ARIZONA'S WILDERNESS AREAS

E& PIONEER PRIMITIVENESS are forever ours ARIZONA'S derness Areas By Weldon F. Heald

Eight horseback riders wound up the Peralta Can-yon trail to Fremont Pass. The January sun was warm on their backs, and rugged desert mountains rose above them to multicolored pinnacles against the blue sky. The only sounds were the clop-clop of the horses' hooves and the canyon wrens' liquid notes cascading down the cliffs. At the pass the riders dismounted and had a leisurely lunch in view of the great pink rock tooth of Weavers Needle, rising 2,000 feet out of the depths of Boulder Canyon, ahead.

The party was spending the day exploring Arizona's Superstition Wilderness Area. Situated in Tonto National Forest, some forty-five miles from Phoenix, it is one of the state's several "Nature Museums" purposely kept inviolate and undisturbed by human development. In them one can escape the tensions of modern Space-Age living and go back in time to original Arizona, much as it was before the coming of the White Man.

These unique primitive areas are an important conservation accomplishment of the United States Forest Service. This agency in the Department of Agriculture manages the 181 million acres of the country's 151 National Forests under the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act of 1960 which directs that their resources shall be developed "for the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run." That means the varied activities of the Forest Service include supervised timber production, fire prevention and control, watershed protection and flood control, livestock grazing, wildlife management, and recreational activities. The last, in fact, has expanded to such an extent that it soon may be the National Forests' biggest business.

Back in the 1920's the Forest Service recognized that wilderness preservation is a legitimate part of multiple use land management. Portions of the remote, scenic high mountain country in Western National Forests were seen to be more valuable left in their natural state than for their limited economic resources. With soaring peaks, sparkling lakes, foam-flecked trout streams, quiet forests and abundant wildlife, the finest of these sequestered, unspoiled places would be best forever kept as havens of camp-and-trail life, far from the noise and confusion of urban centers. As untrammeled wilderness they serve their highest purpose because in them people can draw strength, inspiration and spiritual enrichment from close contact with Nature.

So, wilderness areas have been established throughout the National Forests from coast to coast. Today thereare eighty-three of them in 14 states totalling more than 141/2 million acres. They vary greatly in size and type of country, and include chains of lakes in Minnesota, vast forest tracts in Idaho, and some of the nation's loftiest mountaintops in the Rockies, Sierra Nevada and the Cascades.

Arizona's seven National Forests contain nine of these wilderness tracts with a combined area of 710,700 acres, or about six per cent of the state's National Forest

NOTES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS OPPOSITE PAGE "IN SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN.

Photo taken in the Superstition Wilderness Area, showing Weaver's Needle in the distance. This area is in the Tonto National Forest and contains 124,120 acres. The topography is extremely rough and some sections are inaccessible except by foot. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 22 at 1/25th sec.; 90mm Angulon lens; May; light overcast; Weston meter 200; ASA rating 64.

FOLLOWING PAGES "IN PINE MOUNTAIN PRIMITIVE AREA" - U.S. FOREST SERVICE PHOTO.

This photo was taken from the south side of Pine Mountain, 20 miles east of Black Canyon Highway along the divide on the west side of the Verde River. This Primitive Area, with 17,424 acres, is divided between the Tonto and Prescott National Forests. Pine Mountain is 7,621 feet at the highest point. 4x5 Crown Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f. 8 at 1/400th sec.; Optar lens; February; bright sun; GE Golden Crown direct reading 1/400 and f. 8; ASA 64.

"ALONG SUPERSTITION TRAIL" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN.

Photo taken in the Superstition Wilderness Area near Fremont Pass. This panorama shows the rugged beauty of the Superstitions. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 11 at 1/100th sec.; 150mm Symmar lens; April; bright sunlight; Weston meter 200; ASA rating 64.

"VIEW FROM MT. BALDY" BY RAY MANLEY. Mt.

Baldy Primitive Area, on the boundary between Apache National Forest and the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, contains within the northeast segment 7,400 acres supervised by the Forest Service. A similar wilderness track continued around the mountain is administered by the Indians. Baldy Peak is the highest point in the White Mountains being 11,590 feet in elevation. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 12 at 1/1000th sec.; 135mm Symmar lens; November; bright sun; meter reading 400; ASA rating 50.

"IN THE BLUE RANGE PRIMITIVE AREA" BY RAY MANLEY.

Photo taken from the fire tower four miles inside the Blue Range Primitive Area, east of Hannegan Meadows looking northeast into basin of the Blue River. This is an area of beautiful trees, fishing streams, and rugged rock formations. 5x7 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 16 at 1/60th sec.; 210 Symmar lens; November; bright sun; ASA rating 50.

CENTER PANEL "SYCAMORE CANYON PANORAMA" BY RAY MANLEY.

This photo was taken from the rim of Sycamore Canyon and gives an impressive panoramic view of the Sycamore Canyon Primitive Area. The point from which this photo was taken is reached easily by road from Williams. To get into the Primitive Area, however, one must go by foot or on horseback. Best seasons to visit this area is spring or fall. 5x7 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f. 28 at 1/10th sec.; 210mm Symmar lens.

