South-Central Rockies Forests, Subsection 1, Greater Yellowstone, Part B

Along the Caldera Wall; Petrified Forests; Hot Springs

This part describes the federal parks, forests, reservoirs, and trails in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.   National wilderness areas, which dominate some of the forests, are described in Part C. Some of the more spectacular units of the National Forest (NF) System are within the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion.  Many of the sites are little known and would be well known and  notable in their own right were they not in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park.

Beaverhead NF, Montana, is 2.1 million acres and includes the Tobacco Root Mountains, Snowcrest Range (site 1 on map B; N44˚52’ W112˚6’), Gravelly Mountains, and western Madison Range in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion. In the Tobacco Root Mountains are Potosi Hot Springs (N45˚35’ W111˚54’) and Potosi Warm Springs south of Pony (site 2).  The Mill Creek valley (N45˚29’ W112˚4’) and Branham Lakes areas are accessed from Sheridan on State Route 287 (site 3). The Gravelly Range Road (Forest Highway 290; site 4) extends from north to south and provides a scenic drive along the mountain crest from Red Rock Lakes to Monument Ridge (N44˚56’ W111˚51’), Clover Meadows (N45˚2’ 111˚50’), and Schultz Cow Camp (N45˚8’ W111˚53’). Portions of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness (Taylor-Hilgard and Spanish Peaks units) are in the forest in the Madison Range.

Beaverhead NF Research Natural Areas (RNAs) are in the Gravelly Range. North of Red Rock Lakes is Cliff Lake RNA (N44˚46’ W111˚34’) on a relatively flat bench overlooking Cliff Lake 500 feet below (site 5). It is about one-half sagebrush and grassland and one-half forested with pine aspen, and Douglas-fir. There are campgrounds and hiking trails in the area. A trail from campgrounds on the Madison River (N44˚53’ W111˚35’) climbs Gold Butte for views of the Madison River valley. Also in the Gravelly Range off Standard Creek Road is Cave Mountain RNA (N44˚55’ W111˚47’), which includes Big Horn Mountain and Cave Mountain, with alpine grasslands, steep escarpments and talus slopes (site 6). There are two vertical caves on Cave Mountain. Cottonwood Creek RNA (N44˚58’ W111˚57’) is off Forest Highway 100 east of the Ruby River in the Gravelly Range. It is a grassland and shrubland on south-facing slopes and is fenced to exclude livestock (site7).   

Bridger NF, Wyoming, is 1.7 million acres including the peaks of the Wyoming Range and Salt River Range, which run south from the Grand Canyon of the Snake River for 80 miles. The Greys River Road (Forest Road 138) extends between the two ranges and provides access. In the south part of the forest is Hamms Fork (N42˚15’ W110˚44’), the stage station where the Overland Stage Route joined the Mormon Trail (site 8). Periodic Spring (N42˚45’ W110˚51’) flows for 18 minutes, then stops for 18 minutes. It is located in the scenic Swift Creek canyon east of Afton in the Salt River Range (site 9). Kendall Warm Springs (N43˚3’ W110˚0’) consists of 85˚F thermal seeps on a limestone ridge along the Green River (site 10). A strong odor of sulfur emanates from the springs. During winter, the aquatic vegetation in the stream, consisting of a type of algae called stoneworts, stays green. Stoneworts become calcified, and as they die, their limy residue accumulates to form layers of travertine. The springs are the home of the endangered Kendall Warm Springs dace.  The spring run goes over a waterfall into the Green River (Mohlenbrock 1991).

Commissary Ridge (N42˚27’ W110˚40’ south to N41˚55’ W110˚37’) and adjoining parallel ridges are an IBA for raptor migration (site 11). Lake Alice (N42˚25’ W110˚45’), south of the Tri-Basin Divide, was created when a landslide dammed Poker Creek with a mile-long pile of debris (site 11). Only one species of fish, the cutthroat trout, inhabits the isolated lake, which is accessible by a one-mile hike from Hobble Creek. The Grand Canyon of the Snake River (N43˚12’ W110˚52’) along US 26-89 is the most productive bald eagle nesting area in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (site 12). Big Fall Creek (N42˚23’ W110˚32’) is a scenic waterfall with travertine formations (site13). Wyoming Range NRT traverses the forest for 75 miles, beginning at the Hoback River (N43˚17’ W110˚40’) in Teton NF and ending at Snider Basin (N42˚30’ W110˚32’). Scenic Middle Piney Lake (N42˚36’ W110˚34’) provides an access point along the trail and a waterfall nearby (site 14). 

Bridger NF RNAs include Swift Creek RNA (N42˚44’ W110˚49’), near Swift Creek Canyon and Periodic Spring (site 9). It has outstanding examples of coniferous, riparian, and montane forb communities. Also nearby just to the north is Alton Front RNA (N42˚46’ W110˚54’), which includes Anderson and Blaney Canyons and is in the Douglas-fir-shrubland-sagebrush grassland transition (site 9). 

Caribou NF, Idaho-Wyoming, is one million acres of public land in both the Great Basin and South-Central Rockies ecoregions. In the South Central Rockies at the south end of the Preuss Range is Montpelier Canyon (N42˚20’ W111˚12’), along US 89, a scenic and hiking area (site 15). The Summit View area in the Aspen Range is another hiking area. The Diamond Creek trailhead (N42˚43’ W111˚10’) provides access to the Webster Range (site 16). Along Stump Creek (N42˚48’ W111˚5’) west of Auburn, Wyoming, the trail follows the original route of the Lander Cutoff, an emigrant trail. An extensive trail system in the Caribou Range is accessed from Pine Bar (N43˚0’ W111˚11’) on Route 34 east of Grays Lake (site 17). Also east of Grays Lake and Caribou Mountain is the ghost town of Caribou City (N43˚6’ W111˚16’), which was the largest mining town in Idaho with 1,500 residents in 1897. The town was a gold mining site. On US Route 89 at the upper end of the Salt River embayment of the Palisades Reservoir in Wyoming is the Alpine Wetlands Viewing Area (N43˚8’ W111˚2’). These constructed ponds provide waterfowl and shorebird habitat and are an IBA (site 18).

Caribou NF RNAs are Meade Peak RNA (N42˚30’ W111˚15’) in the Preuss Range northeast of Georgetown, Idaho (site 19), which is a high elevation parkland of Douglas-fir, limber pine, and Engelmann spruce; and Horse Creek RNA (N42˚48’ W111˚8’), in the Webster Range west of Auburn, Wyoming (site 20), which is a forest of subalpine fir and lodgepole pine with buffalo berry (Shepherdia) shrub layer.

Custer NF, Montana (site 21) is 1.1 million acres and mostly east of the map area. An area of the Absaroka Mountains in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Stillwater River watershed, including the Lake Plateau (45-17, 110-5) extends west into the map area to the north of Yellowstone NP. 

Deerlodge NF, Montana (site 22), is 1.2 million acres and extends mostly to the north of the Greater Yellowstone subsection. In the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion, the northern half of the Tobacco Root Mountains are in this NF (N45˚39’ W112˚4’). This includes the South Boulder River drainage, Beall Creek, and Mill Canyon areas.

Gallatin NF, Montana, is 1.7 million acres, including portions of the Absaroka-Beartooth and Lee Metcalf Wilderness areas. The Gallatin Range, Madison Range, Absaroka Range. Big Belt Mountains, and Crazy Mountains are within the forest. At Tom Miner Campground, a trail leads four miles toward Ramshorn Peak to the Gallatin petrified forest (site 23; N45˚9’ W111˚6’). Here are hundreds of petrified trees of 100 species. The forest extends southward into the northwestern corner of Yellowstone NP.  Madison River Canyon Earthquake Area (N44˚40’ W111˚26’) on US 287 in the Madison Range is where a landslide filled the canyon up to 400 feet deep in 1959 (site 24). The landslide killed 28 people, dammed the river and created Earthquake Lake. There is a visitor center at the site. A short trail off of State Route 298 leads to Natural Bridge Falls on the Boulder River (site 25; N45˚31’ W110˚12’).  Continuing south by four-wheel drive at road’s end on the Boulder River, 53 miles south of Big Timber, is Independence ghost town (site 26; N45˚13’ W110˚15’). This area was a gold mine from 1860 to 1904.  Mine shafts and buildings are still visible in this town, which had about 500 people. The Boulder Ranger Station (N45˚31’ W110˚13’) is on State Route 298, 28 miles south of Big Timber (site 27). A visitor center and museum interprets the oldest facility in the National Forest system. The Coffin Lake Trail (N44-46 W111-22) heads south from Hebgen Lake west of West Yellowstone for five miles along meadows of Watkins Creek in the Madison Range (site 24). In the Crazy Mountains north of Livingston is the six-mile Trespass Trail to Campfire Lake (N46˚4’ W110˚24’). It is reached from US 89 at Clyde Park and heading 15 miles northeast (site 28). The short Palisades Falls NRT (N45˚28’ W110˚56’) climbs to an 80-foot waterfall off of Hyalite Creek south of Bozeman (site 29). The Bridger Foothills NRT extends 21 miles along the west side of the Bridger Range. To the east in the Crazy Mountains, pristine alpine lakes are under 11,000-foot peaks on a trail west of Half Moon (N46˚2’ W110˚14’) in Big Timber Canyon (site 28). 

