Monument Ridge

Monument Ridge covers 17,720 acres of mountainous, montane country on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Sublette and Lincoln counties of western Wyoming, where the Wyoming Range drops eastward into the Hoback country. The roadless area takes its name from Monument Ridge itself, which runs north-south above Miller Draw and provides the area's structural backbone. Streams head off the high country in tight, parallel drainages: Cliff Creek and its tributary Little Cliff Creek are the largest, with Sandy Marshall Creek, Burnt Creek, Kerr Creek, Clause Creek, and Gibbs Creek descending alongside them. All of these flow into the Cliff Creek watershed, eventually delivering to the Hoback River. The drainages are narrow and steep, with cold streams running clear over cobble beds through aspen and conifer corridors.

Forest community types are organized by elevation, aspect, and moisture. South-facing slopes hold Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Great Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe, with arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum), and prairie-smoke (Geum triflorum) defining the open ground. Mid-slope, Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest and Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest take over, with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) shading grouseberry (Vaccinium scoparium), creeping Oregon-grape (Berberis repens), and Utah honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis). Higher elevations carry Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine and Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest, transitioning to whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) on the ridges. Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest and Intermountain Aspen and Conifer Forest pockets occupy mesic benches with quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), four-line honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata), and Greene's mountain-ash (Sorbus scopulina). Streamside Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Foothill Streamside Woodland hold streambank globemallow (Iliamna rivularis) and streamside bluebells (Mertensia ciliata).

Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), and North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) move through the elevational mosaic, using the unbroken sequence of habitats. Moose (Alces alces) work the willow-lined creek bottoms; mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) occupy sage flats and aspen edges. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) and ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) hold the conifer-aspen mosaic. Above the timber, golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) hunts ground squirrels and marmots, while boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) hunts the subalpine fir stands. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold in the cold reaches of Cliff Creek and its tributaries, feeding on aquatic invertebrates whose populations depend on undisturbed stream substrate. American beaver (Castor canadensis) work the willow corridors, shaping side-channel habitat. Calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) and broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) move between paintbrush meadows; willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) and northern yellow warbler (Setophaga aestiva) hold the streamside shrub. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

Walking up Cliff Creek from the lower drainage takes a visitor from sagebrush flat into closing aspen, then into Douglas-fir and lodgepole. The canyon narrows as Little Cliff Creek joins; the gradient steepens, and the spruce-fir closes overhead. Breaking out on Monument Ridge itself, the trail emerges into subalpine meadow with whitebark pine standing on the wind-exposed crest. Looking east, the Hoback country opens; looking west, the Wyoming Range carries the eye toward the next set of timbered headwaters.

Human groups have occupied the mountains of western Wyoming, including the area now known as the Bridger-Teton National Forest, for the last 10,000 years [1]. The Heritage Resource Program on the Bridger-Teton has recorded over 800 prehistoric and historic sites on the Forest, with finds ranging from the lowest river bottoms to the tops of mountain ranges [1]. The prehistoric populations who called this area home were nomadic hunters and gatherers; they moved through the valleys and mountains on a seasonal basis, locating themselves in the high mountain forests and meadows by late summer and early fall before returning to lower elevations with the approaching winter snows [1]. The Eastern Shoshone have lived in western Wyoming and the Wind River Mountains for at least 3,500 years and perhaps 8,000 years [4]. All of the Fur Trade Rendezvous, from 1825 to 1840, were held in Eastern Shoshone country [4]. Bannock people from the Fort Hall reservation in Idaho continued to travel into the Hoback country to hunt elk through the late nineteenth century; on July 13, 1895, a Bannock hunting party of nine men, 13 women, and five children was camped near the confluence of the Hoback River and Granite Creek when they were surrounded by 27 armed White men in what is sometimes called the Bannock War of 1895 [3].

