Fourmile Hill

The Fourmile Hill Inventoried Roadless Area covers 15,718 acres in the Sweetwater Mountains along the Nevada-California border, within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The area takes in Fourmile Hill, the Desert Creek Mountains and Desert Creek Peak, Black Mountain, Dalzell Canyon, Garden Canyon, and O'Banion Canyon. The roadless area drains east into the Walker River system through Fourmile Hill Creek, Jackass Creek, and Desert Creek, with O'Banion Spring and Dry Lake as additional water features. Hydrology here is of moderate regional significance: spring-fed tributaries on the east face of the Sweetwaters carry seasonal water down into the East Walker basin below.

Vegetation reflects the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada. Lower slopes carry Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland with single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) over antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) and big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). The basin floors support Intermountain Greasewood Flat and Intermountain Salt Desert Scrub of big greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) and four-wing saltbush (Atriplex canescens). Cool draws and north-facing slopes carry Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland of curl-leaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius), Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and small stringers of Sierra Nevada Jeffrey Pine Forest (Pinus jeffreyi) — the eastern outliers of the Sierran pine belt. The highest ridges carry Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest and Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland. Streamside woodland of narrowleaf willow (Salix exigua) and silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) threads each named creek.

The pinyon-juniper woodland supports pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), the central seed disperser of single-leaf pinyon. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) lek in the open sagebrush below the woodland edge; sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) and loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), near threatened under IUCN, share the same shrubland. Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) uses standing snags in the aspen and Jeffrey-pine fringes; Cassin's finch (Haemorhous cassinii) and western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) work the conifer edge. Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), near threatened under IUCN, follows the bloom sequence from desert paintbrush up to subalpine meadow penstemon. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) move seasonally between sagebrush and the higher mahogany and aspen zones; American black bear (Ursus americanus) range through the conifer-aspen belt; kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) hunts the open desert floor. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) hunts the open country above the steppe. Long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) occupies the warm scrub. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler entering through Desert Creek or Dalzell Canyon walks up through pinyon-juniper into stringers of mountain mahogany and small Jeffrey pine, then breaks onto the open ridge of Fourmile Hill or Desert Creek Peak with the East Walker River basin spread out to the east. O'Banion Spring opens a small band of riparian green in otherwise dry country. In late summer rufous hummingbirds work the paintbrush along the meadows; in fall the aspen on north-facing draws turns gold against the dark conifer slopes. The greasewood flats on the western edge reflect the salt of the closed basins toward Sweetwater Flats.

The Fourmile Hill Inventoried Roadless Area lies in the Sweetwater Mountains along the Nevada-California border, in the Walker River drainage of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest's Bridgeport Ranger District. The country sits within the ancestral lands of the Washoe to the west and the Northern Paiute to the south and east. The Walker River Paiute people, in their own account, are an Agai Dicutta — "Trout Eaters" — band whose territory "stretches all the way into the southern end of Oregon" and who "have always been the occupants of the northern end of the Great Basin" since time immemorial [1]. "In 1859, the area around Agai Pahnunadu (Walker Lake) was set aside for 'Indian purposes' but it was not until March 19, 1874, 15 years later, that President Ulysses Grant signed the executive order to formally establish the Walker River Indian Reservation" [1].

Anglo-American settlement transformed the Sweetwater Range in the early 1860s. "Aurora town site sprung to life in 1863 when the Wild West Vein was first discovered, back when the region was still the Nevada Territory" [4]. Aurora "became the county seat of both Mono County, CA and Esmeralda County, NV," and "cranked out more than $27 million dollars in gold" [4]. To feed the Aurora and nearby Pine Grove mines and the new towns, "miners were drawn to the Sweetwater Range in the 1860s to harvest trees for use in the mines and towns of Aurora and Pine Grove" [5]. Sweetwater "was the major supply center in the area; in the 1860s, it was a station stop on the Carson to Aurora stage" [5], with a post office that "opened on January 26, 1870" [5].

Prospecting in the Sweetwaters themselves followed. "Prospecting was limited until the 1880s, when the Patterson Mining District was formed. Between 1880 and 1884, $500,000... was produced in the district. By 1888 only one mine remained active" [5]. "Half a dozen mining towns sprung up in the Sweetwater Range, including Belfort, Monte Cristo, Star City, and Clinton, the largest and longest-lasting town" [5]. Cattle ranching followed the mining boom and persisted into the federal-administration era.

Federal administration of this country began with the consolidation of National Forests across the eastern Sierra. The "Mono National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in California and Nevada on July 1, 1908 with 659,456 acres, almost all in California from parts of Inyo, Toiyabe, Stanislaus and Sierra National Forests" [3]. President Theodore Roosevelt enlarged the new forest by Proclamation 858 on March 2, 1909, stating that "it appears that the public good will be promoted by adding to the Mono National Forest certain lands within the States of California and Nevada, which are in part covered with timber" [2]. The Mono persisted until 1945, when "the entire forest was divided between Inyo and Toiyabe, and the name was discontinued" [3]. The Sweetwater portion came to rest in the Toiyabe National Forest, today the Humboldt-Toiyabe.

The 15,718-acre Fourmile Hill roadless area is administered today within the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Mature Pinyon-Juniper Woodland: Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland covers 76.1% of the area — an unusually dominant share that makes Fourmile Hill one of the larger continuous pinyon-juniper blocks on the Bridgeport Ranger District. Pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), under ESA review and regionally declining, depends on the cone-bearing single-leaf pinyon stands for its food, and the unbroken woodland here supports a viable cone crop. Without roads, the existing fire regime stays intact and cheatgrass cover remains limited, allowing the mature, slow-growing pinyon stands to persist.

