Red Point

The Red Point roadless area encompasses 7,139 acres on the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest, spanning parts of Coconino and Kane counties in northern Arizona. The area occupies the upper Kaibab Plateau, one of the most elevated sections of the Colorado Plateau, and includes terrain along Orderville Canyon. The Rock Canyon watershed (HUC12: 150100010104) originates within the area, with surface water collecting in Findley Tank, South Rock Tank, Rock Canyon Trick Tank, Crane Lake, and Telephone Hill Tank. These impoundments represent the primary surface water features in an otherwise dry montane plateau landscape, and the Rock Canyon headwaters drain northward through terrain that transitions from dense montane forest toward the canyon country of southern Utah.

The area's vegetation reflects the full elevational range of the Kaibab Plateau, which supports a more diverse and complex suite of forest communities than the South Rim country to the south. Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland dominates broad expanses of the upper plateau, where Southwestern Ponderosa Pine (Pinus brachyptera) grows in stands that range from savanna-like to densely canopied. Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland (Quercus gambelii) forms transitional shrub zones between the ponderosa belt and adjacent community types. At higher and more sheltered positions, Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest and Rocky Mountain Dry and Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest occupy north-facing slopes and elevated terrain. Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest, with Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) at its center, occurs in patches along drainages and moist positions. Lower edges of the plateau support Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe. Characteristic understory species include Fendler's Whitethorn (Ceanothus fendleri), Silvery Lupine (Lupinus argenteus), Western Blue Iris (Iris missouriensis), Prairie Flax (Linum lewisii), and Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus). The rare Kaibab Indian-paintbrush (Castilleja kaibabensis)—Endemic to the Kaibab Plateau and listed as Critically Imperiled by NatureServe—is documented within this area.

The Red Point area's forests support a diverse bird community. Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) disperses conifer seeds across the upper forest zones, while Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) and Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) forage on the bark of mature ponderosa pines. Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) excavates nest cavities in aspen stands, creating structure used by secondary cavity nesters such as Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) and Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea). Flammulated Owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) hunts moths and other insects in ponderosa forest at night. Abert's Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) is nearly entirely dependent on ponderosa pine for food and cover. Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) use the aspen and mixed forest zones for summer range. The Kaibab Pincushion Cactus (Pediocactus paradinei), listed as Endangered by the IUCN, and Siler's Fishhook Cactus (Sclerocactus sileri), listed as Vulnerable, occur in the more open and rocky portions of the area. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

Moving through the Red Point area, a visitor passes through some of the most complete and diverse forest zonation on the Kaibab Plateau. The ponderosa pine woodlands give way to aspen groves where the land dips into shallow drainages, the pale bark and trembling leaves of aspen contrasting with the reddish trunks of the pine. In the mixed conifer and spruce-fir zones, the canopy closes overhead. Water tanks—Crane Lake, Findley Tank, and Rock Canyon Trick Tank among them—are clearings in the forest that serve as wildlife gathering points, particularly in the dry months before summer monsoon rains begin.

Human presence on the Kaibab Plateau and the broader Arizona Strip north of the Grand Canyon extends back at least 8,000 years, with archaeological evidence of successive cultures ranging from Archaic peoples through Ancestral Puebloans to the historic-period Southern Paiute [4]. The Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians—a constituent group of the Southern Paiute people, whose traditional lands spanned more than 600 miles along the Colorado River—regarded the entire region encompassing the southern half of Utah, northern Arizona, and portions of Nevada as ancestral territory [2]. The canyons, plateaus, and forested uplands of the Kaibab Plateau were central to Paiute hunting, gathering, and spiritual practice, with the area's high-elevation ponderosa forests and adjacent canyon country offering seasonal resources unavailable in the surrounding desert [1]. Multiple tribes, including the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Navajo Nation, Hopi, and others, consider these lands sacred ancestral homeland, and archaeological sites across the plateau document long-term occupation in the form of stone tools, pottery, and habitation features [1].

Euro-American knowledge of the North Kaibab and Arizona Strip remained limited well into the nineteenth century. While Europeans first documented the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1540, the first recorded European visit to the North Rim did not occur until 1776, when Spanish missionary Father Escalante passed through the region [4]. Mormon settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, drawn to the variation in elevation across the Strip, which offered both summer and winter ranges for livestock within a short distance. These settlers established sheep and cattle ranches and provided much of the labor and economic infrastructure for the surrounding communities, while their presence brought them into competition with local Navajo and Paiute populations for land and water resources [4].

