Coconino Rim

The Coconino Rim roadless area encompasses 7,213 acres on the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest in Coconino County, Arizona. The area occupies a section of the Coconino Rim, a prominent edge of the Colorado Plateau that defines the transition from the forested plateau top to lower terrain. The landscape is montane in character, positioned within the Upper Lee Canyon watershed. Surface drainage flows through Deer Tank Wash and Red Horse Wash, both originating near the rim's edge, while stock ponds—Newt Lewis Tank and Crazy Cow Tank—capture seasonal runoff in the upland portions. Water collects primarily in the headwaters of Upper Lee Canyon (HUC12: 150200160904), moving as intermittent flow through shallow drainages before reaching lower canyon systems.

Forest communities across the area reflect the stacking of elevation and moisture gradients characteristic of the Colorado Plateau. The lower and drier portions support Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, where Two-needle Pinyon Pine (Pinus edulis) and Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) form open, multi-layered canopies above an understory of Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Apache-plume (Fallugia paradoxa), and Rubber Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa). Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis) fills the spaces between shrubs in more open woodland patches. As moisture increases toward the rim edge and in sheltered drainages, the canopy shifts to Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland, dominated by Southwestern Ponderosa Pine (Pinus brachyptera). Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii) forms a dense Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland in many mid-elevation transitional zones. The most sheltered and moist sites support Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest. Openings throughout support Intermountain Semi-Desert Grassland and patches of Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland. Desert paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa), Showy Green-gentian (Frasera speciosa), and Nuttall's Mariposa Lily (Calochortus nuttallii) appear in grassy openings during the warmer months.

The pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine zones sustain characteristic bird communities. The Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus)—listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN—is an obligate of pinyon woodland, where it caches pine seeds in communal flocks across the area's open woodland. The Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi) gleans insects from juniper bark year-round, while Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) disperses pine seeds in upper elevation forest patches. Abert's Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) depends almost entirely on ponderosa pine, feeding on cambium, seeds, and fungi. Larger mammals include mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), and wapiti (Cervus canadensis), which use the area's varied forest types for forage and cover. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) hunt over open areas. The Grand Canyon Black Tarantula (Aphonopelma marxi) is among the invertebrates documented in the more arid portions of the area. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

Traveling across the Coconino Rim area means moving through a series of abrupt habitat transitions. The pinyon-juniper woodland at lower margins gives way to ponderosa savanna as the plateau surface rises, the sound of wind in pine crowns replacing the quieter rustling of juniper branches. Near the rim edge itself, the forest opens to views across lower terrain, the canopy thinning as the land breaks away. Along Deer Tank Wash, streamside shrubs create a narrow linear contrast to the upland vegetation, and the tanks—Newt Lewis and Crazy Cow—hold water that draws wildlife to otherwise dry surroundings.

For thousands of years before European contact, the plateau and canyon country surrounding what is now the Coconino Rim roadless area formed part of the ancient homeland of multiple Indigenous peoples. Archaeological evidence from the broader Grand Canyon region documents human presence dating back 10,000 years or more, including stone tools and lithic sites associated with Paleo-Indian hunters who pursued Ice Age megafauna across the Colorado Plateau [1]. Later, Archaic peoples used the landscape for hunting and plant gathering, followed by the Basketmakers—the first farmers of the Southwest—who lived in rock shelters and pithouse dwellings and wove yucca-fiber baskets beginning around 3,000 years ago [2]. Ancestral Puebloans arrived on the plateau between roughly 800 and 1,300 years ago, constructing stone houses, cultivating corn, beans, and squash, and leaving pottery that archaeologists continue to study today [2].

By the time Euro-American explorers entered the region in the mid-nineteenth century, the Havasupai, Hualapai, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Navajo Nation, Hopi, and related Southern Paiute groups all maintained active ties to this landscape. These nations regard the canyons, plateaus, and surrounding terrain as sacred, central to creation stories, and as places of ceremony, hunting, and the gathering of plants found nowhere else [1]. Indigenous peoples traveled established trail networks to reach important seasonal camps and resource sites, many of which remain active today. As the United States expanded into the Southwest in the latter half of the nineteenth century, these communities endured removal and dispossession from traditional lands, yet they persevered in maintaining their cultural practices [1].