Gallatin NF RNAs include seven sites, four of which are in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and described under that entry. Palace Butte RNA (N45˚26’ W110˚59’) is located south of Bozeman in the Gallatin Range at the upper end (southern end) of Hyalite Creek (site 29). This contains examples of alpine glaciation, including a matterhorn, cirque, tarn, headwall, and a hanging valley. There are subalpine and timberline areas and four waterfalls. Wheeler Ridge RNA (N45˚28’ W111˚4’) is a ridge between Big Bear Creek and Cottonwood Creek, also south of Bozeman (site 30). Sedge-dominated areas border creeks. There is mature whitebark pine and subalpine fir with limber pine on limestone. Black Butte RNA (N45˚1’ W111˚7’) is bordered by Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Yellowstone NP and overlooks US Route 191 (site 31). It is a dry subalpine forest with parkland openings containing grassland.

                                                               

Helena NF, Montana, is 970,000 acres and includes the northern end of the Big Belt Mountains with Hanging Valley and Vigilante NRTs. Recreation sites for Smith River State Park float trips are located in the forest.  At Gipsy Lake (N46˚30’ W111˚13’) on Forest Highway 139, trails lead south to rock formations known as the Needles and a number of glacial lakes (site 32). Cabin Gulch RNA (N46˚47’ W111˚45’) is an entire watershed in the Big Belt Mountains north of York off of Lewis and Clark County Road 4 (site 33). Vegetation is Douglas-fir with ponderosa pine and bunchgrass.

Lewis and Clark NF, Montana, is 1.8 million acres covering parts of the Castle, Crazy, and Little Belt Mountains. The Castle Mountains (N46˚33’ W110˚45’) are a hiking area and isolated range (site 34). US 89 (Kings Hill Scenic Byway) provides access to the Little Belt Mountains. Recreation sites for Smith River State Park float trips are located in the forest. The Little Belt Mountains contain Precambrian-age shales which house microfossils approximately 1.4 billion years old. Both cylindrical and spheroidal fossils are present in what was apparently plankton (Horodyski and Bloeser 1978). 

Lewis and Clark NF RNAs include three areas in the Greater Yellowstone. Bartleson Peak RNA, (N46˚40’ W110˚9’), is in the Little Belt Mountains and consists of spruce and grassland habitat northwest of Harlowton (site 35). O’Brien Creek RNA (N46˚52’ W110˚44’) is in the Little Belt Mountains west of US Route 89 at Kings Hill Pass on Forest Road 839; it contains riparian communities with springs and seeps vegetated with willow and wet meadows (site 36). Paine Gulch RNA (N47˚4’ W110˚46’) includes an entire watershed and the summit of Servoss Mountain south of Monarch on US Route 89 (site 37).  Forests are of Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and limber pine, and a subalpine meadow. An endemic species of Cirsium is found in the watershed.

Shoshone NF, Wyoming, was America’s first national forest, consisting of 2.4 million acres of public land. Small areas to east of Yellowstone NP in the Washakie Wilderness west of Eagle Creek Meadows (site 38; N44˚22’ W110˚1’) and along US 26-287 at Togwotee Pass and Brooks Lake (site 39; N43˚45’ W110˚0’) extend into the map area. 

Targhee NF, Idaho-Wyoming, is 1.6 million acres. The Coffee Pot Rapids (N44˚30’ W111˚24’) are on the Henry’s Fork above Island Park Reservoir and are popular for floating and hiking along the river (site 40). Where Henry’s Fork cuts a canyon through Big Bend Ridge (the wall of Island Park Caldera) are Upper and Lower Mesa Falls (N44˚11’ W111˚20’), two waterfalls dropping 114 and 65 feet, respectively (site 41). The Big Falls Interpretive Center is located here. Teton Overlook on the road to Grand Targhee Ski Resort (N43˚45’ W110˚57’) provides a panoramic view of the Tetons from the west (site 42). Teton Canyon (N43˚45’ W110˚55’) is a wildflower viewing area east of Driggs, Idaho (site 42). Off Route 31 in the Snake River Range is a trailhead for 4^th of July Peak (site 43; N43˚32’ W111˚11’); off route 33 at Mike Harris Campground (N43˚33’ W111˚4’) southeast of Victor is a trailhead for a trail along the Snake River Range into the Teton NF in Wyoming (site 43). The Kelly Canyon area near Ririe provides access to Table Rock Canyon (N43˚38’ W111˚35’), another hiking area in the Snake River Range (site 44). Big Springs is a National Natural Landmark (see part A). Mesa Marsh (N44˚11’ W111˚18’), located on the opposite side of the road from the Lower Mesa Falls, is on a plateau north of the confluence of the Warm River and Henry’s Fork and east of Mesa Falls, is an IBA for breeding waterfowl (site 45) . The Palisades NRT is also on the forest. The Jedediah Smith and Winegar Hole Wildernesses are in the forest.

Targhee NF RNAs include five sites. Burns Canyon RNA (N43˚38’ W111˚25’) is on a stabilized landslide in the Snake River Range east of Ririe, Idaho (site 44). The landslide was caused by an earthquake. The RNA is noted for its riparian corridor with red osier dogwood and cow parsnip, along with sagebrush, mountain mahogany, maple, and aspen. Willow Creek RNA (N44˚9’ W111˚27’) is north of Ashton ID to the west of US Route 20 (site 46). This is the south slope of the Island Park Caldera and is forested with bigtooth maple, limber pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, Douglas-fir and aspen communities. Thurman Creek RNA (N44˚22’ W111˚29’) contains five springs and wet sedge meadows in the aspen, Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine forests on the edge of Henry’s Fork caldera upstream from Golden Lake in Harriman State Park (site 47). Moose Creek Plateau RNA (N44˚29’ W111˚6’) is located on obsidian sand on the Yellowstone NP boundary southeast of Henrys Lake in an area burned in the Yellowstone fires of 1988 (site 40). It provides a study area for natural succession on droughty soils. The Continental Divide NST crosses the area. Targhee Creek RNA (N44˚44’ W111˚23’) is also on the Continental Divide Trail north of Henrys Lake (site 40). It contains two glaciated basins and a canyon with a limestone wall, six lakes, and small wet meadows. 

Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Lewis and Clark NF, Montana (site 48; N46˚55’ W110˚53’) is a research facility which focuses on the lodgepole pine silvicultural types in the Little Belt Mountains.  This is the only experimental forest that focuses on lodgepole pine landscape-level management.  Research is on fire history, fisheries, vegetation composition, and silviculture.  One recent study investigated thinning of forests to reduce fuel accumulations.  This is a need throughout much of the West.  A nine-year study showed that noxious weeds colonize roads which are made to access timber harvest areas.  However, the weeds did not colonize adjacent silvicultural treatment areas.  This research indicated the importance of carefully managing roads and vehicles for weed control when conducting thinning operations (Birdsall, McCaughey, and Runyon 2012). Within the Experimental Forest is Onion Park RNA, a subalpine mesic meadow that has escaped grazing.  Access is via Forest Highways 119 and 586 from US Route 89 north of White Sulphur Springs.

Teton NF, Wyoming, includes peaks of the Absaroka Range and Gros Ventre Range. East of Jackson is the Gros Ventre slide (N43˚38’ W110˚33’), a mile-wide rockslide that formed a lake in 1925 (site 49).  The scenic Gros Ventre Valley (N43˚33’ W110˚16’), nicknamed Little Serengeti because of its opportunities to view elk, moose, and bighorn sheep, is to the east (site 49). Buffalo Valley (N43˚50’ W110˚22’), off US 26-287 east of Moran Junction, is another scenic valley (site 50). Granite Creek is accessible from US 189-191 on the Hoback River. The valley includes Granite Hot Springs and Granite Falls (site 51; N43˚22’ W110˚20’). The Gros Ventre and Teton wilderness areas (see) are in the forest.  To the west of Jackson is Teton Pass (N43˚29’ W110˚57’), a hiking and mountain biking area (site52).  The Breccia Cliffs (N43˚47’ W110˚5’) are north of Togwotee Pass on the edge of the Teton Wilderness (site 53). Wyoming Range NRT begins in the forest at the Hoback River (N43˚17’ W110˚40’) and ends in the Bridger NF at Snider Basin. 

The National Park (NP) System in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion includes Yellowstone NP, previously described in Part A under World Heritage Sites. There are two other units. Grand Teton NP, Wyoming (site 54), in addition to its famous mountain range and valley, includes two NHLs: Jackson Lake Lodge and Murie Ranch Historic District.The park is an IBA for bald eagle, peregrine, and trumpeter swan. There are 17 different activity areas which offer day hikes and backpacking along 200 miles of trails.