• Sage-Grouse Habitat and Endemic Plant Refugia: The Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland and Mountain Sagebrush Steppe components together provide unfragmented habitat for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), proposed Threatened with designated critical habitat. The Sweetwater Mountains also hold globally imperiled endemic plants — Sweetwater Mountains Draba (Draba incrassata, G2) and Bodie Hills Cusickiella (Cusickiella quadricostata, G2) — that occur in this region and nowhere else. The roadless block keeps sage-grouse lekking habitat continuous and the endemic-plant slopes undisturbed by recreational off-road traffic.

• Spring-Fed Streamside Corridors: O'Banion Spring and the small spring-fed tributaries of Fourmile Hill Creek, Jackass Creek, and Desert Creek supply the only year-round water on the east face of the Sweetwaters. Without roads above these springs, the willow-and-buffaloberry streamside woodland that lines each channel remains intact, and the cottonwood-shaded reaches support yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), federally Threatened, where they occur.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Cheatgrass-Fire Cycle in Pinyon-Juniper: A road corridor through Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland — which covers more than three-quarters of the area — is an established invasion path for cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Pinyon-juniper systems were historically restricted to fire-safe rocky ridges with low fine-fuel cover; cheatgrass increases fine fuels and shortens fire-return intervals, converting woodland to annual grassland in stand-replacing fire events. Loss of mature pinyon stands removes pinyon jay habitat and the seed crop that sustains regeneration across the range.

• Sagebrush Fragmentation and Endemic-Plant Disturbance: Road construction across the sagebrush component fragments sage-grouse lekking and brood-rearing habitat, and the cheatgrass invasion that follows converts shrubland to annual grassland that cannot support sage-grouse leks. Recovery from this transition takes decades and requires active treatment. The Sweetwater-Bodie endemic plants on rocky slopes are independently sensitive to road-edge soil disturbance and recreational trampling.

• Spring Disruption and Sediment Delivery: Road cuts above O'Banion Spring and the Fourmile Hill, Jackass, and Desert Creek headwaters expose raw cut-slope sediment to runoff and concentrate flow into ditches that bypass natural recharge surfaces. The result is chronic sedimentation of the short streamcourses and altered spring flow, removing the streamside-woodland shade that yellow-billed cuckoo and migratory hummingbirds depend on during the breeding season.

The Fourmile Hill Inventoried Roadless Area covers 15,718 acres in the Sweetwater Mountains along the Nevada-California border, on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest's Bridgeport Ranger District. Terrain ranges from pinyon-juniper foothills at the base through mountain mahogany and Jeffrey pine stringers into spruce-fir on the highest ridges, with Fourmile Hill, Desert Creek Peak, Black Mountain, and Dalzell, Garden, and O'Banion canyons as the principal features. The Desert Creek Campground sits on the lower slopes.

Hiking and Backcountry Travel

The marked trail network inside the area is mostly composed of short dispersed-camping spurs along the Risue Road and Desert Creek corridor (many less than 0.1 mile). The longer routes include the Upper Risue Connector Trail (22503, 1.4 miles), Upper Dry Lake (22502, 1.5 miles), and the O'Banion Wood Cutting trail (22449, 0.6 miles). The Lobdell Lake — Jackass Flat Road (22482) runs 13.1 miles along the perimeter and serves as the main vehicle route. Travel beyond the marked stubs is cross-country, following Fourmile Hill Creek, Jackass Creek, or Desert Creek up into the pinyon-juniper and mountain-mahogany country, then onto the open ridges. Expect bushwhacking through sagebrush in the basins, scrambling on rocky ridges, and long water-less stretches between spring-fed canyons.

Hunting

The pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, and aspen-conifer cover supports mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and American black bear (Ursus americanus) under Nevada Department of Wildlife regulations. Black bear is at the eastern edge of its Sierra range here. Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) and black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) range the open desert flats. Hunters access the area on foot or horseback from forest roads at the perimeter and from the Desert Creek Campground.

Fishing

Desert Creek and the East Walker River below the area hold brown trout (Salmo trutta). Nevada Department of Wildlife regulations apply; check current limits and gear restrictions. The best holding water is in the shaded reaches of Desert Creek where willow and silver buffaloberry line the channel.

Birding and Wildlife Watching

Nine eBird hotspots lie within 24 km of the area, with up to 174 species recorded at the most active (Topaz Lake, with hotspots on both California and Nevada sides). Inside the roadless area itself, the elevation gradient stacks distinct bird assemblages: pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) in the pinyon-juniper, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the open sagebrush, Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) in standing snags, and Cassin's finch and western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) in the conifer-aspen edge. Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) works the bloom sequence from desert paintbrush to subalpine meadow penstemon. Loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) hunts the open shrubland. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) cover the ridges.

Camping and Photography

The Desert Creek Campground provides a developed base camp on the lower slopes. Dispersed camping is allowed at the numerous marked sites along the Risue Road and Desert Creek corridor, and elsewhere under standard Humboldt-Toiyabe rules — pack out human waste, stay 200 feet from springs and creeks, and observe seasonal fire restrictions. Photographers can work the pinyon-juniper ridges and the Sierra Nevada Jeffrey pine stringers, the aspen draws in fall, and the views west across Sweetwater Flats and east into the Walker River basin.

What the Roadless Condition Preserves

The recreation here depends on the unfragmented pinyon-juniper block — 76% of the area — and the spring-fed creek corridors. Pinyon jay, sage-grouse, and the Sweetwater endemic plants depend on the existing landscape pattern. New road construction across the block would open invasion corridors for cheatgrass into the dominant pinyon-juniper woodland, fragment sage-grouse lekking habitat, and deliver sediment into the small spring-fed creeks. The dispersed-camping spurs along the existing perimeter road network are sufficient for the area's recreational use.