European-American contact began with the fur trade. Most historians point to John Colter as the first of the mountain men to traverse what is now known as the Bridger-Teton National Forest, after he left the Lewis and Clark Expedition during the winter of 1807-1808 [1]. The Hoback River, Fontenelle and LaBarge Creeks, Smiths Fork, Hams Fork, and Greys River were all named after early trappers [1]. The fur trade ended by 1840, but a new economy followed. The Bridger-Teton has a long history of tie hack activities from 1867 to 1952; ties were cut on the forested mountain slopes, skidded to a river's edge, and floated to the nearest railroad [1]. The Standard Timber Company began operations in the North and South Cottonwood Creeks in 1919 with an estimated yield of over 2 million hewn ties, 39 million board feet of saw lumber, and 12 million linear feet of mine props [1]. The LaBarge Creek drainage became the next and final area on the Forest to be tie hacked, beginning in 1937 and closing in 1952 [1]. Cattle ranchers followed the fur trappers; soon, tie hacks arrived to cut timber for railroad ties [2].

Federal protection arrived in stages. On March 30, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison set aside the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve along the eastern and southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park [1]. In May 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt added an additional 5 million acres to the Forest Reserve system in northwest Wyoming and southwest Montana, creating the Yellowstone Forest Reserve divided into four divisions [1]. In 1908 President Roosevelt abolished the Yellowstone National Forest with its separate divisions and created the Teton, Wyoming (now Bridger), Absaroka and Beartooth (now Custer), Shoshone, Bonneville (now Caribou), and Targhee National Forests [1]. The Wyoming National Forest was renamed the Bridger National Forest in 1941; in 1973 the Bridger and Teton National Forests were combined to form a single forest [1]. Civilian Conservation Corps camps were established on the Forest during the Depression, including the Cliff Creek Camp in the Hoback River Canyon — within or adjacent to the present-day Monument Ridge area [1]. Today, the 17,720-acre Monument Ridge Inventoried Roadless Area sits within the Big Piney Ranger District in Sublette and Lincoln counties, protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold Headwater Stream Integrity. The roadless condition of Monument Ridge's 17,720 acres preserves the steep, unsedimented headwater drainages of Cliff Creek and its tributaries — Little Cliff Creek, Sandy Marshall Creek, Burnt Creek, Kerr Creek, Clause Creek, and Gibbs Creek. Without graded cut slopes, ditch lines, or culverted crossings, these streams retain stable gradients and the cold, clear flow that Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout and the aquatic invertebrate base of the food web depend on for spawning and rearing.

• Elevational Gradient Connectivity for Wide-Ranging Carnivores. The area's unbroken ecological staircase — Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Great Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe at the foot, Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest and Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest mid-slope, Rocky Mountain Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest and whitebark pine on the ridges — provides the seasonal movement corridors that grizzly bear, Canada lynx, and North American wolverine require. Roadless conditions keep human encounter rates low, the single most important determinant of large-carnivore persistence on multiple-use landscapes.

• Aspen Forest and Whitebark Pine Woodland Integrity. Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest, Intermountain Aspen and Conifer Forest, and high-ridge Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland with whitebark pine all depend on intact stand structure and natural disturbance regimes. The roadless state preserves the unfragmented aspen mosaic — important for moose, ruffed grouse, and northern yellow warbler — and the wind-exposed whitebark pine stands whose regeneration depends on Clark's nutcracker seed caching across an unbroken canopy.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation of Cliff Creek and Its Tributaries. Road construction across the steep slopes draining into the Cliff Creek system would deliver chronic fine sediment from cut banks and ditch lines to the streambed, smothering spawning gravels for Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout and depressing aquatic invertebrate density. Soils in Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest are shallow and erodible once the litter layer is broken, and culverted crossings further sever fish passage and concentrate erosive flow — effects that persist for decades because soil recovery on these gradients is measured in human generations.