• ·         Colter Bay Visitor Center (site 54; N43˚54’ W110˚39’)—trails to ponds and marsh habitat
• ·         Cunningham Cabin—this is a trail to a historic homestead off US 26-89-191 (N43˚47’ W110˚34’)
• ·         Death Canyon (N43˚40’ W110˚50’ )—trails in this area begin at a trailhead east of Phelps Lake
• ·         Granite Canyon (N43˚37’ W110˚51’)—trails to Marion Lake
• ·         Jackson Lake Lodge (N43˚52’ W110˚35’)—marsh habitat trails to Christian Pond and Lunch Tree Hill
• ·         Jenny Lake Visitor Center (N43˚45’ W110˚43’) —trails to Hidden Falls and Cascade Canyon
• ·         Moose Visitor Center (site 55; N43˚39’ W110˚43’)
• ·         Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve (N43˚38’ W110˚47’)—trails to Phelps Lake.
• ·         Leigh Lake (N43˚49’ W110˚44’)
• ·         Lupine Meadows (N43˚44’ W110˚44’ )—glacial lakes Amphitheater Lake and Garnet Canyon
• ·         Menors Ferry (N43˚40’ W110˚43’)—a historic homestead on the Snake River at Moose
• ·         Signal Mountain Lodge (N43˚51’ W110˚37’)—hike to a mountain east of Jackson Lake
• ·         String Lake (N43˚47’ W110˚44’)—allows a loop through Cascade and Paintbrush canyons
• ·         Taggart Lake (N43˚42’ W110˚45’)—hikes to lakes dammed by glacial moraines
• ·         Teton Village Aerial Tram (N43˚36’ W110˚52’)—from the top of Rendezvous Mountain trails descend into Granite Canyon in the park
• ·         Two Ocean lake (N43˚55’ W110˚32’)—trails to Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lakes east of Jackson Lodge
• ·         University of Wyoming Research Station (N43˚56’ W110˚39’)—on the eastern shore of Jackson Lake north of Leeks Marina, is a biological and ecosystem research station

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, Wyoming (site 56), includes the public land between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The visitor center is at Flagg Ranch (N44˚6’ W110˚40’).  A trail follows the Snake River through Flagg Canyon, providing spectacular Snake River views just south of Yellowstone NP.

Federal and federally licensed recreation lakes in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion include those of the Bureau of Reclamation and PPL Montana.  Cascade Creek Diversion Dam, Bureau of Reclamation, Wyoming (site 57; N44˚7’ W110˚50’) sends water through a 0.7-mile canal to Grassy Lake. Grassy Lake, Bureau of Reclamation, Wyoming (N44˚8’ W110˚49’) was constructed in 1937 to 1939 on the boundary of Yellowstone National Park in the Targhee NF and  stores water for downstream irrigation (site 57). 

Hebgen Lake, PPL Montana, Montana (N44˚47’ W111˚14’) is a reservoir just downstream from West Yellowstone (site 24). It harbors the largest known wintering concentrations of waterfowl in the Rocky Mountains, as several areas have open water in winter. It is an IBA for trumpeter swans, which concentrate in the Madison, Grayling, and South Fork arms of the reservoir.

Holter Lake, PPL Montana (N46˚59’ W112˚0’), is a 27-mile-long reservoir on the Missouri River that includes the Gates of the Mountains (N46˚53’ W111˚55’), a narrow gorge that the river has cut through the Rocky Mountains (site 58). There is a boat-in campground at Beartooth Landing. Gates of the Mountains are a site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The 1,200-foot cliffs towering above the Missouri River were seen by Lewis and Clark in 1805. A boat tour is offered from the marina at Exit 209 on I-15, 20 miles north of Helena.

Island Park Reservoir, Bureau of Reclamation, Idaho (site 47; N44˚25’ W111˚24’), is part of the Minidoka Project. Irrigation water is stored behind this dam on Henry’s Fork. Recreation sites are administered by the Targhee NF. Geologically, Island Park Reservoir is located in the northwest rim of the Island Park Caldera. The reservoir is an IBA for waterfowl and colonial nesters.

Jackson Lake, Bureau of Reclamation, Wyoming (N43˚51’ W110˚35’) is part of the Minodoka Project; this lake is within Grand Teton NP (site 54). Recreation sites are Colter Bay, Jackson Lake Lodge, and Signal Lake Lodge within the park. A University of Wyoming biological research station is on the lake.

Palisades Reservoir, Bureau of Reclamation, Idaho-Wyoming (site 59), is located on the South Fork of the Snake River. This reservoir stores irrigation water for Minidoka project downstream in Idaho. On US Route 89 at the upper end of the Salt River embayment of the reservoir in Wyoming is the Alpine Wetlands (N43˚8’ W111˚2’). These constructed ponds provide waterfowl and shorebird habitat and are an IBA.

National trail system in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central  Rockies forests ecoregion includes the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail site at Gates of the Mountains, Holter Lake, described above, and sections of the Continental Divide NST.  Sections of the 3,100-mile trail traverse the Gallatin NF, US Sheep Experiment Station, and Targhee NF in the Greater Yellowstone ecoregion.

Bear Trap National Recreation Trail (NRT), BLM, Montana (site 60), is a nine-mile trail beginning at Madison Power Plant (N45˚29’ W111˚38’) and following the Madison River in Bear Trap Canyon downstream through the Lee Metcalf Wilderness to near Route 84 (N45˚35’ W111˚36’).

Big Sky Snowmobile NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana, extends from Big Sky to Buffalo Horn Creek (N45˚6’ W111˚12’), the Porcupine Divide, Moose Creek (N45˚21’ W111˚18’), and Bear Creek within 16 miles of Bozeman. Another section extends 40 miles from north of West Yellowstone on US 191 (N44˚48’ W111˚6’) to the Tepee Basin (N44˚54’ W111˚11’).

Big Springs Water NRT, Targhee NF, Idaho (N44˚30’ W111˚17’) is a five-mile canoe trail from Big Springs to Macks Inn on US 20 at Henrys Fork of the Snake River (site 40).

Bridger Foothills NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (site 61), is a 21-mile trail beginning on State Route 86 near Bozeman (N45˚43’ W110˚59’) and extending north to Fairy Lake (N45˚54’ W110˚58’), passing Sacagawea Peak, Ross Peak, and Bridger Peak along its ridgetop course.

Deep Creek NRT, Lewis and Clark NF, Montana (site 62) is an 18.5-mile figure 8 loop trail beginning (N47˚2’ W111˚4’) south of Logging Creek Campground on Forest Highway 839 about 50 miles south of Great Falls, passing Blankenbaker Flats and Deep Creek Ridge.

Drinking Horse Mountain NRT, Bozeman Fish Technology Center, Montana (N45˚42’ W110˚58’) is a two-mile, figure eight loop which ascends the mountain in a 700-foot climb (site 63).

Gallatin Riverside NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (N45˚25’ W111˚14’), begins at a trailhead on Forest Road 132 two miles off of US 191 (site 64). This 2.4-mile trail follows the opposite side of the river from US 191, passing rapids and canyon vistas.

Garnett Mountain NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (N45˚26’ W111˚13’), is a 3.4-mile trail which begins at the trailhead on Forest Road 132 two miles off of US 191 and ascends to the top of Garnet Mountain, an old fire lookout (site 64).

Hanging Valley NRT, Helena NF, Montana (N46˚47’ W111˚37’), is a six-mile trail following a steep side canyon to overlook the Trout Creek Canyon (site 33). The trailhead is at Vigilante Campground on County Road 4 northeast of Helena in the Big Belt Mountains.

Lost Cabin Lake NRT, Deerlodge NF, Montana (site 22; N45˚35’ W112˚4’), is a three-mile trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains beginning at the end of Forest Road 107 (South Boulder River Road) about 15 miles south of State Route 359, which goes between Cardwell and Harrison. Mountain goats can be seen on cliffs to the south and east of the lake.

Louise Lake NRT, Deerlodge NF, Montana (N45˚36’ W112˚3’), is a steep four-mile trail which climbs to Louise Lake, surrounded by 10,000-foot peaks in the Tobacco Root Mountains (site 22). It is reached at the end of Forest Road 107 (South Boulder River Road) about 15 miles south of State Route 359, which connects Cardwell and Harrison.

Morning Glory NRT, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (N44˚28’ W110˚51’), is a 1.5-mile trail to some of the best geysers in Yellowstone (site 65). It leads from Old Faithful north past Castle Geyser, Grotto Geyser, and Riverside Geyser across the Firehole River to Morning Glory Pool.

Natural Bridge NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (N45˚33’ W110˚12’), is a one-mile trail which crosses a natural bridge and passes a waterfall on the Boulder River south of Big Timber (site 25).

Palisades Creek NRT, Targhee NF, Idaho (N43˚26’ W111˚10’), is north of US 26 and south of Irwin (site 59).  The scenic 5.7-mile trail leads to Upper and Lower Palisades Lakes and provides views of cliffs.

Palisade Falls NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (N45˚28’ W110˚56’), is a one-half mile trail which climbs to an 80-foot waterfall off of Hyalite Creek south of Bozeman on Forest Highway 62 (site 29).

Refuge Point Ski Trail NRT, Gallatin NF, Montana (N44˚52’ W111˚21’), begins on US 287 at the upper end of Earthquake Lake (site 24). This is a four-mile trail commemorating the meeting place for earthquake survivors in 1959.

Sheridan NRT, Teton NF, Wyoming (N43˚38’ W110˚7’) is a nine-mile trail accessible from the Yellowjacket Flat along the Gros Ventre River and extending up North Fork Fish Creek, Packsaddle Creek, and Squaw Creek to Sheridan Pass (site 66).

South Rim NRT, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (N44˚43’ W110˚29’), is a nine-mile trail which follows the South Rim of Yellowstone Canyon near Yellowstone Falls (site 67). It begins at the bridge over the Yellowstone River above the Upper Falls and follows the canyon rim past Upper Falls, Lower Falls, and Artist Point, ending at Point Sublime.

Three Senses NRT, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (N44˚33’ W110˚48’), is a 0.2-mile trail located eight miles north of Old Faithful on Firehole Lake Drive near Pink Cone Geyser (site 68). 

Two Top Snowmobile NRT, Targhee NF, Idaho (N44˚37’ W111˚16’), begins at the airport in Henrys Lake Flat; this 28-mile trail is in the Henrys Fork Mountains on the Idaho-Montana border (site 69).

