Joe Lott

The 19,826-acre Joe Lott Inventoried Roadless Area occupies a montane block on the Fillmore Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest in Sevier County, Utah, on the western flank of the Pahvant Range and the northern edge of the Tushar Mountains. The unit's named landforms outline its character: Trail Mountain and East Mountain rise above Oak Hollow and Dell Lott Hollow; the Left Fork Sam Stowe Canyon, Graveyard Hollow, Sid Carter Hollow, and Trail Mountain Hollow cut the slopes; and the gentler ground of the Pahvant Range bench rolls northwest. Water collects from the Outlet Clear Creek headwaters (HUC12 160300030105), with surface flow in Skunk Creek, Pole Creek, the Left Fork Sam Stowe Creek, Grass Creek, and Three Creeks, and seepage at Whiskey Spring.

Forest communities track elevation, aspect, and soil. On the lower benches Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland dominate, with two-needle pinyon pine (Pinus edulis), Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), and single-leaf pine (Pinus monophylla) over a shrub layer of antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), and panhandle prickly-pear (Opuntia polyacantha). Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland with gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) and curl-leaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) covers the middle slopes, interfingered with Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Great Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland. Where the canyons narrow, the unusual Rocky Mountain Bigtooth Maple Canyon community appears, with bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum), box-elder (Acer negundo), and choke cherry (Prunus virginiana). Higher slopes carry Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Mixed Conifer Forest of white fir (Abies concolor) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), with stands of Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest (Populus tremuloides) in the cool draws. Narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) and red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) line the streams.

Wildlife use cuts across these strata. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis), brown trout (Salmo trutta), and the IUCN-Imperiled southern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda aliciae) hold in the cooler reaches of Clear Creek and its tributaries; American beaver (Castor canadensis) shapes the willow margins, and American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) works the riffles. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), and bobcat (Lynx rufus) move between the bigtooth-maple draws and the upper aspen-conifer slopes. Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) ranges through the gambel oak and ponderosa. In the canopy, Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) and the IUCN Near Threatened loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) occupy edge habitats; western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae), and lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) breed in the oak and aspen. Rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) and canyon wren (Catherpes mexicanus) call from the canyon walls, and the cliffs hold yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) and Arizona mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana). Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler descending Trail Mountain Hollow passes from open ponderosa parks into gambel oak, where bigtooth maple flares red in October. The canyon bottom carries the cool sound of Sam Stowe Creek; the air smells of damp cottonwood. Above, the rim opens to long views west across the Sevier Valley toward the Pahvant Range.

The 19,826-acre Joe Lott Inventoried Roadless Area lies on the Fillmore Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest in Sevier County, Utah, on the western flank of the Tushar Mountains. Human use of this country runs back two thousand years.

The Pahvant Utes lived in villages along the western flank of the Pahvant Mountains and along the Sevier River; the Dominguez-Escalante expedition met them on their 1776 journey through Utah [4]. The earliest traces of maize known in Utah date to about 100 B.C. in the Sevier Valley below the area's eastern boundary, where the Fremont culture later built pithouse villages and cultivated corn, beans, and squash by irrigation. Travelers on the Old Spanish Trail and mountain man Jedediah S. Smith were among those who crossed Sevier County before white settlement [5].

Mormon settlement of the Sevier Valley began in early 1864 when ten men settled in the Richfield area, and several other towns were founded in the next few years [5]. Violent confrontations with the Ute Indians during the Black Hawk War (1865–68) forced the abandonment of all the Sevier settlements in April 1867 [5], and resettlement did not succeed until 1870. As the railroads moved into the intermountain region in 1868, tie hacking became one of the most rugged and lucrative businesses in the area [3], and hard-rock mining in Utah followed after the Mormons began their settlements [3]. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reached Salina in 1891 and Richfield in 1896, improving the marketing of Sevier County agricultural products [5]. The Marysvale mining district just south of the area drew miners and supplied lumber for mine props and railroad ties cut on the surrounding national forest lands.

