plateau 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. Other threats include overgrazing by domestic livestock, particularly sheep, oil and gas development, fracturing and subsidence of the land surface due to long wall coal mining, and harvest of timber without adequate monitoring of species and soils.

Location

The Wasatch Plateau is located in central Utah, approximately 130 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. High standard dirt and gravel roads from the west reach the high elevation forested tablelands from the communities of Fairview, Ephraim, and Manti in the Sanpete Valley. Easy access is also available from Mayfield, located south of the Sanpete Valley in the Arapeen Valley. From the east, access is easy from the communities of Orangeville and Ferron. From the north, visitors traveling along highway 6 find easy access to the plateau along highway 96 to Scofield. A route known as The Skyline Drive runs from north to south along the length of the Plateau, providing access to fishing, camping, hiking, and equestrian trails, and affording superb views of the plateau itself, the Sanpete Valley, and the desert country to the east. Other scenic drives showcasing the plateau include the Huntington and Eccles Canyon scenic byways, accessed from Fairview and Scofield.

Wilderness Characteristics

Geology and Landforms

Composed of high table land at the southern end of the Wasatch Range, The Wasatch Plateau rises to a high point of 11,300 feet at South Tent Mountain. On the southern end of the Manti-La Sal National Forest near the border with the Fishlake, scenic Musinia Peak rises to an altitude of 10,986 ft. The average altitude of the plateau is roughly 11,000 feet. It towers over a vertical mile above Sanpete Valley on the west and Castle Valley on the east. The summit is defined by a long narrow platform that never reaches more than 6 miles in width. To the east, the land drops off dramatically through a series of striking white, pink, pale orange and buff-colored cliffs. The lower terraces and benches, at intervals of about three to six miles, reveal older and older strata as they descend. Geologically complex and fascinating, the Wasatch Plateau contains Cretaceous, Laramie, Tertiary, and Jurassic formations.

TES species

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

Plant Communities

Spanning a broad range of elevations, the Wasatch Plateau contains a stunning diversity of plant types. On the lower-elevation benches, sage and pinon-juniper forests dominate; mountain brush communities are found slightly higher up the slopes of the area. This community gives way to striking aspen stands as elevation increases. Finally, on the top of the rolling tablelands, wildflower filled meadows give way to stands of Engelmann spruce and sub-alpine fir. Containing many different life zones and ecotones, the area's vegetation supports a diversity of wildlife. Thirty-five years of unregulated grazing after settlement in the 1880s left plant communities in the early successional stages. Now, ninety years after grazing was first controlled, soils and plant communities have begun to stabilize. Though still unstable, with additional and time to recover, these damaged systems may once again become dynamic plant communities.

Wildlife

In addition to providing critical summer and winter range for deer, elk, black bear, coyotes and beaver and other small mammals, the Wasatch Plateau is home to many avian species, snakes, lizards and other reptiles. Excellent habitat for Canada Lynx, one individual released this summer in Colorado visited the area in search of a new home range.

Archeology and history

The game rich drainages and tablelands of the Wasatch Plateau served as hunting ground for numerous native peoples. By about 2000 years ago, the Fremont developed relatively sophisticated farming techniques in the drainages of the plateau, utilizing runoff to grow corn and other crops. The Plateau undoubtedly served as prime hunting and gathering area for the mostly nomadic Fremont people. Petroglyphs, pictographs, pit houses, and ruins are found in the area, particularly on the east side in Quichupah and Ferron Canyons. Between 1250 and 2500 AD, the Fremont culture was supplanted by Ute, Paiute, Shoshone peoples.

Mormon settlement first came to the region in the late nineteenth century. Agrarian and communal settlements flourished in the Sanpete valley for a time. With the settlers came large numbers of livestock. Unregulated sheep grazing took a heavy toll on the land, as well as the settlements, in the late nineteenth century. The range on the plateau was overstocked, the slopes denuded, and catastrophic flooding followed. Cultivated fields, irrigation systems, roads, power and railroad lines were destroyed or covered with tons of debris washed down form the plateau. The catastrophe led to establishment of the Great Basin Experimental Station in 1912, which was established on the forest to study and treat the problem. Trenches and terraces were dug matching the contours of the land to slow runoff. Many of these erosion control sites are barely visible today. Though conditions have improved significantly since the turn of the twentieth century, continued overgrazing suggests there is still more to learn from past mistakes.

Naturalness and other unique features

Long known among hunters and anglers, the Wasatch Plateau is a place of remarkable beauty. From the low elevation benches covered with pinon-juniper forests and sage and forb communities to majestic aspen stands to high elevation fields of wildflowers to mixed conifer forests, the Wasatch Plateau provides an amazing diversity of habitat types. Features of note on the plateau include Musinia Peak, Ferron Canyon, South Tent Mountain, Black Mountain and Flagstaff Peak. Scenic peaks and ridges on the Plateau features present stark white outcrops contrasting with the dark green of spruce-fir forests, providing a satisfying scenic experience.

The Wasatch Plateau contains two designated Research Natural Areas (RNAÕs): Elk Knoll and Nelson Mountain. Elk Knoll, established in 1957 above the town of Manti, was one of the first RNAs in Utah. Protected topographically, and at a distance from water, it was established as a baseline for research on soils and vegetation in light of the heavy grazing on the plateau. Located in a transition zone, the Nelson Mountain RNA was established in 1988 to protect the entire top of a mesa that contains pristine woodlands and shrub communities typical of 8,000 to 9,000-foot elevation areas of the intermountain west. Though heavily used and abused in the last century, the area remains strikingly natural to the modern day visitor. From remarkable stone ramparts to high alpine peaks, lakes and meadows, the Wasatch Plateau's wide array terrains and vegetative types makes it a truly extraordinary place. It is well suited to birding, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, photography, and canoeing and fishing on numerous lakes.

Roadless Areas within the Wasatch Plateau Wilderness

References

Madsen, David B. 1989. Exploring the Fremont. Utah Museum of Natural History/University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

http://www.snow.edu/~gbeec/history.html Snow college, Ephraim , UT, local history

Dutton, Clarence E., 1880, Report on the Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah, with atlas. U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.

Klemmedson, James O. and Tiedemann, Arthur R.,1998, Lithosequence of Soils and Associated Vegetation on Subalpine Range of the Wasatch Plateau, Utah United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Research Note, PNW-RN-524

http://rna.nris.state.mt.us/default.html USDA Forest Service Information on Research Natural Areas