Wyoming Range NRT, Bridger and Teton NFs, Wyoming, extends from Snider Basin (N42˚30’ W110˚32’) on South Piney Creek west of Big Piney (US 189), and follows the spine of the Wyoming Range for 75 miles north to Camp Davis (N43˚17’ W110˚40’) along the Hoback River on US 189-191 south of Jackson.

References

Birdsall, Jennifer L., Ward McCaughey, and Justin B. Runyon. 2012. Roads Impact the Distribution of Noxious Weeds More than Restoration Treatments in a Lodgepole Pine Forest in Montana, USA.  Restoration Ecology 20:517-523.

Horodyski, Robert J. and Bonnie Bloeser. 1978. 1400-Million-Year-Old Shale-Facies Microbiota from the Lower Belt Supergroup, Montana. Science 199:682-684.

Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 1991. Kendall Warm Springs, Wyoming. Natural History, June 1991, pp. 69-71.

South Central Rockies Forests: Greater Yellowstone area

Path of the pronghorn, the 1988 fires, and ancient microbes in thermal pools
The steep, high mountains of the South-Central Rockies are mostly covered with coniferous forests dominated by lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, subalpine fir, and Engelmann spruce. Foothills are sagebrush and grass-covered. The South-Central Rockies area has been divided into two parts, the eastern portion of which is dominated by the Yellowstone supervolcano and the western portion is dominated by the Idaho batholith. Prominent ranges in the eastern portion of the ecoregion are Gallatin (Gallatin National Forest (NF) and Yellowstone National Park (NP), Gravelly (Beaverhead NF), Madison (Beaverhead and Gallatin NF), Big Belt (Gallatin and Helena NFs), Little Belt (Lewis and Clark NF), Crazy (Gallatin and Lewis and Clark NFs), Absaroka (Gallatin, Custer, and Shoshone NFs and Yellowstone NP), Tobacco Root (Deerlodge and Beaverhead NFs), Teton (Grand Teton NP and Targhee NF), Gros Ventre (Teton NF), Snake River (Caribou NF), Caribou (Caribou NF), and Wyoming Mountains (Bridger and Teton NFs). In the middle of this is the Yellowstone Plateau (Yellowstone NP, Targhee NF, and Gallatin NF), a volcanically active area with world famous geothermal features, and high elevation valleys including Jackson Hole (Grand Teton NP), Star Valley (between Bridger and Caribou NFs), Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley, and Pelican Valley (Yellowstone National Park). Eastern ranges such as the Wind River and Beartooth will be added when map research is expanded to the east of the 110^th meridian.

One of the many notable features of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is its intact wildlife and large mammal populations. One of the longest remaining wildlife migration corridors in North America begins at the upper Green River valley in Wyoming and heads north through the Bridger and Teton NFs to the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton NP north of Jackson. Archaeological evidence indicates that this migration of pronghorn has been ongoing for 6,000 years. The pronghorn leave the deep snows of Jackson Hole and head south each fall, returning in the spring. The pronghorn use specially constructed overpasses on US 191 at Trappers Point, Wyoming which reduces the risk of vehicle collisions. There are two overpasses, six underpasses, and eight-foot-high barrier fencing to channel the animals to crossing points. The corridor follows the Green River north to where it comes close to the Gros Ventre River, then follows the Gros Ventre downstream to Jackson Hole.

Between 1995 and 1997, 41 gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. This population quickly grew and has played a role in reestablishing predator-prey dynamics. As a condition of reestablishment, hunting was allowed outside the park. The hunting has slowed dispersal. There is some concern that hunting of the wolves outside the park when they range more widely in winter will eventually affect their social dynamics and age structure. If the population is skewed toward younger animals, elk predation would likely increase (Morell 2009).

The 1988 summer fires in the Yellowstone ecosystem resulted in extensive forest damage across more than 500,000 ha, affecting 20 separate river basins and burning one third of the national park. This event sparked a debate about the role of fires in wildlands that still occurs today, and subsequent research is Yellowstone’s contribution to the debate about fire management in the West (Stone 1998). Fires occurred in all areas of the park except the southwestern corner, but were patchy. About 28 percent of the Yellowstone Lake watershed burned. Forest regeneration in the high elevation area is believed to be on a 300-year cycle. Although it was initially thought that controlled burning could have reduced the damage, further research indicates that the prehistoric fire regime in the lodgepole pine forest of Yellowstone is characterized by infrequent, high intensity, stand-replacing fires (Anderson et al. 1999). Despite the devastation, terrestrial and aquatic life recovered quickly with few adverse effects (Minshall, Brock, and Varley 1989). One of the myths debunked after the fires was the belief that forest fires sterilize the soil, limiting subsequent plant succession to grasses and herbs. Contrary to this belief, many areas of the park are now regenerating in lodgepole pine, and even more rapidly than expected. Wildlife, including the elk and bison herds, were only minimally affected.

The post-fire landscape is as patchy and variable as the pre-fire landscape, with areas in all stages of plant succession. This is due to the variable burn densities and hotness of different fire areas. In most areas, the regeneration comes from resprouting survivors and their seeds (Baskin 1999). One species that appeared hurt by the fires was aspen, which grows in large clonal stands. This was believed to be influenced by heavy browsing by elk. More recent research confirms the influence of elk on aspen regeneration. The wolf introduction in the mid-1990s has resulted in a reduction in the elk population, and, perhaps more importantly, the introduction of a fear factor. Because aspen groves provide cover for wolves, elk are too nervous to linger and eat at an aspen grove. Aspen groves have been declining in the park since wolves were eliminated in the 1920s. With the reintroduction of a top predator, they have regenerated. In a parallel trend, willows and cottonwoods have also been regenerating along Yellowstone’s streams, providing streambank stabilization benefits (Morell 2007).

Yellowstone’s famous thermal pools are another unique natural wonder, a legacy of the supervolcano that lies underneath. In 1985, the Taq polymerase enzyme, originally isolated from a Yellowstone National Park hot spring microbe, was used in the polymerase chain reaction DNA fingerprinting process. DNA fingerprinting eventually revolutionized the study of biology; however, no royalties went to the park. To potentially receive park funding in the future, the National Park Service subsequently has allowed Cooperative Research and Development Agreements to allow scientific exploration of the unique microbes found in the park (Pennisi 1998). There are numerous unusual thermophilic microbes that have been isolated from Obsidian Pool in the Hayden Valley. Some are believed to be living relatives of the earliest life on earth, and are classified in their own kingdom in the Archaea domain (Milstein 1995).

The Teton Range, shared by the Targhee NF and Grand Teton NP, is host to ten glaciers. Edmunds et al. (2012) studied the area loss of three glaciers in the Tetons from 1967 to 2006, finding that losses ranged from 17 to 60 percent, with the greatest loss from the smallest glacier. Volume losses for the three glaciers were estimated at 3.2 million cubic meters. Climatic data indicated a significant increase in temperatures from 1968 to 2006 compared to the previous 1911 to 1967 historical temperatures.

There is one World Heritage Site, which is also a Man and the Biosphere Reserve in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central Rockies forests. Yellowstone NP, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (site 1 on accompanying map), is a land of superlatives--the world’s first national park, the world’s largest concentration of geysers (300), the largest concentration of petrified trees in the world, North America’s largest high altitude lake, and a supervolcano. While the park is primarily an intact wildland, complete with predators and prey, there are also national historic landmarks (NHLs)and archaeological sites. Fort Yellowstone, Fishing Bridge Museum, Madison Museum, Norris Museum, Northeast Entrance Station, Obsidian Cliff, and Old Faithful Inns are NHLs. The park is also part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The Lewis River and Snake River in the southern part of the park are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system. The Morning Glory, South Rim, and Three Senses National Recreation Trails (NRTs), described under National Trail System, are within the park. The list of natural wonders is large. The following is a minimal list of the important sites:

• Black Canyon of the Yellowstone (N45˚1’ W110˚37’) is reached from a trail that starts in Gardiner and follows the river upstream along the Gallatin NF-Yellowstone NP boundary.
• Calcite Springs (N44˚54’ W110˚24’) are thermal springs at the foot of basalt cliffs.
• Firehole Falls (N44˚38’ W110˚52’) are south of Madison Junction.
• Fountain Paint Pot and Firehole Lake Drive (Lower Geyser Basin) (N44˚33’ W110˚48’) is on the Grand Loop Road south of the West Entrance Road.
• Gallatin Petrified Forest in the northwest corner of the park extends north into the Gallatin NF.
• Gardner River Canyon (N45˚0’ W110˚42’) is along the North Entrance Road.
• Gibbon Falls (N44˚39’ W110˚46’) is an 86-foot waterfall on the Yellowstone caldera rim.
• Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone extends from the upper and lower falls at Canyon Village (N44˚43’ W110˚30’) to the Tower Fall area (N44˚54’ W110˚23’); Tower Falls are 132 feet in height.
• Heart Lake Geyser Basin (N44˚17’ W110˚30’) is several miles to the east of the South Entrance Road.
• Isa Lake (N44˚26’ W110˚43’), on the Grand Loop Road between Old Faithful and West Thumb, is on the Continental Divide and drains to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
• Lone Star Geyser (N44˚25’ W110˚48’) is five miles south of Old Faithful.
• Midway Geyser Basin (N44˚31’ W110˚50’) is on the Grand Loop Road south of the Lower Geyser Basin; there is a constant discharge of 40,000 gallons per minute to the Firehole River from springs here. The largest spring is Grand Prismatic Spring.
• Mud Volcano (N44˚38’ W110˚26’) along the Yellowstone River on the Grand Loop is a huge seething mudpot. Nearby is the Grumper, Sour Lake, and Sulphur Caldron. This is an area where rare thermophilic microbes have been studied in Obsidian Pool. Sulphur Caldron is an acidic spring with a pH of 1.3.
• Natural Bridge (N44˚32’ W110˚27’) is along the Grand Loop Road on the west side of Yellowstone Lake.
• Norris Geyser Basin (N44˚44’ W110˚42’) on the Grand Loop Road south of Mammoth includes One Hundred Springs Plain.
• Old Faithful (Upper Geyser Basin) (N44˚28’ W110˚50’) is on the Grand Loop Road south of the Midway Geyser Basin.
• Shoshone Geyser Basin (N44˚21’ W110˚48’) is accessible via a 12-mile trail from Old Faithful and is on the western edge of Shoshone Lake.
• Specimen Ridge (N44˚51’ W110˚14’) is on the Northeast Entrance Road contains the largest concentration of petrified trees in the world, along with leaf impressions and needles.
• Terrace Springs (N44˚39’ W110˚51’) are at Madison Junction .
• West Thumb Geyser Basin (N44˚25’ W110˚34’) is on the West Thumb embayment of Yellowstone Lake where the Grand Loop Road junctions with the South Entrance Road.