• Fragmentation and Carnivore Mortality. Roads function as both physical barriers and behavioral filters for grizzly bear, Canada lynx, and wolverine: increased human access raises mortality risk, and even unpaved corridors disrupt the predator-prey dynamics that depend on uninterrupted movement between sage, conifer, and subalpine habitats. Once a road grade is cut into Monument Ridge's flank, the area's elevational continuity is broken at a single point that filters every wide-ranging species moving through, and that filtering effect persists as long as the corridor remains.

• Cheatgrass Invasion and Sagebrush Conversion. Road corridors are the primary vector by which cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and other invasive annual grasses enter Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Great Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe. Once established along a disturbed corridor, cheatgrass shortens fire return intervals to the point where native sagebrush — which is not adapted to frequent fire — is eliminated. The conversion from sagebrush steppe to annual grass monoculture, once initiated, is difficult to reverse on a management timescale, and the seedbank for native sagebrush systems does not regenerate once the invasive grass cycle is established.

Monument Ridge covers 17,720 acres of mountainous, montane country on the Big Piney Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, in Sublette and Lincoln counties. Access is from four trailheads on the area's perimeter: the Cliff Creek Trailhead and Monument Ridge Trailhead on the north and east sides, the Gibbs Kerr Trailhead, and the Little Cliff Creek Trailhead. There are no developed campgrounds within the area; use is walk-in or stock-supported backcountry.

The trail system gives substantial backcountry mileage. The Cliff Creek Parallel Trail (2138) is the longest single route at 13.8 miles, running through the Cliff Creek drainage as the main backcountry corridor. The Monument Ridge Trail (2132) covers 9.8 miles along the ridgeline itself, providing an upper-elevation traverse with views across the Hoback country and the Wyoming Range. The Cliff Creek Trail (2137) runs 7.6 miles up the central drainage, and the Little Cliff Creek Trail (2133) adds 5.1 miles up the tributary canyon. All four are native-material surfaces designated for hiker and horse use. Combined, the system offers roughly thirty-six miles of trail across the area, with loop and through-route options between the trailheads.

Hunting is a primary use. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), moose (Alces alces), and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) occupy distinct elevational zones across the sagebrush steppe, Douglas-fir slopes, aspen forest, and subalpine meadows. Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) and dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) inhabit the conifer-aspen mosaic. Predators present include coyote (Canis latrans) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and large carnivores in the area require backcountry food storage discipline. The trail system allows walk-in and horse-supported hunters to reach drainages and ridgelines that would otherwise see only motorized traffic.

Cold-water fishing is concentrated in the Cliff Creek watershed and its tributaries — Little Cliff Creek, Sandy Marshall Creek, Burnt Creek, Kerr Creek, Clause Creek, and Gibbs Creek. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold in the cold, unsedimented reaches of these streams. The quality of the fishery is a direct product of the roadless headwaters above.

Birding is concentrated at two eBird hotspots within range of the area. The Upper Hoback Rd hotspot (Forest Rd 30700) has logged 179 species across 886 checklists, and the Monument Ridge–Clark Draw Rd hotspot has 110 species across 97 checklists. The trail system carries birders from sagebrush flats with long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus) and Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) into the aspen and conifer canopy where red-naped sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis), willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), and northern yellow warbler (Setophaga aestiva) hold. At the higher elevations, mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), and red crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) work the subalpine, and boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) inhabits the spruce-fir at night. Red-tailed hawk and bald eagle work the air column above the canyon.

Wildlife photography of the larger species — moose along the willow-lined creek bottoms, marmots and ground squirrels in the meadows, sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) in the wet swales — is a documented use, and the access provided by the four trailheads onto a thirty-six-mile native-surface trail system makes Monument Ridge unusual on the southern Bridger-Teton for the depth of country it opens to non-motorized recreation. Every documented activity here — the long horse routes along Cliff Creek and Monument Ridge, the cutthroat fishing in the headwaters, the bird transects from sage to spruce-fir, the elk and moose hunting from walk-in camps — depends on the unroaded character of the country between the four trailheads.