KAIBAB NATIONAL FOREST

To the Indians, "Kaibab" means "the mountain lying down," their name for the great forested plateau north of the Grand Canyon. To many white men "Kaibab" means deer, the world-noted deer herds ranging on that plateau. But there's more than that to the Kaibab National Forest.

It's "big game" country, big timber country, big grazing country and big scenery country, all in one package. But you can't take the package home with you, unless you're able to carry 1,779,000 acres.

Northernmost of Arizona's forests, the Kaibab has three separate divisions. Two of them straddle Grand Canyon National Park and form an emerald frame for that masterpiece of vivid colors and bold lines. The division north of the Canyon is known locally and among the biggame hunters' fraternity as "Kaibab North." Its elevations range from 6,800 feet to more than 9,000 feet. An outstanding feature is Kaibab Mountain, which juts into Arizona from the highland of Utah. Dropping away on either side of this big finger of mountain land, the lower country is semi-desert grassland reminiscent of country in the southern part of the State.

The division just south of Grand Canyon and the division surrounding Williams are comparatively level at 6,500 to 7,500 feet, broken by an occasional peak. These peaks are volcanic in origin. The highest, Kendrick Peak, is 10,200 feet in elevation.

Kaibab North is internationally known among big-game enthusiasts as the range of a fine, exceptional race of Rocky Mountain mule deer. One particularly fine trophy head, in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, was recently judged to be "not only the finest deer head in the world, but the finest trophy of any game species in the world."

It took the tragic death of thousands of these fine deer in the early 1920's to teach America that the preservation of big game species cannot be attained by such simple steps as forbidding hunting and protecting the species against predatory animals.

The tragic history is worth reviewing for its lesson. Before the white man came, the Kaibabits Indians lived off the herd. Their hunting, to obtain food and hides, and the toll taken by natural enemies of the deer helped to keep the herd down to numbers the natural range could accommodate. When the Mormon settlers came to this area and with commendable enterprise made a livelihood from livestock grazing, the range for deer began to decrease. From the 1870's, domestic grazing increased.

In 1908, the need for protecting the deer led Theodore Roosevelt, statesman and sportsman, to create the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve. Mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats were preying heavily on the deer, and a campaign to reduce these predators was launched by the Forest Service, the old Biological Survey and local ranchers. Hundreds of coyotes and bobcats were killed. Uncle Jimmy Owens, noted guide and hunter, took 600 mountain lions off the Kaibab.

Hunting of the deer was prohibited. This and the campaign against predators gave the deer herd a great release. The herd increased by leaps and bounds, until in 1924 it was estimated to number 100,000. It far exceeded the available deer forage.

The deer range was seriously "over-stocked." So was the cattle range, so much so that in 1924 the Grand Canyon Cattle Company, holding a grazing permit for 12,000 cattle, moved to Mexico.

Starvation caused the death of 30,000 deer in one winter alone. Hunger, with the diseases resulting from malnutrition, reduced the herd to numbers more in keeping with the forage available for them in the Game Preserve. In 1932 the first sign of improved range conditions showed that what man had failed to do toward keeping the deer numbers proportionate with the forage, Nature had managed to do.

The Arizona State Game Commission and the U. S. Forest Service, working cooperatively, convinced wildlife friends that an annual harvest of deer was necessary, even in the operating of a National Game Preserve. Hunting was therefore permitted.

PHOTOGRAPHS

BY U. S. FOREST SERVICE Today the Game Preserve of 1908 and the original Kaibab “forest reserve” of 1906 are identical in boundaries. Hunting is permitted under careful regulation designed to remove the deer surplus above the number the natural forage will supply. The Kaibab deer herd now numbers about 10,000. Sportsmen from Oklahoma to California travel here for the hunting season. Tourists now are rewarded with occasional glimpses of deer a sight all the more enjoyable in the knowledge that this fine herd is safe from starvation and extinction.

The herd of buffalo owned and managed by the Arizona State Game Department is one of the very few herds of its kind living under wild conditions. Roaming in Houserock Valley on the eastern edge of Kaibab North, this herd is another example of what scientific game management can do in preserving our wildlife.

Rivaling the Kaibab deer in fame is the Kaibab squirrel, distinctive because of its tufted ears and its white, bushy tail. It calls attention to the sub-species in the Kaibab country which are not found elsewhere in the United States. The barrier formed by the Grand Canyon and the semi-desert country near Utah discouraged the migration of animals, with the result that animal life developed differently here. There is a notable difference in the number and kind of animals found north and south of the Grand Canyon. Incidentally, hunting of the Kaibab squirrel is not permitted. The State Game Commission, the U. S. Forest Service and the National Park Service are cooperating in its protection.