There are seven National Historic Landmarks in Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South-Central Rockies forests ecoregion. Fort Yellowstone Historic District, Yellowstone NP, Idaho-Montana-Wyoming , consists of eight sites containing 44 structures associated with the Army administration of Yellowstone NP from 1886 to 1918. At the invitation of the Secretary of the Interior, the US Calvary established a 30-year presence at the then-lawless Yellowstone NP, protecting the park from poachers, souvenir hunters, and tourist developments. Through its protective administration of Yellowstone in its early years, the army is credited with saving the national system of parks and setting the stage for the professional park ranger corps that was implemented by the National Park Service when it was established. The Army introduced backcountry patrols, developed roads and bridges using alignments that did not interfere with natural features, protected wildlife, prohibited domestic animals, preserved features from development by prohibiting elevators at waterfalls, prohibited railroads, fought forest fires, and prevented timber harvest. These principles of conservation and stewardship were later adopted for the entire park system.

The core of the historic district, and the location of most of the buildings, is at Fort Yellowstone (site 2), Wyoming (N44˚59’ W110˚42’), also known as Mammoth Hot Springs, located on the Grand Loop Road south of Gardiner, Montana. This was the headquarters for military administration of the park and contains standard calvary barracks that would have been constructed in the late 19^th century. The other sites in the NNL are:

• Fort Yellowstone Powerhouse, Wyoming (N44˚57’ W110˚42’)
• Fort Yellowstone Cemetery, Wyoming (N44˚58’ W110˚42’)
• Roosevelt Arch, Gardiner, Montana (N45˚2’ W110˚43’), located at the north entrance.
• Norris Soldier Station (site 3), Norris Junction, Wyoming (N44˚44’ W110˚42’), located off the Norris Canyon Road; today the facility has been rebuilt to original specifications and houses the Museum of the National Park Ranger
• Bechler River Soldier Station (site 4), Wyoming (N44˚9’ W111˚3’), in the southwest corner of the park
• Buffalo Lake Snowshoe Cabin (site 5), Idaho (N44˚20’ W111˚5’), located on Boundary Creek Trail in the southwest corner of the park

Jackson Lake Lodge (site 6), Grand Teton NP, Wyoming (N43˚53’ W110˚35’), is located on US 89-191-287 on the east side of Jackson Lake. In 1927, John D. Rockefeller began purchasing land in Jackson Hole to preserve the Grand Teton viewshed. This ultimately resulted in the expansion of the Grand Teton National Park to include Jackson Hole in 1950. The 1955 hotel is constructed on a terrace overlooking Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons. It includes a large two-story glass window to provide dramatic views. The lodge itself was the design precursor for the National Park Service Mission 66 program to ready the park system for increased visitation in the postwar years. Designed and financed by Rockefeller, the lodge was intended to be a pilot project for future park service facilities. There are 38 contributing buildings to the NNL, including a cottage community.

Murie Ranch Historic District (site 7), Grand Teton NP, Wyoming, (N43˚39’ W110˚44’), commemorates the retreat operated by Olaus, Adolph, Margaret, and Louise Murie, important figures in the American conservation movement from the 1930s through 1980s. Olaus and Adolph were federal scientists in the 1920s, studying grizzlies, wolves, elk, and coyotes in Alaska and Jackson Hole and emphasizing the ecological context and holistic relationships in natural systems. Later the family also made the transition to the popular conservation movement, and became prolific writers for the magazines of the National Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, and National Parks Conservation Association. Olaus became director of the Wilderness Society and ran the society at least partly out of the ranch. The log cabins on the Snake River became a Mecca for the American conservation movement in the post-war years. The Muries were involved in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge establishment, the opposition to the Echo Park Dam in the Dinosaur National Monument, and the promotion of the Wilderness Act. Margaret Murie was on the governing council of the Wilderness Society and was influential in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980. The historic district includes about 30 buildings just south of the Moose headquarters and visitor center. Today the Murie Center holds conservation education programs in the historic district and promotes science-based wilderness and wildlife conservation.

Norris, Madison, and Fishing Bridge Museums, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, are three remaining trailside museums along the Yellowstone Grand Loop Road. They are the best remaining structures of rustic design in the park system. They served as models for hundreds of other buildings built during the 1930s in national, state, and local parks. The idea was that visitors would receive orientation to the resources of the area. The architect, Herbert Maier, believed that museums should interpret and guide visitors rather than be a passive repository of exhibits. Architecturally, the museums had enormous peeled logs, natural boulders, outside observation terraces, and tree wells. Originally, there was a fourth trailside museum at Old Faithful, but that was demolished in 1971.
The Norris Geyser Basin Museum (1929, site 8) (N44˚44’ W110˚42’) was a dramatic entrance to the Norris Geyser Basin. An open air foyer with a gable roof is in the center of the building. Today it is used as a bookstore near a modern museum. The Madison Information Station (1929, site 9) (N44˚39’ W110˚52’), is a T-shaped building adjacent to the confluence of the Madison and Gibbon Rivers. It is still in use. The Fishing Bridge Museum and Visitor Center (1930-1931, site 10) (N44˚34’ W110˚23’), is also still in use and is a stone, log, and concrete structure built using massive boulders up to five feet in diameter for walls. The building seems to rise out of a rock outcrop. Terraces with low stone walls surround the museum. There is an adjacent amphitheater, and the terrace overlooks Yellowstone Lake.

Northeast Entrance Station (site 11),Yellowstone NP, Montana (N45˚0’ W110˚1’), was built in 1935 on present-day U.S. Route 212. This log structure of classic rustic design set the trend for subsequent national park construction and was used as a model in the 1935 guidebook on park structures and facilities. The property consists of the entrance station and adjoining ranger residence and ranger station.

Obsidian Cliff (site 12), Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (N44˚49’ W110˚44’) is located on the Grand Loop Road 13 miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs and just north of Beaver Lake. The dark volcanic glass found in Yellowstone was highly prized and extensively traded in prehistoric times to locations as far away as Ohio and Michigan. For the past 12,000 years, the site has been quarried, with as much as 91 percent of the obsidian found in archaeological sites in the western US coming from the park. The cliff itself is 200 feet high and one-half mile long. Nearby Obsidian Cliff Kiosk (1931) was one of the first wayside exhibits in the National Park System.

Old Faithful Inn (site 13), Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (N44˚28’ W110˚50’), one of the most famous hotels in the world, is located on the Grand Loop Road overlooking Old Faithful Geyser. Constructed in 1904 and one of the best examples of rustic resort architecture, it is still in use, offering 329 rooms, and believed to be one of the largest log buildings in the world, at 700 feet in length. A seven-story lobby has a large stone fireplace.

Rankin Ranch (site 14), William D. Rankin estate, adjacent to Helena National Forest, Montana (N46˚38’ W111˚34’), was the family home of Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She spent her summers at this ranch east of today’s Canyon Ferry Lake on the edge of the Big Belt Mountains. Rankin was a lifelong advocate for women’s suffrage. She was the first woman in the world elected to a national representative body. She was elected at a time when most states did not allow women to vote, although Montana did. She served one term in 1917-1919 and another in 1941-1943. This famously put her in a position to vote against entering both world wars. She was the only representative to vote against the declaration of war on Japan. This ranch, located on Forest Highway 359 along Avalanche Gulch on the east side of Canyon Ferry Lake, was her summer home from 1923 to 1956.

There are three National Natural Landmarks in the Greater Yellowstone subsection of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion. Big Springs (site 15), Targhee National Forest, Idaho (N44˚30’ W111˚15’) is just west of Yellowstone NP where Idaho, Montana and Wyoming come together. It is the only first magnitude spring (120 million gallons per day) issuing from lava flows and is the source of the South Fork of Henry’s Fork River. There is a campground adjacent to the spring, which is noted for enormous rainbow trout.

Middle Fork (Sixteenmile Creek) Canyon, (site 16), Gallatin NF and private lands, Montana (N46˚7’ W110˚58’), is an outstanding example of a canyon cut across the grain of the geologic structure by a superposed stream. In this case, the Middle Fork Sixteenmile Creek cuts across the Elkhorn Ridge in the Bridger Range. Only a small portion of the canyon on the east side is within national forest lands. Sixteenmile Road between Ringling and Maudlow traverses the canyon.

