Archive:Caribou Wilderness
Template:Infobox protected area The Caribou Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area created by the Wilderness Act of 1964 and is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is located 60 miles east of Redding in the state of California, USA. The Caribou Wilderness comprises 20,625 acres and is adjacent to the east side of Lassen Volcanic National Park. Both the park and the wilderness are within the Lassen National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service manages the wilderness.
Elevations range from 6,400 feet to 8,374 feet (ft).
The terrain is a volcanic plateau with 75% covered by water and conifer forests and the remainder being barren rock such as cliff faces, talus slopes and cinder cones. Most of this area has been preserved since 1932 which makes the Caribou Wilderness one of the few remaining pristine forests of the California Cascade region. There are 23 named lakes, inumerable unnamed ponds and tarns, cinder cones and volcanic buttes within the wilderness. Although there are no year round surface streams, the area provides high quality water for the headwaters of the Susan River, and Bailey Creek, a tributary of the Feather River. The high point is Red Cinder(8,374 ft) located near the boundary between the wilderness and the park. Other peaks are North Caribou (7,784 ft), South Caribou ( 7,757 ft) and Black Butte in the northeast at 7,884 ft.
Recreational activities include day hiking, backpacking, fishing, horseback riding, cross-country skiing and nature photography.
Three trailheads give access to the wilderness; Hay Meadows in the south, Cone Lake in the north and Silver Lake on the east which is also the most popular entry point. Travel by foot or horseback is easy because the landscape has only moderate hills and valleys. No wilderness permits are required, only a California campfire permit for open fires.
Flora, fauna and fungi
The forest is lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine, white and red fir, western white pine, and hemlock.
The larger lakes support brook and rainbow trout. Black-tailed deer and black bears along with squirrels, chipmunks, and the protected (from hunting) pine marten live here. There are bald eagles and ospreys overhead, mergansers and grebes on the ponds and lakes.
Much smaller in size, but critically important to the forest ecosystem are the fungi. The cup fungus, for instance, can be found in the Caribou, along with man's hair and narrow-headed morel as well as a timber-destroying pore fungi called the red-belt fomes. It is a white and yellow fungi on the bark of such trees as the white fir.[1]
Area history
Before this area became a federally protected wilderness in 1964, it had been previously protected as a primitive area since 1932. When the National Park Service was created in 1916, most of the first National Parks were carved out of National Forest Lands.
Beginning in 1929, The United States Forest Service set some areas aside as primitive areas to keep the Park Service from continuing to acquire forest lands. At least that is the conclusion of economist David Gerard,[2] who wrote about the competing interests between the two federal agencies: The Park Service under the federal Department of Interior and the Forest Service, managed by the federal Department of Agriculture.
These political maneuverings by the US Forest Service in the years 1929 - 1964 helped in the development of the wilderness preservation we have today.[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ [http://www.sherpaguides.com/california/mountains/northern_sierra/lassen_nat_forest.html Sherpaguide webpage on the Caribou Wilderness] accessed July 18, 2008
- ↑ David Gerard Ph.D, of the Carnegie Mellon University and is also associated with the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank.
- ↑ Gerard, David The Origins of the Federal Wilderness System p.4 accessed 23 July 2008.
References
Adkinson, Ron Wild Northern California The Globe Piquet Press, 2001
External links
Wilderness.net's page on the Caribou Wilderness. accessed 18 July 2008