Phillips Ridge

Phillips Ridge is a 10,108-acre Inventoried Roadless Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, on the Jackson Ranger District in Teton County, Wyoming. The area occupies montane and subalpine country immediately south of Teton Pass, anchored by the long spine of Phillips Ridge and reaching across Phillips Pass to the slopes of Mount Glory and Rendezvous Peak. The land is incised by Phillips Canyon and its North and Middle Forks, Jensen Canyon, and the headwall above Glory Slide. The area holds the headwaters of Fish Creek and feeds Mesquite Creek, the South Fork of Granite Creek, and the North Fork of Trail Creek. Ski Lake sits in a cirque on the eastern slope. Snowmelt moves through clear, cold step-pool channels under spruce-fir canopy and across alpine benches; the area also carries small Glacier and Ice Field remnants on the highest northern aspects.

The plant communities follow elevation and aspect closely. Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest covers cool slopes, with Rocky Mountain Dry and Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest holding the high ground — Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) shading the understory. Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), an IUCN-endangered species, persists in scattered stands across the upper elevation belt, and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) holds the rocky exposures within Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland. Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest occupies mid-elevation slopes; Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest and Intermountain Aspen and Conifer Forest fill moist draws and avalanche tracks. Open ground takes several forms: Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Northern Rockies Foothill Shrubland on dry exposures; Rocky Mountain Subalpine Meadow, Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland, and Northern Rockies Subalpine Woodland and Parkland on the high benches, where arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), northern mule's-ears (Wyethia amplexicaulis), silvery lupine (Lupinus argenteus), and showy green-gentian (Frasera speciosa) bloom in midsummer; Rocky Mountain Alpine Meadow and Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland on the highest exposed terrain, with moss campion (Silene acaulis), Ross' avens (Geum rossii), and sky pilot (Polemonium viscosum) at elevation. Streamside cover is Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Shrubland — willow, mountain bluebells (Mertensia ciliata), and Lewis's monkeyflower (Erythranthe lewisii).

The wildlife community spans canopy to alpine. Moose (Alces alces) browse the willow corridors; wapiti (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) use meadow-forest edges. American pika (Ochotona princeps) hold the alpine rock fields; Pacific marten (Martes caurina), an IUCN-apparently-secure carnivore, works the spruce-fir canopy; yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) and Uinta ground squirrel (Urocitellus armatus) den in the benches. Black rosy-finch (Leucosticte atrata), an IUCN-endangered alpine specialist, holds the snowfield edges; Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) caches whitebark pine seed across the high ridges. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis), and great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) move through the conifer; broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds and red-naped sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) work the aspen edges. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold the headwater streams. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler climbing Phillips Canyon from the Teton Pass trailhead moves through aspen and subalpine fir, into open meadow at Phillips Pass, and onto the rocky shoulder of Phillips Ridge with Mount Glory and the high Tetons in view.

Phillips Ridge rises in the southern Jackson Hole country of Teton County, Wyoming, on the slopes that separate Fish Creek from the upper drainages of South Fork Granite Creek and North Fork Trail Creek. The ridge and the pass that carries its name lie within country occupied for more than ten millennia. "People first ventured into this valley as glaciers receded. The earliest evidence of humans in this area dates back at least 11,000 years" [2]. "By the time Europeans arrived, tribes such as the Shoshone, Bannock, Blackfoot, Crow, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Nez Perce and others were harvesting the valley's seasonal riches" [2]. The Town of Jackson similarly records that early occupation includes "American Indian members of the Bannock, Blackfoot, Crow, Eastern Shoshone, Gros Ventre, Mountain Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Northern Arapaho Tribes" [3]. These groups followed game and plant resources into the high country of the Tetons each summer and returned to lower valleys before winter. On the Bridger-Teton itself, "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," and "over 800 prehistoric and historic sites have been recorded on the Forest" [1]. "These mountains also held spiritual meaning for American Indians, a connection that endures today" [2].