Two Ocean Pass (site 17), Teton Wilderness, Wyoming (N44˚2’ W110˚10’), is where North Two Ocean Creek begins above the pass and splits into two streams, one that heads toward the Atlantic Ocean and one to the Pacific.

References
Anderson, Jay E. et al. 1999. Yellowstone Fires. Science 283:175.
Baskin, Yvonne. 1999. Yellowstone Fires: A Decade Later. BioScience 49:93-97.
Edmunds, Jake et al. 2012. Glacier Variability (1967-2006) in the Teton Range, Wyoming, United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 48:187-196.
Horodyski, Robert J. and Bonnie Bloeser. 1978. 1400-Million-Year-Old Shale-Facies Microbiota from the Lower Belt Supergroup, Montana. Science 199:682-684.
Howe, Steve. 2013. Hidden Montana. Backpacker, August 2013, pp. 75-81.
Milstein, Michael. 1995. A Glimpse of Early Life Forms. Science 270:226.
Milstein, Michael. 1995. Yellowstone Managers Stake a Claim on Hot-Springs Microbes. Science 270:226.
Minshall, G. Wayne, James T. Brock, and John D. Varley. 1989. Wildfires and Yellowstone’s Stream Ecosystems. BioScience 39:707-715.
Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 1991. Kendall Warm Springs, Wyoming. Natural History, June 1991, pp. 69-71.
Morell, Virginia. 2009. Research Wolves of Yellowstone Killed in Hunt. Science 326:506-507.
Morell, Virginia. 2007. Aspens Return to Yellowstone, With Help from Some Wolves. Science 317:438-439.
Pennisi, Elizabeth. 1998. Lawsuit Targets Yellowstone Bug Deal. Science 279:1624.
Schmidt, Jeremy and Thomas Schmidt. 2000. Guide to America’s Outdoors: Northern Rockies. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Schreiber, Sebastian J. 2011. Mathematical Dances with Wolves. Science 334:1214-1215.
Stone, Richard. 1998. Yellowstone Rising Again from Ashes of Devastating Fires. Science 280:1527-1528.

Harney Basin and High Desert Lakes

Human coprolites, a notch in a glacier-carved gorge, and a refuge for two-thirds of Pacific waterfowl

There are several distinct areas of this shrub-steppe ecoregion of the Columbia Plateau. For the purposes of this discussion, the Snake-Columbia shrub-steppe ecoregion is subdivided into four sections, based on biological or geographic criteria. The first and second areas were discussed in Parts I and II. The third area is the Harney Basin and High Desert Lakes area, distinguished by internal drainage but also having lava plains. This area includes Steens Mountain and Harney Basin in Oregon, both areas characterized by volcanic activity and marked by numerous unusual volcanic features. The vast sagebrush steppe is punctuated by the partly forested Steens Mountains; glacial lake basins, now mostly dry; wetlands along the Malheur and Silvies River, Warner Basin, Honey Lake, and Lake Abert; and barren playas surrounding Summer Lake, Silver Lake, and the Alvord Desert. The wetlands and lakes are Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.

One of the biggest and most intense archeological disputes involves the timing of the first human migration into North America and South America. Evidence for settlement up to 30,000 years ago has been presented, but it is in dispute. The most widely accepted dates for occupation relate to the Clovis complex, which is dated about 11,000 years before present (BP). The Paisley Caves (site 1), Oregon (N42˚46’ W120˚33’) have the oldest directly dated human remains in the Western Hemisphere, with initial human occupation at least 12,300 BP (Jenkins et al. 2012; Gilbert et al. 2008). The direct dating is from human DNA, and the DNA is from 65 coprolites which were left in caves on the shore of an ice age lake, which is today Summer Lake in Oregon. The caves contain Western Stemmed projectile points, which are considered by archaeologists to be the oldest New World lithic technology. They are distinct from the Clovis points, and based on dating at the Paisley Caves, are believed to overlap or precede Clovis technology. The conditions in the caves are believed to be near-ideal for preservation, with extremely dry conditions sheltered from moisture. Deposits in the caves include threads of sinew and plant fibers, basketry, rope, and wooden pegs, as well as animal bones and feces.

Fossil Lake (2), Oregon (N43˚20’ W120˚30’), is one of the most significant sites for Pleistocene-age fossils, perhaps rivaling Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles. Martin et al. (2005) found that fossil deposits ranged in age from more than 646,000 years ago to 23,000 years ago.

The National Landscape Conservation Systemin the Harney Basin is represented by the Black Rock Desert and Steens Mountain areas; in addition, National Wilderness Preservation System areas are considered part of the NLCS and are described separately. Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA), Nevada, is known mostly for the Burning Man Festival, held in the Black Rock Desert Playa. However, this 800,000-acre area preserves 120 miles of remnants of historic trails to California and Oregon. From Rye Patch Reservoir on the east, the Applegate Trail extends west to Willow Springs, Antelope Pass, Kamma Pass, and Rabbithole Spring, where the Nobles Trail heads southwest. The Applegate Trail continues west to Black Rock Springs, Double Hot Springs, Lassen/Clapper Burial Site, and Fly Canyon Wagon Slide to High Rock Canyon. Other features are the Hanging Rock Petrified Forest, site 3 on the map (N41˚30’ W119˚28’) and Soldier Meadows, located near High Rock Canyon. Soldier Meadows is a complex of hot springs harboring desert dace, four endemic springsnails, and basalt cinquefoil. The ten wilderness areas are Black Rock Desert, Calico Mountains, East Fork High Rock Canyon, High Rock Canyon, High Rock Lake, Little High Rock Canyon, North Black Rock Range, North Jackson Mountains, Pahute Peak, and South Jackson Mountains.

Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area(CMPA), Oregon, is 496,000 acres, including Steens Mountain, the largest fault block north of the Great Basin rising one mile above the Alvord Desert to the east. The highest point of Steens Mountain, 9,700 feet (N42˚38’ W118˚35’) is accessible by a one-mile hike. The Donner und Blitzen River and all its tributaries in the Steens Mountain CMPA are designated Wild Rivers, for a total of 87.5 miles. In addition, Kiger and Wildhorse Creeks and their tributaries add another 14 river miles of Wild Rivers. There are four immense glacier-carved U-shaped gorges along Kiger Creek, Little Blitzen, Big Indian, and Wildhorse creeks, all of which have been designated wild rivers. A distinctive notch (site 4) in the east ridge of Kiger Gorge (N42˚44’ W118˚33’) is from a tributary glacier along Mann Creek Canyon. The area is an IBA for black rosy-finch and sage grouse. The Kiger Wild Horse Management Area (site 5) (N42˚57’ W118˚36’) is the home of 50 to 80 horses descended from the original Spanish horses brought to North America. The Blitzen River Trail extends from Page Campground upstream to Fish Creek and is part of the Desert Trail. Big Indian Gorge Trail and Little Blitzen Gorge Trails both extend eight miles from the South Steens Campground to the heads of glaciated valleys. A trail to Wildhorse Lake (N42˚38’ W118˚35’)starts at the road to Steens Mountain high point off of Steens South Loop Road. The Riddle Brothers Ranch (N42˚41’ W118˚46’) is on the Little Blitzen River and preserves rural Oregon ranch life as it was in the early 1900s. About 170,000 acres of the NCA is also included in the Steens Mountain Wilderness Area.