Euro-American economic exploitation of the Kaibab Plateau's forests began in earnest in the 1870s, when loggers moved onto the plateau seeking the region's extensive stands of ponderosa pine. The timber fed rapidly growing communities: Flagstaff and Williams were both built substantially from South Rim forest timber, while North Rim stands provided lumber for the Mormon settlements of Kanab and St. George, Utah [5]. The Saginaw Lumber Company, organized in 1894, established a mill at Williams and operated temporary rail lines south of what would become the national park boundary during the 1920s, hauling logs to the Grand Canyon Railway for transport to the mill [5]. Intensive livestock grazing during the same period stripped grasses that had historically carried low-intensity surface fires, fundamentally altering fire regimes across the plateau [4].

Federal land protection began in February 1893, when President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve under the General Land Law Revision Act of 1891—the legislation that gave the executive branch authority to set aside public lands as forest reserves [2][3]. What is now the Kaibab National Forest descended from that original Grand Canyon Forest Reserve, which passed to the newly established U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and was formally renamed a national forest in 1907 [5]. In 1919, the creation of Grand Canyon National Park removed a large portion of former reserve lands from Forest Service jurisdiction. In 1927 lands were exchanged between the park and the Kaibab and Tusayan National Forests, and in 1933 the Kaibab National Forest was transferred from the Intermountain Region to the Southwestern Region and merged with the Tusayan National Forest [3]. The Tusayan Ranger District, which administers the Coconino Rim roadless area, retains that administrative legacy today.

Commercial logging on Kaibab National Forest lands continued well into the twentieth century. In 1922, the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company was active on timber rights sections within the forest, and the Apex Logging Camp—operating between 1928 and 1936—served as a major industrial hub providing lumber for railroad construction and South Rim resort development [1]. By mid-century, the shift from timber dependence toward tourism and recreation was underway. Today, American Indian tribes continue to gather plants, medicines, and forest products on Kaibab National Forest lands and to consult with the Forest Service on management decisions affecting their ancestral territories [4].

Federally Listed Species

The following federally listed species have potential or documented occurrence within the Coconino Rim roadless area:

• Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi): Endangered
• Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida): Threatened
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus): Threatened
• Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus suckleyi): Proposed Endangered
• Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus): Proposed Threatened
• California condor (Gymnogyps californianus): Experimental Population, Non-Essential

Vital Resources Protected

Interior Forest Habitat and Unfragmented Canopy

The Coconino Rim's 7,213 roadless acres preserve a contiguous block of Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland that together account for roughly 95 percent of the area's forest cover. Roadless conditions prevent the canopy fragmentation that transforms interior forest into a patchwork of edge-dominated fragments; interior-dependent species require large unbroken stands for territory establishment and foraging. The Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), rated Vulnerable by the IUCN, depends on intact pinyon woodland with sufficient tree density to support communal seed-caching behaviors—behaviors disrupted when access roads subdivide woodland into smaller, isolated patches.

Headwater Protection

The Coconino Rim contains the headwaters of Upper Lee Canyon (HUC12: 150200160904) and feeds Deer Tank Wash and Red Horse Wash. In an arid plateau landscape, these upper-watershed drainage features function as the source points for any surface and sub-surface flow moving downslope into lower canyon systems. Roadless conditions maintain the natural soil structure and infiltration capacity across the catchment, limiting sediment delivery to the drainages and preserving what seasonal water storage exists in the upland tanks—Newt Lewis Tank and Crazy Cow Tank—that provide water for wildlife across an otherwise dry montane plateau.

Elevational Gradient Connectivity

The Coconino Rim area spans the transition from Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland at lower elevations through Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland to Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest in the most sheltered positions. This stacked gradient, preserved intact under roadless conditions, allows species to shift their distributions along an elevational axis in response to seasonal and longer-term climatic changes. Disruption of this gradient by road corridors introduces barriers and edge effects that impede movement between habitat types, reducing the landscape's capacity to buffer species against climate-driven habitat shifts.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

Sedimentation and Headwater Degradation

Road construction on the Coconino Rim plateau would expose mineral soil on cut slopes and road surfaces across the Upper Lee Canyon headwater catchment. On plateau terrain, where slopes are moderate but soils are often shallow, rainfall events transport fine sediment directly into Deer Tank Wash and Red Horse Wash and into the upland stock tanks. Elevated sediment loads alter aquatic and semi-aquatic habitat conditions, reducing the water quality and holding capacity of tanks that are the primary water sources for wildlife across this dry landscape.