Federal protection of the surrounding watershed came through a series of forest reserves. The Fish Lake Forest Reserve of 67,840 acres was established on February 10, 1899, by President William McKinley to protect the Fish Lake and Fremont River watersheds [1]. President Theodore Roosevelt added the Fillmore Forest Reserve of 399,600 acres on May 2, 1906 [1], and on June 18, 1908, the Beaver and Fillmore forests were combined to form the Fillmore National Forest [1]. The Forest Service that same year created six administrative regions to decentralize decisions previously made from Washington, D.C. [3]. The current Fishlake National Forest consists of all, or portions of, earlier Forest Reserves and National Forests including Fishlake (1899–present), Glenwood (1907–1908), Beaver (1906–1908), and Fillmore (1906–1923) [2]. On September 24, 1923, the Fillmore National Forest became part of the Fishlake National Forest with headquarters in Richfield [1]. The 19,826-acre Joe Lott area is today protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold Headwater and Riparian Integrity — The roadless condition preserves the Outlet Clear Creek headwaters (HUC12 160300030105) and Skunk Creek, Pole Creek, the Left Fork Sam Stowe Creek, Grass Creek, and Three Creeks within a single 19,826-acre block. These streams support Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) and the IUCN-Imperiled southern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda aliciae) — a narrow-endemic fish whose Utah populations have contracted as headwaters were dewatered or fragmented by roads. The unbroken Rocky Mountain Foothill Streamside Woodland along the canyon bottoms provides Ute ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis) habitat and continuous beaver-shaped riparian function.

• Bigtooth Maple Canyon Communities — The Rocky Mountain Bigtooth Maple Canyon community along the Left Fork Sam Stowe and adjacent draws is rare across the Intermountain West. It depends on the cool, sheltered microclimate of narrow canyons with intact watershed-scale vegetation upslope. The roadless condition keeps the cool-air drainage that the maples need and prevents the edge-effect drying that fragments these stands wherever roads are built into similar canyons elsewhere in central Utah.

• Pinyon-Juniper and Gambel Oak Mosaic — Colorado Plateau and Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands cover a major share of the unit, interleaved with Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland and sagebrush steppe. This mosaic supports pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, under federal review), Lewis's woodpecker, Virginia's warbler, the IUCN Near Threatened loggerhead shrike, and wintering mule deer. Pinyon-juniper has declined or been converted across much of its Intermountain range; the roadless Joe Lott block preserves a contiguous patch at landscape scale.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation and Stream Disruption — Cut and fill slopes built into the steep western Pahvant flanks would deliver chronic fine sediment into Clear Creek and its tributaries. The southern leatherside chub is particularly sensitive to substrate degradation, and increased sediment load would compound an existing range contraction documented across Utah. Culvert installations also fragment the small stream network, blocking cutthroat trout and chub movement during the low-flow periods when they need to relocate to deeper pools.

• Fragmentation of the Bigtooth Maple and Pinyon-Juniper Mosaic — A road network through the area would convert the closed-canopy bigtooth maple draws into edge habitat, drying the canyon microclimates that the maples and the riparian songbird community depend on. In the pinyon-juniper, edge effects accelerate cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) encroachment into the sagebrush understory, and the resulting fire feedback converts the system to annual grassland — a documented loss-of-habitat pathway for pinyon jay and other pinyon-dependent species across the West.

• Reopening of Mining Access and Disturbance Vectors — The Marysvale mining district lies immediately south of the area, with a long history of gold, silver, and uranium prospecting. Road construction into the Joe Lott unit would reopen access routes for prospecting and small-scale extraction, with the documented consequences of slope failure on tuff-derived soils, acid drainage from disturbed mineralization, and direct loss of cliff habitat used by Mexican spotted owl, canyon wren, and yellow-bellied marmot. Disturbed corridors also act as continuous pathways for invasive plants — cheatgrass, musk thistle (Carduus nutans), houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale) — already documented within the unit but currently confined to its margins.