South of the Canyon, game species include the Abert squirrel, deer, a small number of elk and antelope, black and brown bear, wild turkey, mountain lion, and bobcat.

World travelers say that the open grassland savanna in the southern or Williams division of the Kaibab National Forest is somewhat like African uplands. To them it spells “game”. Going to the upper extreme, the summits of Bill Williams, Sitgreaves and Kendrick peaks have white pine, spruce, aspen and vegetation like that of Canadian provinces. Plant ecologists, in fact, call this zone the “Canadian.” On the Kaibab and other forests in Arizona, you can be “traveling the world” as you go from one elevation zone to another. Each zone produces its own kind of forest product-timber, poles and posts, forage for game or forage for domestic livestock, and so on.

Cattle and sheep find summer forage in the pine forest and open “parks” of the high country, and winter forage in the woodland area at lower elevations. Livestock is an important industry here. The Kaibab National Forest supplies forage annually for 13,000 cattle and 9,600 sheep. Range management plans and practices have placed this industry on a sound basis and given it the assured future it could not count on in pioneer days.

The opening of a large unit of virgin ponderosa pine timber on Kaibab North to help produce wood for a thousand war uses during the last two years of World War II has fortunately made timber from that area available now to help meet the post-war shortage of forest products.

With more than 2,636,000,000 feet of timber, the Kaibab is third among Arizona national forests in the volume of sawtimber. Obviously, there is ample timber and ample room on the Kaibab for logging, without interfering with recreation and other uses of the forest.

In 1945, the Kaibab produced a timber cut totaling 5,800,000 board feet. On a sustained yield basis, the Forest as a whole can produce annually 10 to 15 million board feet. This means the uncut trees will grow an amount equal to the annual “harvest” of timber. The forest will be left in better silvicultural condition.

During the war, copper production on the Kaibab North was important, but was based on emergency conditions. Several companies are now quarrying flagstones, from outcrops of Kaibab limestone and sandstone north of Ashfork. The stone has gone into the construction of many homes at Phoenix.

The Kaibab is one of several national forests delivering water to Verde River, which gives Phoenix its municipal water supply. The Verde also contributes to irrigation in Salt River Valley.

Much of the Kaibab country is accessible, because of the predominance of plateau land and an abundant share of State and Federal highway mileage. The north and south entrance roads to Grand Canyon National Park cross parts of the national forest. State Highways 64 and 67 and U. S. Highways 66 and 89 cross the forest for generous distances.

An outstanding forest drive through Kaibab North can be made from Fredonia to the north rim of Grand Canyon, via U. S. 89 and State Highway 67. From Fredonia to Jacob Lake you travel through rolling majestic hills of purple sage until you reach the foot of the great forested plateau. The route then penetrates piñon and juniper woodland and brings you up to the lower limits of the ponderosa pine forest. From there this area of fine virgin timber extends for many miles, on past Jacob Lake and Kaibab Lodge to the “Rim.” Approaching the “Rim,” State Highway 67 goes through stands of mixed conifers-pine, spruce, fir-along open meadows bordered with aspen and regiments of small blue spruce.

Jacob Lake has a free Forest Service campground. Jacob Lake Inn offers meals, tourist cabins and filling station service. At Kaibab Lodge there are the same facilities, along with saddle horses and guide service, and a Forest Service campground.

Although the Kaibab has no running streams, Coleman Lake and reservoirs such as Whitehorse Lake and J-D Dam attract many fishermen and campers.

“Williams East” is the name of the Kaibab's winter sports area, six miles east of Williams on U. S. 66. Located at 6,800 feet elevation, the area has two ski runs, each 2,000 feet long, suitable for skiers with intermediate to expert skill. Two other runs, not as steep, are for novices. Meals and rooms are obtainable at McHat Inn on U. S. 66, two miles from the area, and in Williams.

At Sycamore Canyon is a 46,000 acre Wild Area extending from the Kaibab into the Coconino and Prescott National Forests. Very rugged, it contains a wild range of plant and animal life. The absence of roads and all but a few trails give this canyon an “out-of-this-world” beauty. Few spots in the Southwest can surpass its wildness.

Bill Williams was an Army Scout during the Indian wars, and one of the most colorful and eccentric of the pioneers. It is said he was a “circuit rider,” a traveling preacher, in Missouri, and came West as a missionary to the Indians. Some say that “Old Bill” was more converted to Indian beliefs and superstitions than they were to his religion. Anyway, he gave up his missionary work and moved westward again to the great plains, eventually living with the Ute Indians. He chose to leave Indian life when ill-feeling followed the influx of whites, and adopted the country around the mountain now bearing his name. Little is known about his passing, but a favored legend is that he died a solitary death in his favorite hunting grounds, the vicinity of Bill Williams Mountain.