Euro-American arrival came with the fur trade. "Most historians point to John Colter as the first of the mountain men to traverse in what is now known as the Bridger-Teton National Forest" [1]. "In 1811, John Jacob Astor, owner of the American Fur Company, traveled through the region on his way to the Oregon coast" [1], following Indigenous routes that crossed Teton Pass into what is now Idaho. "The Bridger-Teton National Forest is named for the famous trapper and guide Jim Bridger. Jackson Hole is named after another early trapper, Davey Jackson" [1]. Trappers continued to work the area through the late nineteenth century; the Doane expedition of 1876 encountered a trapper wintering "in a cabin at the southern end of Jackson Hole, south of the present town of Wilson" [1] — country adjoining Phillips Ridge. Homesteading followed: "In 1884 the first two homesteads in our area were filed at the south end of today's National Elk Refuge" [3]. Industrial tie hacking shaped the broader forest from 1867 to 1952 [1], though the primary operations were south of Jackson Hole on the Green and LaBarge drainages.

Federal protection moved in stages. "On March 30th, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison set aside the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve" [1]. "On February 22, 1897, President Cleveland, by executive order, created the Teton Forest Reserve from 829,440 acres of public domain land" [1]. In May 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt added five million more acres in northwest Wyoming and southwest Montana [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]. During the New Deal, CCC camps including the Dog Creek Camp in the Snake River Canyon and the Cliff Creek Camp in the Hoback River Canyon built infrastructure including the Wilson-Fall Creek Road [1]. The 10,108-acre Phillips Ridge Inventoried Roadless Area is now on the Jackson Ranger District and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold Headwater Stream Integrity: Phillips Ridge holds the headwaters of Fish Creek and feeds Mesquite Creek, the South Fork of Granite Creek, and the North Fork of Trail Creek. Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Streamside Shrubland shade these channels and stabilize banks, keeping water cold and low-sediment for Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout. The roadless condition preserves the high-quality source flows that feed the larger Snake and Hoback River systems.

• Whitebark Pine and Alpine Refugia: The area carries scattered stands of federally threatened whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), limber pine, Rocky Mountain Alpine Meadow, Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland, and Alpine Rocky Terrain on its highest ground, along with small Glacier and Ice Field remnants. These high-elevation systems provide climate refugia for cold-adapted species and habitat for IUCN-endangered black rosy-finch and IUCN-vulnerable evening grosbeak. The roadless condition keeps human disturbance and disease vectors away from these slow-recovering communities.

• Connectivity for Wide-Ranging Carnivores: Continuous Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest, Lodgepole Pine Forest, Aspen Forest, and willow streamside corridors form an unbroken movement block linking Phillips Ridge to surrounding wilderness across Teton Pass. This connectivity is essential for federally threatened Canada lynx, grizzly bear, and North American wolverine, all of which depend on large, low-disturbance habitat blocks. The IUCN-apparently-secure Pacific marten also requires continuous mature conifer.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation of Fish Creek and Cutthroat Spawning Habitat: Road cut-and-fill on the steep slopes of Phillips Canyon, Jensen Canyon, and Glory Slide intercepts subsurface flow and delivers chronic fine sediment to Fish Creek, Mesquite Creek, South Fork Granite Creek, and North Fork Trail Creek through ditch lines and culvert outlets. Fine sediment fills the gravel interstices that cutthroat trout use for spawning and rearing, and undersized culverts become hydraulic barriers to fish passage. These effects continue for decades because road prisms shed material long after construction.

• Carnivore Mortality and Habitat Fragmentation: Roads cut across the area would create permanent edges through Subalpine Spruce-Fir and Lodgepole Pine Forest, expose interior-forest birds to higher predation, and incur direct vehicle-strike mortality on grizzly bear, Canada lynx, wolverine, Pacific marten, and moose. Wide-ranging carnivores avoid road corridors, and even low-traffic roads reduce the effective habitat area available to these species. The connectivity that currently links Phillips Ridge to surrounding wilderness across Teton Pass would be measurably reduced.