The Joe Lott Inventoried Roadless Area covers 19,826 acres on the western flank of the Pahvant Range and the northern Tushar Mountains, on the Fillmore Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest in central Utah. The unit is laced with a long-trail network — about 60 miles of documented Forest Service tread — anchored by Castle Rock Campground on the perimeter and reached from the Joe Lott and Max Reid (Paiute) trailheads.

Trails and Trailheads The Joe Lott area sits on a major segment of the Paiute Trail system. Two Paiute segments cross the unit: Paiute D-1 (Trail #01B), 5.9 miles, and Paiute D-3 (Trail #01A), 5.6 miles. The longest single route is Clear Creek–Mill Creek (PST 15A), 8.2 miles of native tread, with Pole Creek Trail (#044) adding 7.9 miles, Joseph Road (PST 10) running 6.4 miles, and the Trail Canyon–Lower Fish Creek Trail (#048A), 5.8 miles of hiker/horse use. Shorter named connectors include Alma Christensen (#363, 4.0 mi), Cottonwood–Clear Cr (PST 15, 3.8 mi), Fremont State Park (#364, 2.1 mi), Fremont–Sam Stowe Canyon (#365, 1.8 mi), Pole Creek Tie (#339, 1.5 mi), Pahvant–Pole Creek (#040, 1.2 mi), Skunk Creek (#069, 0.7 mi), and Pole Creek Spur (#067, 0.7 mi), along with a series of TR 1500–1900 connectors. Access runs from the Joe Lott Trailhead on the southern boundary and the Max Reid (Paiute) Trailhead on the northern side.

Backcountry Camping Castle Rock Campground on the perimeter provides developed camping near the unit. Inside the area, dispersed camping is permitted under Fishlake National Forest rules. Suitable camp benches sit on the ponderosa parks above Trail Mountain Hollow and Dell Lott Hollow, in aspen openings on East Mountain, and along the Pole Creek and Clear Creek bottoms. The trail network is laid out as multiple linked loops, making multi-day backpack and pack-stock trips practical.

Fishing Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis), brown trout (Salmo trutta), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), tiger trout, and splake are stocked or wild-recruiting in the area's streams and adjacent waters. Clear Creek itself supports cutthroat and brown trout, and the lower elevations hold mountain sucker (Pantosteus platyrhynchus), Bonneville sculpin, and the IUCN-Imperiled southern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda aliciae). Anglers should expect walk-in access to small streams; consult Utah DWR regulations before fishing.

Hunting Joe Lott lies within Utah Division of Wildlife Resources hunt-unit boundaries that cover the Pahvant and northern Tushar country. The mosaic of pinyon-juniper, gambel oak, ponderosa pine, aspen, and mixed conifer supports the standard Fillmore-area big-game guild. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and American black bear (Ursus americanus) are the primary draws. Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hunting is productive in the gambel oak and ponderosa zones. Hunting access here is foot, horse, and limited OHV on designated Paiute Trail segments only — there are no system roads inside the unit — so most success depends on packing in from the Joe Lott or Max Reid trailheads.

Wildlife Watching and Birding Seven eBird hotspots cluster near the unit, with Clear Creek Canyon (109 species) the most active. Inside, the bigtooth maple draws produce western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena), and Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae); the ponderosa parks hold Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) and the IUCN Near Threatened loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus). Canyon wren (Catherpes mexicanus) and rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) call from the canyon walls, and American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) works the riffles of Pole and Clear Creek. Cliff chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis) and yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) are easy to find on rocky outcrops.

Why Roadless Matters Here Every recreation use described above depends on the absence of internal roads. The Paiute Trail segments through Joe Lott carry their distinctive multi-use character because they are not paralleled by passenger-vehicle routes. Cutthroat trout and the southern leatherside chub in Clear Creek depend on the sediment-free flow that the unroaded watershed delivers. Bigtooth maple canyon birding is possible because cool-air microclimates remain intact. Black bear and mule deer move through the unit precisely because internal road density is zero. Construction of a system road would shorten approaches, raise visitor numbers, and convert this 19,826-acre block from a foot-, horse-, and Paiute-Trail backcountry unit to one indistinguishable from the developed forest beyond.