Grommund Creek

Grommund Creek occupies 12,089 acres of montane mountainous terrain on the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains within the Bighorn National Forest in north-central Wyoming. The area is shaped by two named landmarks — the broad subalpine opening of Elgin Park and the forested rise of Grouse Mountain — set into the upper drainage of the Grommund Creek–Clear Creek watershed, a major hydrologic system on this side of the range. Snowmelt and spring flow feed Grommund Creek, Middle Clear Creek, Brush Creek, Hondo Creek, Sourdough Creek, Little Sourdough Creek, and Foot Creek, all carrying water east off the Bighorns toward the Powder River drainage. Cow Camp Spring contributes a small steady flow within the unit.

The forest mosaic shifts with elevation, aspect, and soil moisture. Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) covers the largest share of the area, with grouseberry (Vaccinium scoparium), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), and bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) on the forest floor. North-facing slopes hold Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest, where quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) supports showy green-gentian (Frasera speciosa), American pasqueflower (Pulsatilla nuttalliana), and Gunnison's mariposa lily (Calochortus gunnisonii). Higher cool benches transition into Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). Sunny mid-slope ridges carry Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland, Black Hills Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Savanna, and Rocky Mountain Foothill Limber Pine-Juniper Woodland. Open Elgin Park and the surrounding Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland and Rocky Mountain Subalpine Meadow hold American bistort (Bistorta bistortoides), prairie-smoke (Geum triflorum), and great blanket-flower (Gaillardia aristata). Streamside ribbons of Rocky Mountain Foothill and Subalpine Streamside Woodland thread the named creeks.

The wildlife community follows these gradients. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and moose (Alces alces) move between sagebrush winter range and subalpine meadows; pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) hold to the lower open country. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) hunt the open ridges, and bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) occupy the larger drainages. Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis), Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), and dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) work the aspen and conifer edges. Broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus), Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope), and Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) pollinate the meadow openings. Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) and North American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) occupy the higher rocky cover, and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hold in the cold pools of Grommund Creek and Middle Clear Creek. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A visitor working east into the area from the Powder River Ranger District passes through layered country. The first miles cross sagebrush shrubland and foothill grassland with Hood's phlox (Phlox hoodii) underfoot. As the trail climbs into the lodgepole forest, the canopy closes and the sound of Sourdough or Hondo Creek picks up over cobbled streambeds. Above the conifer band, Elgin Park opens into a sweep of subalpine meadow, with Grouse Mountain rising to the south and the Bighorn crest visible to the west.

The Grommund Creek roadless area lies on the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming, in country with a deep human record. Archaeological and ethnographic investigations indicate that people have lived in the area known as the Bighorn National Forest for at least 10,000 years [1]. Indigenous people used the landscape for traditional cultural practices and subsistence living [1]. By the eighteenth century the Bighorn Mountains were the territory of the Crow Indians, while the Lakota — having moved west from Minnesota — controlled the surrounding plains; Cheyenne and Arapaho allies of the Lakota hunted these grounds, and the Powder River country east of the range was contested through the mid-nineteenth century [3].

In 1834, the trader Antonio Montero built a trading post on the Middle Fork of the Powder River about eleven miles east of present-day Kaycee, the so-called Portuguese Houses serving as a center for trade with the Crow until competition from a rival fur company forced its abandonment by 1839 [3]. After the Bozeman Trail was opened in 1863, the U.S. Army built forts in the Powder River country, leading to Red Cloud's War and the abandonment of those forts under the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty [3]. Following the 1876 campaigns and the 1877 surrender, the country was opened to white settlement, and in 1878 Fort McKinney was relocated to a site on Clear Creek where it spilled out of the Bighorns [3]. The town of Buffalo, downstream of the fort, was incorporated in 1884 [3]. The 1880s saw a regional cattle boom that ended with the terrible winter of 1886-87, which decimated the herds [3].

Federal forest protection followed soon after. On February 22, 1897, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation creating the Big Horn Forest Reserve [2]. In 1907 a Congressional Act changed the Reserve to the Big Horn National Forest, and in 1908 an Executive Order signed by President Theodore Roosevelt changed the spelling to the Bighorn National Forest [2]. Even after federal designation, tie hacking continued on the forest. The railroad tie industry had reached its peak in the 1860s during the construction of the transcontinental railroad across southern Wyoming, and Wyoming's tie hacking industry developed in four regions around the state, including the eastern slopes of the Bighorn Mountains [2]. Many thousands of railroad ties were cut on the new Bighorn Forest Reserve and floated to the rail networks [3]. Evidence of these operations — Camp Six Loggers, tie-hack cabins, tie-hack flumes, fire lookouts, mining districts, and historic ranger stations — remains scattered across the forest [1][4]. Between 1938 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, bridges, ranger stations, fire lookouts, reservoirs, telephone lines, campgrounds, and trails in the Bighorn National Forest [2]. The 12,089-acre Grommund Creek Inventoried Roadless Area, lying within Johnson County and the Powder River Ranger District in the Grommund Creek–Clear Creek watershed, is today protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Grommund Creek's 12,089 roadless acres lie on the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains within the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. Hydrologic significance is rated major: the Grommund Creek–Clear Creek headwaters, together with Middle Clear Creek, Brush Creek, Hondo Creek, Sourdough Creek, Little Sourdough Creek, Foot Creek, and Cow Camp Spring, drain directly off the range toward the Powder River system. Sixty-four percent of the area is Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest, with Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest, Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe, and patches of Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest, Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland, and Black Hills Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Savanna making up the rest.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold Headwater Stream Integrity: The Grommund Creek–Clear Creek headwaters and the tributary network of Middle Clear Creek, Brush Creek, Hondo Creek, Sourdough Creek, Little Sourdough Creek, and Foot Creek arise within the area. Roadless conditions keep these channels free of culverts, road-derived sediment, and direct streambank disturbance, preserving the cold, well-shaded conditions and clean gravels that rainbow trout and resident macroinvertebrates depend on, and protecting downstream Clear Creek water quality for the city of Buffalo and the Powder River drainage.