• Whitebark Pine Disease Vectors and Invasive Plants: Construction equipment, vehicle traffic, and exposed cut slopes spread white pine blister rust spores and mountain pine beetle vectors that threaten the area's whitebark and limber pine stands, and introduce non-native plants such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) into Sagebrush Steppe and Aspen Forest understories. Whitebark pine, once lost, takes centuries to recolonize; cheatgrass once established along a road corridor is essentially permanent.

Phillips Ridge covers 10,108 acres on the Jackson Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, immediately south of Teton Pass in Teton County, Wyoming. Access is from Teton Pass on Wyoming Highway 22, the Phillips Bench Trailhead, and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Aerial Tram Trailhead. The area carries one of the most developed trail networks of any roadless area in the region, ranging from short day hikes to multi-day backcountry traverses.

The trail inventory anchors the area. The Phillips Ridge Trail (#4001B) runs 9.0 miles along the ridge spine and is used by hikers and mountain bikers. The Phillips Canyon Trail (#4001) covers 3.9 miles and accepts hiker, horse, and bike use. The Phillips Pass Trail (#4001C) climbs 4.4 miles to the pass and is open to hikers and stock. The Black Canyon Trail (#4004) extends 6.3 miles and is a multi-use route. The Arrow Trail (#4001A, 4.8 miles) is a designated bike route. The Ski Lake Trail (#4007) is a popular 3.4-mile foot route to the cirque lake. The Teton Crest South Trail (#6008A) covers 3.8 miles of the larger Teton Crest backcountry route. Shorter trails — the Phillips Connector (#4002B), Snotel Trail (#4001D), Fuzzy Bunny (#4002A), Jimmys Mom (#4002), and History Trail (#4004D) — fill out the network. The Old Pass Road (#4000) is a paved 3.5-mile route. No developed campgrounds are recorded within the area, but dispersed backcountry camping is widely practiced.

Mountain biking is a primary use here. The Arrow, Phillips Ridge, Phillips Canyon, Phillips Connector, Snotel, Fuzzy Bunny, Jimmys Mom, Black Canyon, and Old Pass Road routes all accept bike use, making this one of the most extensive bike-legal networks adjoining a roadless area in northwestern Wyoming. Backcountry skiing and snowboarding on Mount Glory, Glory Slide, and the bowls above Teton Pass are well known; the area receives heavy Teton snowfall and winter access is from the Teton Pass corridor.

Hunting takes wapiti (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and moose (Alces alces) — moose under limited-quota tag draws — from the lodgepole-spruce-fir mosaic, willow corridors, and meadow-forest edges. Wyoming Game and Fish Department hunt-area boundaries, license requirements, and season dates apply, and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) and black bear are present, requiring bear-safe food storage and awareness.

Fishing concentrates on Ski Lake and the headwater creeks — Fish Creek, Mesquite Creek, South Fork Granite Creek, and North Fork Trail Creek — which hold Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis). Anglers should follow Wyoming Game and Fish Department regulations.

Birding is exceptionally well-documented. Twenty-three eBird hotspots within 14 kilometers — Flat Creek (189 species), National Elk Refuge (184 species), Moose-Wilson Road (171 species), and many more — frame the regional species pool. Inside the area, expect black rosy-finch on the high snowfields, Clark's nutcracker in the whitebark pine, dusky grouse and Canada jay in the conifer, great gray owl in spruce-fir, broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds on aspen edges, and American dipper on the streams.

Every activity described here depends on the roadless condition. The undeveloped trail experience, the carnivore habitat, the cold cutthroat streams, the whitebark pine, and the backcountry ski terrain all turn on the absence of new roads within the polygon. Road construction would compress this country into the narrow strip a vehicle can reach.