Columbia Basin

Snake-Columbia Shrub-Steppe, Part IV, Columbia Basin
Floods of lava, floods of the Ice Age, and dry waterfalls
There are several distinct areas of this shrub-steppe ecoregion of the Columbia Plateau (NA 1309). For the purposes of this discussion, the ecoregion is subdivided into four sections, based on biological or geographic criteria.
The fourth area, the Columbia Basin, is the desert along the Columbia River in northern Oregon and central Washington. It is underlain by volcanic Columbia River basalts, but the area is most notable for the Ice Age floods that ranged from one million years ago to 13,000 years ago. In the Rocky Mountains to the east, ice dams formed and failed many times, releasing walls of water that surged southwest and flooded the area several hundred feet deep. The rocky barren lands created by the scouring of the floodwaters are known today as scablands (Montgomery 2012). Today there are geologic features throughout the Columbia River portion of the Snake-Columbia shrub-steppe that provide evidence of these floods. The floods were apparently carrying icebergs, since glacial erratics are scattered around places where the water was temporarily constricted. Wallula Gap (1) National Natural Landmark (NNL) is a two-km-wide constriction in the Columbia River, behind which water backed up during the catastrophic Lake Missoula floods 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, creating temporary Lake Lewis until the water drained, probably a week or so. Twice as much water backed up behind Wallula Gap as could pass through. Tributary rivers such as the Yakima and Walla Walla reversed flow as water surged up them. The Yakima River near Benton City has reverse flow badlands where there were extra scouring and potholes at a restriction to water heading the reverse direction. It is believed that Lake Missoula drained dozens of times, creating temporary floods and a temporary lake each time.
The Columbia River basalts are a remnant of an earlier event, the eruption of basalts on the edge of the North American continent. Typically, basalts are formed in the oceans at the locations where plates are spreading apart. However, there are also eruptions in the continental crust in a few places, forming major continental basalt plateaus. The 200,000-square kilometer area of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho along the Columbia and Snake Rivers is one such area. The eruption of basalts formed the Columbia Plateau between 17 million and 6 million years ago. The source of the eruptions was the present-day junction of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, from which lava flowed and filled the area to the north and west, from Spokane to the Cascades and down the Columbia River to Portland. One flow, known as the Roza flow, moved 300 km in a matter of days from eastern Washington to the Dalles area. According to Hooper (1982), a lava front about 30 m high, over 100 km wide, and at a temperature of 1100˚C, advanced at a rate of five km per hour. One of the outcomes of catastrophic events like this was the preservation of sites like the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park (2), a NNL.
There is one National Historic Landmark in the Columbia Basin shrub-steppe. The B Reactor (3), Department of Energy, Washington (N46˚38’ W119˚39’), was the first production-scale nuclear reactor, built in 1943 to 1944, provided plutonium for the Trinity Test in New Mexico, the first nuclear detonation, and the “Fat Man,” the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Following the demonstration of a chain reaction at the University of Chicago in 1942, the Manhattan Project began. A site at Hanford was chosen to construct a 250-MW reactor. The B Reactor is a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, National Civil Engineering Landmark, and Nuclear Historic Landmark.
The National Natural Landmarks of the Columbia Basin shrub-steppe tend to be related to the ice age floods; however, there is one commemorating a unique fossil deposit and another at a water gap of unusual relief.
Drumheller Channels (4), Columbia National Wildlife Refuge and Goose Lakes Unit of Columbia Wildlife Area, Washington (N46˚59’ W119˚12’) is an erosional landscape characterized by hundreds of isolated, steep-sided hills surrounded by braided channels. Between 8,000and 12,000 years ago, glacial Lake Missoula was periodically dammed by ice, then the ice dam broke dozens of times, creating massive floods that scoured the Columbia River drainage.
Grand Coulee (5), Washington is located between Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River and Soap Lake. This 50-mile-long ice age flood channel was carved by the periodic floods originating from Lake Missoula. Perhaps a highlight of the steep-sided channel is the dramatic Dry Falls (N47˚36’ W119˚21’), a 400-foot dry waterfall is 3.5 miles wide, now in Sun Lakes/Dry Falls State Park. Also occupying Grand Coulee upstream of Dry Falls is Banks Lake/Dry Falls Dam, a Bureau of Reclamation irrigation storage facility within the Columbia Project. Lower Grand Coulee is included in the Sun Lakes Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area.
Moses Coulee Great Gravel Bar (6), Grant County Public Utility District, Washington (N47˚17’ W120˚5’) was created during the first of the Lake Missoula floods, when the Columbia River surged down Moses Coulee. Later an ice lobe blocked this channel, and all later floods used Grand Coulee. Floods traversing Moses Coulee deposited a massive mile-wide, 400-foot deep gravel bar where it confluenced with the Columbia River. The terminus of the coulee is on Route 28 between Rock Island and Quincy. The gravel bar deposit can be viewed from across the river from Yo-Yo Rock Boat Launch of the Grant County Public Utility District on Wanapum Lake. Public access to the shoreline is available at the Apricot Orchard shoreline access site on Wanapum Lake on Route 28. The entirety of Moses Coulee and the Waterville Plateau to the north is an Important Bird Area (IBA) for greater sage grouse, sage sparrow, and sage thrasher.
Wallula Gap (1), Lake Wallula/ McNary Lock and Dam, Washington (N46˚3’ W118˚56’) is also an ice age flood site. During the Lake Missoula floods, this area on the Columbia River just south of the confluence with the Walla Walla River served as a large-scale hydraulic constriction. Because all the water could not overtop the ridge here, water backed up until the area could drain.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park (2), Washington (N46˚57’ W120˚0’) is on I-90 at the Columbia River/Lake Wanapum crossing. This ancient fossil bed contains thousands of logs of Miocene age (15 million years ago) which were entombed in basalt lava flows. Ginkgo, redwood, Douglas-fir, and deciduous trees were growing in the forest. This is also an ice-age flood carved landscape; also present are occasional glacial erratics that rode on ice floes during the floods.
Umtanum Ridge Water Gap (7), Wenas Wildlife Area and BLM, Washington (N46˚48’ W120˚27’) is where the Yakima River goes through Umtanum Ridge. The Yakima River forms the eastern edge of the 105,000-acre Wenas Wildlife Area. Umtanum Ridge rises to 3,000 feet less than one mile from the Yakima River, where the elevation is 1,200 feet. On the north side of the ridge there are also cliffs along Untanum Creek, which has a hiking trail. This precipitous topography was formed as the Yakima River, which predated the ridge building, cut through the ridge as it was rising. To the north of Umtanum Ridge is Manastash Ridge, which has a similar water gap and topographic extremes. State Route 821 follows the river through Yakima River Canyon and the two water gaps between Ellensburg and Yakima. Between the two ridges is Umtanum Creek Valley, which is an IBA. The Roza Diversion Dam is located in the canyon at the water gap.

Treasure Valley and Owyhee Plateau

The highest density of nesting raptors, thousand-foot-deep canyons, and a tall sand dune
States and Coordinates: Idaho-Nevada-Oregon, 41˚ to 45˚ North, 114˚ to 118˚ West
Overview
There are several distinct areas of the shrub-steppe ecoregion of the Columbia Plateau. For the purposes of this discussion, the ecoregion is subdivided into four sections, based on biological or geographic criteria. The first area, the Upper Snake RiverPlain , was discussed in Part I.
The second area is the Treasure Valley and Owyhee Plateau, the subject of this article. The Treasure Valley towns such as Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Emmett, Ontario, and Weiser were settled around irrigated cropland, made possible by the numerous federal reservoirs and the water supply provided by the Snake, Boise, Payette, Owyhee, and Malheur Rivers. One unique community is the town of New Plymouth (1), N43˚58’ W116˚49’, which was established in 1895 along the Payette River. This was a planned community developed by the Plymouth Society of Chicago. Purchasers of shares were entitled to 20 acres and a town lot. The two town streets were developed in a horseshoe shape and separated by an 80-foot-wide park. The town plan is still evident today.
Surrounding the valleys are semiarid uplands and foothills which include such areas as the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA)(2), areas around Mountain Home, and the Mount Bennett Hills and Picabo Hills. To the north of the Mount Bennett Hills is the unique Camas Prairie, an area of meadows and wetlands to the south of the Sawtooth Range in the vicinity of Fairfield and along US Route 20.
The area around Mountain Home was originally sagebrush steppe, but many sites are being invaded by cheatgrass. The sagebrush-perennial grassland ecosystem is being lost due to wildfire, heavy grazing, and perhaps other disturbances. In the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, shrublands in 1979 covered 51 percent of the area. Within 20 years, about half of the shrublands were lost, mostly due to fire. Once cheatgrass is established, it feeds continuous fires that destroy more shrublands. Natural recovery of shrubland will be slow because of the arid conditions. This affects other wildlife as well. For example, blacktailed jackrabbits are associated with shrublands. Golden eagles prefer to eat jackrabbits, and the decline in prey will cause a reduction in the ability of the area to support golden eagles. Numbers of prairie falcons may also be affected. These birds eat ground squirrels. Up to five percent of the world’s population of Piute ground squirrels is found on the NCA, and the ground squirrels also are affected by broad-scale change to annual grassland (Sullivan 2005).
To the south and west of the Treasure Valley are the Owyhee Uplands, a high lava plateau which drains into the Snake River and covers most of southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon. Precipitous canyons of the Bruneau, Owyhee, Malheur, and Salmon Falls Creek cut through the uplands in places. The canyons are riddled with caves in many of the walls. Scattered volcanic buttes and cones rise out of the lava plains. The plateau is covered with semiarid vegetation such as sagebrush and grassland, but the Silver City Range rises above 6,500 feet in elevation and supports forests.
The volcanism that created the Owyhee Uplands created copious quantities of volcanic ash which blanketed the area periodically. Lava blocked creeks and created lakes and marshes. Volcanic ash then settled in the lakes, providing nutrients which promoted diatoms and algal blooms. These fell to the bottom and were deposited as siltstone and shale. Plant leaves, fruit, and flowers were deposited in these lakes and preserved as exquisite fossils due to the fine-grained sediments of the volcanic ash. The Succor Creek fossil flora, found in shale formed from volcanic ash in the Owyhee Uplands in Idaho and Oregon, is the largest Tertiary-period (15 million years ago) plant assemblage known from North America, with 160 species identified. Plants at that time were temperate with warm-temperate evergreens in lowlands. Shortly after this, the climate was in transition to a dryer, cooler one and eventually to the shrub-steppe seen today (Graham 2011).
There is one National Historic Landmark in theTreasure Valley-Owyhee Plateau. The Old US Assay Office, Idaho Historical Society, Boise, Idaho (N43˚37’ W116˚12’) was built in the 1870s to serve gold miners on the Clearwater, Wood, and Salmon Rivers and in the Boise Basin. By 1917, Idaho gold mines had yielded $400 million in gold. The office operated until 1933 and is today home of the State Historic Preservation Officer for Idaho.
There is one National Natural Landmark in theTreasure Valley-Owyhee Plateau. Crater Rings(3), part of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Idaho (N43˚9’ W115˚48’) are two adjacent pit craters, volcanic conduits which formed when rising lava came into contact with groundwater and exploded.
For a more complete list of sites in this ecoregion, please visit http://sites.google.com/site/enviroramble