Fragmentation of Pinyon-Juniper and Ponderosa Pine Woodland

Road corridors cut through the area's dominant forest communities—Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland—converting interior habitat to edge-affected strips. Edge effects penetrate 100 meters or more into adjacent forest, altering light, wind, temperature, and moisture conditions, and changing species composition in ways that disadvantage interior-dependent species like the Pinyon Jay. Once pinyon woodland is fragmented, recolonization of cleared or edge-disturbed areas by mature pinyon trees occurs on timescales of decades to centuries, making fragmentation difficult to reverse.

Invasive Species Corridors

Road construction in the Coconino Rim area would create a linear disturbance corridor traversing the full suite of vegetation types, from Intermountain Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe at lower margins to Mixed Conifer Forest at upper elevations. Disturbed road edges provide establishment opportunities for invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), which alters fire return intervals in pinyon-juniper and sagebrush communities, converting native perennial plant communities to exotic annual-dominated systems that are highly resistant to restoration. The current roadless condition limits this dispersal pathway across one of the Colorado Plateau's more diverse vegetation transition zones.

The Coconino Rim roadless area covers 7,213 acres on the Tusayan Ranger District of Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona, positioned on the edge of the Colorado Plateau. Two long-distance trails pass through or adjacent to this area, and its undeveloped terrain supports dispersed recreation across a landscape ranging from open pinyon-juniper woodland to ponderosa pine forest.

Trails

The Arizona Trail (Trail 101) is the primary formal trail route accessible through the Coconino Rim area, extending 52.1 miles across the Tusayan Ranger District with a native material surface. Designated for multiple uses including bike travel, the Arizona Trail connects through the Colorado Plateau's varied terrain, passing through both Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland zones. The Great Western Trail (Trail 150) runs 94.0 miles across the district on a native material surface. Both trails provide access to backcountry terrain on foot, mountain bike, or horseback. No maintained trailheads or developed campgrounds are verified within the roadless area itself; dispersed travel along and between these trail corridors is the primary mode of access.

Mountain Biking

The Arizona Trail (Trail 101) is formally designated for bicycle use and provides a technically and scenically varied ride through the plateau edge terrain. The trail's native material surface through pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine forest gives riders access to interior plateau terrain not accessible by vehicle. The open woodland character of the Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper zones along the route makes for expansive views and navigable terrain over much of the route.

Hunting and Wildlife Observation

The Coconino Rim area supports populations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), wapiti (Cervus canadensis), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), and American black bear (Ursus americanus) across its forested and shrubland habitats. The roadless condition preserves interior habitat that large ungulates and predators use for forage and cover away from vehicle disturbance. Hunting on Kaibab National Forest lands is governed by Arizona Game and Fish Department regulations; hunters should confirm season dates, unit designations, and permit requirements before planning trips into this district.

Birding

Seven eBird hotspots within 24 kilometers of the Coconino Rim area have recorded a combined range of 83 to 212 species, with the Grand Canyon NP--Desert View hotspot accounting for 212 species across 6,047 checklists. Within the roadless area's pinyon-juniper woodland, Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) flocks are conspicuous foragers; Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi) and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii) are year-round residents. The ponderosa pine zone supports Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea), and Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). Raptors observed in the area include Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), and Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Birders working the Arizona Trail through open woodland can cover multiple habitat zones in a single traverse.

Dispersed Recreation and Natural History

The Coconino Rim's water features—Deer Tank Wash, Red Horse Wash, Newt Lewis Tank, and Crazy Cow Tank—provide focal points for wildlife photography and natural history observation. The upland tanks in particular attract mule deer, wapiti, and a range of smaller mammals and reptiles in dry periods. Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) and Plateau Fence Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus) are active in the warmer months across rocky and open ground. Western Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) and Red-spotted Toad (Anaxyrus punctatus) use seasonal water features; Crazy Cow Tank and Newt Lewis Tank provide the most accessible water sources for these species in an otherwise dry landscape.

Roadless Character and Recreation Quality

The recreation experiences available in the Coconino Rim area depend on its undeveloped condition. The Arizona Trail and Great Western Trail pass through interior forest and plateau terrain that retains the quiet and unbroken character of roadless land—qualities that would be directly degraded by vehicle-accessible roads. Mountain bikers and hikers on the Arizona Trail traverse long stretches of pinyon and ponderosa forest without road crossings; hunters approach game in terrain that has not been subdivided by vehicle corridors. The tanks and drainages that serve as wildlife water sources and observation points function as they do because road-related sedimentation and disturbance have not affected the upland catchment that feeds them.