• Interior Lodgepole and Douglas-fir Forest: Roughly 64 percent of Grommund Creek is unbroken Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest, with a second large block of Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest on north aspects. Continuous canopy in these forest types maintains the multi-layered structure that supports North American red squirrel, Williamson's Sapsucker, dusky grouse, and cavity-nesting species, and limits the road-related fragmentation and edge effects identified as primary stressors in regional ecological assessments.

• Elevational Gradient Connectivity: The area spans sagebrush steppe, foothill grassland, mid-elevation forest, and subalpine meadow (Elgin Park) without internal road interruption. This continuous gradient is what allows mule deer, white-tailed deer, moose, and pronghorn to move seasonally between lower winter range and higher summer habitat without crossing constructed barriers, and what keeps the broad-tailed, Calliope, and Rufous hummingbird flight paths intact through meadow openings.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation and stream temperature alteration: New road construction across the headwater drainages of Grommund Creek, Middle Clear Creek, and Hondo Creek would expose cut slopes to chronic erosion, delivering fine sediment that smothers spawning gravels and macroinvertebrate habitat. Removal of streamside canopy at crossings elevates summer water temperatures, narrowing the thermal window for cold-water species; on a watershed rated of major hydrologic significance, these effects accumulate downstream.

• Forest fragmentation and altered fire regime: Roads cut linear gaps through closed-canopy lodgepole and Douglas-fir, converting interior forest into edge habitat. Regional ecological assessments specifically identify altered stand structure from fragmentation due to roads, logging, mining, or other human disturbances as a primary stressor on Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest and Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest. Once the road exists, interior conditions and the natural fire regime do not return without major intervention.

• Invasive species via disturbed corridors: Road cut-and-fill banks function as persistent invasion pathways for non-native plants — cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is already documented at the area's margins, with musk thistle (Carduus nutans) and common blue-mustard (Chorispora tenella) present in disturbed ground. Establishment in Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Northern Rockies Foothill and Valley Grassland shifts the fire regime toward more frequent, hotter burns that prevent recovery of native sagebrush and bunchgrass composition.

The Grommund Creek roadless area offers about 24 miles of trail across 12,089 acres of montane Bighorn National Forest on the eastern slope of the range, with access from the Elgin Park Trailhead. The trail network is built primarily for equestrian use, with one short ATV route on the periphery and several non-motorized connectors; access from US 16 and the Powder River Ranger District puts the area within a short drive of the town of Buffalo.

The main equestrian routes form a connected backcountry network. PARALLEL US 16 (#117), 8.0 miles, follows the long northern flank of the area; BRUSH CREEK (#217), 4.1 miles, climbs the Brush Creek drainage; GROMMUND (#192), 2.2 miles, traverses the namesake creek. GROMMUND POINT (#407, 1.2 miles), CAMP ROBERTS (#163, 1.7 miles), LITTLE SOURDOUGH (#403, 1.1 miles), CROSS H HORSE TRAILS (#404, 1.3 miles), SADDLE CROSSING (#408, 0.7 miles), TIE HACK (#107, 1.2 miles), and ELGIN (#555, 1.3 miles) tie the system together. CIRCLE PARK ATV (#187, 0.9 miles) provides a short motorized connection on the area edge. All trails are native-surface; expect mud through Elgin Park into early summer.

Hunting follows Wyoming Game and Fish seasons. The mixed-elevation block holds mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and moose (Alces alces) on the timbered slopes, with pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) on the lower open country. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) work the aspen and conifer edges in early season. Elk also use the higher meadows in summer and migrate through the area on seasonal range. The absence of an internal road grid means hunters work on foot or horseback, and game stays distributed across the unit rather than concentrating along roads.

Anglers fish the Clear Creek headwater system. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hold in the cold pools of Grommund Creek, Middle Clear Creek, and the named tributaries — Brush, Hondo, Sourdough, Little Sourdough, and Foot Creeks. The water is small, cold, and frequently shaded by streamside woodland; pocket-water tactics and short rods are the rule. Cow Camp Spring contributes a steady cold input that helps maintain thermal refuge through the warm months.

Birding here works the elevation gradient. Open country at the lower margin holds Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides), and Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). Conifer forest interior produces Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli), Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus), and dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis); aspen edges and meadow margins concentrate dusky grouse. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) work the open ridges, and osprey (Pandion haliaetus) hunt the larger reaches downstream. The Mountain Plains Heritage Park and Lake De Smet hotspots in nearby Buffalo together host 195-plus species and pair well with a Grommund Creek visit; Clear Creek Trail in town adds another 164-species hotspot directly on the same drainage.

Camping is available at four developed campgrounds clustered on the access roads: SOUTH FORK, TIE HACK, HETTINGER, and MIDDLE FORK provide vehicle camping with reasonable proximity to the trailheads. The TIE HACK campground takes its name from the railroad-tie cutting that defined this part of the forest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the TIE HACK trail (#107) within the area passes through some of that historical landscape.

Photography opportunities follow the trails: aspen color in late September, the Bighorn crest visible from the high openings of Elgin Park, and elk and deer in the meadows at dawn and dusk.

The roadless condition is what holds these activities together. The trail network was built for and is maintained primarily for non-motorized backcountry use, the streams remain unculverted, and the wildlife block remains continuous. That combination is what makes Grommund Creek what it is.