"IN SIERRA ANCHA WILD AREA" BY RAY MANLEY.

This view shows the Devil's Chasm area of the Sierra Ancha Wild Area, east of Roosevelt Lake. The Wild Area has many prehistoric Indian ruins and is also noted for its abundant wild life.

"IN CHIRICAHUA WILD AREA" BY WELDON F. HEALD.

Photo taken off the Onion Saddle-Rustler Park road, alt. 8,000 feet, looking east into Cave Creek drainage. Portal Peak, right; Silver Peak, left, form the Chiricahua Wild Area north boundary.

"AERIAL VIEW OF GALIURO WILD AREA" BY NAURICE KOONCE AND RAY MANLEY.

This is a aerial view of the Galiuro Wild Area and graphically shows one of the state's most rugged expanses of terrain.

LAST PAGE OF COLOR PORTFOLIO "DEEP IN THE MAZATZALS" BY RAY MANLEY.

This photograph was taken deep in the heart of the Mazatzal Mountains, the range that forms the dividing line between Gila and Maricopa Counties, and gives a dramatic view of the precipitous landscape contained within the Mazatzal Wilderness Area, the largest National Forest wilderness wholly within Arizona with an area of 206,000 acres.

National Forest WILDERNESS

land. Established between 1932 and 1939, they are scattered from the southeast corner, north and west to the Mogollon Rim, and represent a striking crosssection of the region's remarkably varied topography, climate, vegetation and animal life. There are high-perched wooded oases above broad arid valleys, rocky desert mountains, deep canyons, extensive forests, and sky piercing summits. They also provide prime fishing waters, some of the best hunting in the Southwest, and form a series of natural playgrounds for every kind of outdoor enthusiast.

But to enjoy Arizona's Wilderness Areas, one must leave civilization behind for they can be explored only on foot or horseback, and the sky is the sole roof available. Here Nature still rules supreme and Man is a temporary intruder. Although the wilderness areas are traversed by trails, there are no roads, and all forms of mechanical transport are banned. This applies to fourwheel-drive vehicles, trail scooters, and outboard motors on the lakes, as well as planes and helicopters. Timber cutting and other commercial uses, except already estabSimple improvements needed in administering and protecting these lands. But the wilderness visitor can hunt, fish, camp, ride or hike to his heart's content. However, in spite of the lack of cushions and wheels, one need not be a rugged individual who revels in pioneer hardships. In many cases comparatively easy one-day trips on two legs or four penetrate some of the grandest country in the Southwest.

National Forest wilderness, however, differs in many ways from National Parks and Monuments. The latter, administered by the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior, are created by Congress or, in the case of most National Monuments, by Presidential Proclamation. Their purpose is to preserve and protect outstanding scenic, historic, educational and scientific features of nation-wide significance. Although most parks are largely wilderness, access and display roads are built, visitor facilities provided, and organized nature-guide service and interpretive programs conducted. Fishing is permitted, but there is no hunting, timber cutting or commercial development, other than those of licensed concessionaires who cater to the public. Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park, of course, is one of the most magnificent in the country and its fifteen National Monuments outnumber those of any other state.

While making no pretense of rivalling the National Parks in scenic grandeur, the Forest Service Wilderness Areas are places of unusual fascination because they are samples of the world as God made it, without subsequent intervention and rearrangement by Man. Some of the finest of them are, in fact, of park caliber and have been suggested as possible future National Parks or Monuments.

The following are thumbnail descriptions of Arizona's nine Forest Service primitive reserves: Down in the southeastern corner of the state is the CHIRICAHUA WILD AREA in Coronado National Forest. Covering 18,000 acres, it includes the high, heavily timbered summits of the Chiricahua Mountains. There, a vertical mile above the wide, semiarid sur-rounding valleys are cool forests of pine, fir, spruce and aspen, flower-spread meadows and fern-lined streams. Although both Fly and Chiricahua Peaks rise to over 9,500 feet, the crest is surprisingly gentle and makes an alluring sky island to explore. These mountains are popular fall hunting grounds, and nowhere in the United States is there a greater variety of birds, animals and plants. Vegetation ranges from Lower Sonoran to Hudsonian, and the wildlife includes white-tailed and mule deer, bears, mountain lions, coati mundis, wild turkeys, and rare, exotic coppery tailed trogons.

The area is situated northeast of Douglas, between U.S. 80 and 666, and can be reached from either via the dirt cross-mountain road from Chiricahua National Monument to Portal. Also several spurs lead up eastand west-side canyons close to the boundaries. Easiest road-end takeoff point is Rustler Park, 8,400 feet, with (Forest Service) campgrounds and Ranger Station. The twenty-mile Chiricahua Crest Trail traverses the Wild Area southward, and is joined by laterals on both east and west slopes. A pleasant seven-mile round-trip hike from Rustler Park is to the fire lookout tower atop Fly Peak, which commands a tremendous panorama.

Saddle and pack animals are available near the Forest (Please turn to page forty.)