Upper Snake River Plain

Great Rift of Idaho, Megafloods Natural and Manmade and on Mars, Niagara of the West, Thousands of Springs
States:  Idaho and Wyoming
Coordinates: 42 to 45 degrees North, 111 to 115 degrees West
There are several distinct areas of the shrub-steppe ecoregion of the Columbia Plateau. For the purposes of this discussion, the Snake-Columbia shrub-steppe ecoregion is subdivided into four sections, based on biological or geographic criteria. These are the Upper Snake River Plain, Treasure Valley and Owyhee Uplands, Oregon Lakes, and Columbia River Scablands.
The first area is the Upper Snake River Plain of southeastern Idaho and about a mile of Wyoming, which begins at the Magic Valley and extends east to the Wyoming border. Shoshone Falls within the Magic Valley is a biogeographic boundary, separating aquatic fauna upstream from downstream. The Magic Valley is an area of irrigated cropland which includes the lower Wood River, Thousand Springs Area, and Twin Falls upstream to Minidoka Dam. From American Falls upstream to St. Anthony is another agricultural area, the Upper Snake River Plain. The Teton Basin along the Teton River upstream from Rexburg is also an agricultural area. The area north of the Snake River is sagebrush and bunchgrass and is used for rangeland. Scattered lava flows and other volcanic features are present at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve and Hells Half Acre. The three dry intermontane valleys drained by the upper Salmon River, Pahsimeroi River, Lemhi River, Birch Creek, Big Lost River, and Little Lost River are also sagebrush-covered and included in the ecoregion.
The entire Upper Snake River Plain contains lava flows created by the Yellowstone hotspot. The area was also shaped by megafloods. The notable Lake Bonneville dam failure and drainage about 15,000 years ago is believed to be responsible for some of the deep gorges along the Snake River. The spectacular Shoshone Falls (1), nicknamed as the Niagara of the West, is located in a city park in Twin Falls, which is part of the Magic Valley. Other tributary streams entering the Magic Valley also cut deep gorges. Downstream of Shoshone Falls the canyon walls are notable for seepage, creating the Thousand Springs area. Some canyons in the Thousand Springs area, such as Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Preserve in Thousand Springs State Park (2), N42˚42’ W114˚49’ and adjacent Blind Canyon, have no drainage network upstream, and seepage emanates from the headwall. This type of feature has long been interpreted by geologists as resulting from seepage over thousands of years. At Box Canyon, the 11^th largest spring in the United States creates a stream that flows a couple of miles into the Snake River. Lamb et al. (2008) reported that the head of the canyon actually contains waterfall plunge pools, and that there was evidence of past overspill in a large waterfall. The scour is not visible upstream because loess has been deposited on top of it. The age of the scoured bedrock notch at the head of the canyon was estimated at 45,000 years Before Present. This flood took place before the Bonneville event. The water source was probably the Big Lost River drainage or the Big Wood River drainage. Both rivers had megafloods when glacial lakes burst during the Pleistocene. These canyons are similar in appearance to many Martian canyons, and these are thus believed to be useful analogs to how the Martian canyons formed (Lamb et al. 2008).
Humans accidentally produced a smaller-scale megaflood of their own in 1976, when the Teton Dam collapsed while the reservoir was filling. Teton Dam (3), N43˚55’ W111˚32’, was located upstream from Rexburg in on the Teton River. Construction on a dam which would create a 17-mile-long reservoir commenced in 1975. The collapse of the partly filled reservoir in June 1976 caused extensive flooding downstream and damaged the hydroelectric facilities at Idaho Falls. The collapse occurred when the reservoir was only 22 feet before reaching full pool and was 270 feet deep. In about six hours, 250,000 acre-feet of water drained from the reservoir. The death toll downstream was 14. The government eventually paid about $400 million in damages to downstream users, including $1.7 million to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for natural resource damages (Randle et al. 2000).
Initial investigations into the Teton Dam collapse focused on concerns about earthquake faults in the dam vicinity, raised in memos by the US Geological Survey (Boffey 1976). However, the December 1976 official report of an independent group blamed the dam collapse on poor engineering design work. The panel found evidence that water from the reservoir traveled through fissures in the canyon wall and made its way to the dam where it created tunnels and weakened the structure. Although the Bureau of Reclamation grouted the fissures and had built 250 earlier earthfill dams with no failures, geological conditions at the site were unusual and probably warranted additional measures (Boffey 1977). The dam was never reconstructed.
There is one Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site in the Upper Snake River subsection, American Falls Reservoir/Springfield Bottoms, Bureau of Reclamation, Idaho (4); coordinates are  N42˚51’ W112˚50’. At 56,000 acres, this is one of the largest irrigation reservoirs, storing 1.7 million acre-feet of water as part of the Minidoka Project. A visitor center is at the dam, and a fish hatchery with nature trail along the Snake River (Idaho Department of Fish and Game) is below the dam. The reservoir is an Important Bird Area (IBA) for the California gull and waterbirds. Fort Hall National Historic Landmark (described below) is at the upper end on the Snake River opposite McTucker Island. The Fort Hall (Springfield) Bottoms are a waterfowl feeding ground fed by up to 50 cool, clear springs. The Sterling Wildlife Management Area on the reservoir is 3,600 acres covering a seven-mile stretch of the northern shoreline. It contains 1,500 acres of wetlands and is itself an IBA for waterbirds and shorebirds.
There are three National Historic Landmarks in Upper Snake River Plain. Two of them, Fort Hall and the Camas Meadows Battles, commemorate frontier history. Fort Hall, American Falls Reservoir and Fort Hall Indian Reservation (Shoshone-Bannock Tribe), Idaho (5) , N43˚1’ W112˚38’, was a fur trade outpost dating to 1834. It became the most important trading post in the Snake River Valley, established by Americans in disputed territory. It was also associated with overland migration as a stop on the Oregon and California Trails. Although the exact site cannot be located, the general vicinity containing the site is a joint management responsibility of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Camas Meadows Battle Sites, Idaho (6), N 44˚21’ W111˚53’ and N44˚24’ W111˚55’, consists of two sites, one on private and one on state land, both at Kilgore, Idaho. The battle sites were important in the flight of the Nez Perce away from the U.S. Army in 1877. At Camas Meadows Camp southeast of Kilgore on private land along Spring Creek, the Nez Perce conducted a pre-dawn raid on the military camp which resulted in capture of most of the army’s mules, forcing the army to halt and allowing escape to Yellowstone National Park and Montana. At Norwood’s Seige on state land northwest of Kilgore, soldiers built 23 rifle pits out of lava rocks and defended themselves against the Indians for several hours. Camas Meadows is one of 38 sites in Nez Perce National Historical Park.
The third site commemorates a nationally significant event in modern history.  Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR) –I Atomic Museum, Idaho National Laboratory (7),  N43˚31’ W113˚0’, was the site where in 1951, a research facility produced the first usable amount of electricity from a nuclear reactor. In 1963, the reactor achieved a self-sustaining chain reaction using plutonium as fuel, thus demonstrating breeder technology. Following decommissioning of EBR-I, EBR-II, a successor reactor, ran from 1964 to 1994 and provided electricity to Idaho National Laboratory. An on-site museum also has exhibits on prototype aircraft nuclear reactors. The museum is located 18 miles southeast of Arco on US Route 20-26.
National Natural Landmarks (NNLs) in the Upper Snake River subsection highlight the volcanic geology left behind as the area moved over the Yellowstone hotspot. Big Southern Butte, BLM, Idaho (8), N43˚24’ W113˚2’, is four miles wide, making it the largest volcanic dome on earth.  Its age is approximately 300,000 years old. This makes it the largest area of volcanic rocks of young age in the U.S. and qualified it for NNL status.
Great Rift System, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho (9), is unique in North America. Cracks in the earth extend for 62 miles, all included within Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. There are three major lava fields, Carey, Craters of the Moon, and Wapi. The northern end of surface features are in the Pioneer Mountains and the southern end is the Wapi lava flow north of Minodoka Lake. Part of the Great Rift is included in the Craters of the Moon Wilderness area.  Craters of the Moon is an IBA for violet-green swallow, mountain bluebird, raptors, and greater sage grouse. The northern end of the Great Rift is approximately at N43˚31’ W113˚37’ on Lava Creek and the south end is approximately at N42˚53’ W113˚13’ in the Wapi Lava Field.
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho (10), N42˚49’ W114˚57’, is located on the west side of the Lower Salmon Falls Reservoir and is the world’s richest deposit of upper Pliocene (five million years ago) mammal fossils. Fossils of the first true horse (now Idaho’s state fossil), the Sabertooth cat, mastodon, bear, and camel are found here. The site also contains a portion of the Oregon Trail, and ruts can be viewed along the access road. The Bonneville Flood 15,000 years ago left enormous fields of rounded lava boulders in the Hagerman area and carved the high bluffs where the fossils are found. The site was discovered in 1928. The Visitor Center is on US Route 30 in Hagerman.
Hell’s Half Acre Lava Field, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Idaho (11), N43˚19’ W112˚15’, is an unweathered fully exposed pahoehoe lava flow complete with rope coils. The NNL portion and main vent is on US Route 20 at milepost 287 (Twentymile) west of Idaho Falls.  The Blackfoot Rest Area on I-15 also has trails through the lava field at both the northbound and southbound rest areas.
Niagara Springs, Thousand Springs State Park, Idaho (12), N42˚40’ W114˚40’, is located eight miles south from I-84 at exit 157 on road S1950E. This large spring discharges into the Snake River. It is part of the Hagerman IBA for nesting herons, eagles, and waterfowl.
North Menan Butte, BLM, Idaho (13), N43˚47’ W111˚58’, is located at the confluence of Henry’s Fork and the Snake River. These are the world’s largest tuff cones. A trail leads to the top of the butte. The south butte is privately owned. This late Pleistocene feature formed when a dike intruded into a shallow aquifer.
Additional sites in this ecological section are described at sites.google.com/site/enviroramble.