Large-scale cattle ranching became the dominant land use on the Kaibab Plateau in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One enterprise, the Grand Canyon Cattle Company, ran more than 100,000 cattle in the region around the turn of the twentieth century, contributing to widespread degradation of the rangelands through overgrazing [4]. Logging also began in this period, with timber from the North Kaibab's ponderosa pine forests used to construct Mormon settlements in Kanab and St. George, Utah. Competition for rangeland resources and water created conflicts among cattlemen, sheepherders, and ranchers throughout this era.

In 1865, federal Indian agents began formally removing Southern Paiutes from their traditional lands onto reservations [2]. President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in February 1893 under the authority of the General Land Law Revision Act of 1891, initiating federal protection of the region's forest lands [3]. The Forest Reserve passed to the newly established U.S. Forest Service in 1905. In 1908, the North Kaibab portion became the Kaibab National Forest, drawing also on portions of the Dixie National Forest in Utah, which was consolidated with the Kaibab in March 1924 [3]. That same year—1924—the Kaibab deer herd, which had grown unchecked following the extermination of predators and the exclusion of livestock, reached an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 animals, far exceeding the plateau's carrying capacity; thousands died of starvation in a dramatic ecological collapse that became a landmark case in American wildlife management history [3][4].

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt had established the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve on the Kaibab Plateau specifically to protect game species; at that time an estimated 5,000 deer lived on the plateau [4]. The subsequent extirpation of wolves, mountain lions, and coyotes at the urging of ranchers accelerated the deer population explosion. The Kaibab Paiute Reservation was formally created in 1913 for the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, and in 1934 the tribe reorganized under the Indian Reorganization Act [2]. That same year, 1934, the Tusayan and Kaibab National Forests were merged into the consolidated Kaibab National Forest administered from Williams, Arizona, a configuration that includes the North Kaibab Ranger District, which administers the Red Point roadless area today [3]. Southern Paiute communities and other Tribal Nations continue to maintain cultural and spiritual ties to the Kaibab Plateau, gathering forest products and consulting with the Forest Service on management decisions affecting their ancestral landscape [1].

Federally Listed Species

The following federally listed species have potential or documented occurrence within the Red Point roadless area:

• Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi): Endangered
• Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus): Endangered
• Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida): Threatened [critical habitat]
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus): Threatened
• Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus suckleyi): Proposed Endangered
• Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus): Proposed Threatened
• California condor (Gymnogyps californianus): Experimental Population, Non-Essential

Vital Resources Protected

Interior Forest Habitat and Endemic Species Protection

The Red Point roadless area's 7,139 undeveloped acres preserve a contiguous block of Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland (31.5% of area), Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland (18.6%), Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Shrubland and Woodland, and Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest across the upper Kaibab Plateau. This intact interior forest supports the Kaibab Indian-paintbrush (Castilleja kaibabensis), endemic to the Kaibab Plateau and listed as Critically Imperiled by NatureServe, and the Kaibab Pincushion Cactus (Pediocactus paradinei), listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Both species occupy specific microhabitats within the area's plateau forest and open rocky ground; road construction and associated ground disturbance directly destroys such microhabitats and is identified as a documented threat to Pediocactus paradinei through transportation corridors.

Elevational Gradient Connectivity and Climate Refugia

The Red Point area spans one of the most complete forest elevation sequences on the Kaibab Plateau, from Intermountain Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe at lower margins through ponderosa pine and mixed conifer zones to Rocky Mountain Dry and Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest. This unbroken vertical gradient, maintained in roadless condition, preserves connectivity between habitat types that species depend on for seasonal movement and long-term range shifts under changing climate. Climate change is identified as a pervasive threat—affecting 71-100% of area extent—to multiple species here, including Mexican Spotted Owl and Park Pincushion Cactus, with habitat shifting and drought being the primary mechanisms; roadless connectivity allows species to track suitable conditions along the elevational gradient without road-imposed barriers.

Headwater and Tank Integrity

The Rock Canyon watershed (HUC12: 150100010104) originates within the Red Point area, with surface water distributed among Findley Tank, South Rock Tank, Rock Canyon Trick Tank, Crane Lake, and Telephone Hill Tank. On the upper Kaibab Plateau where surface water is scarce, these tanks and the Rock Canyon headwaters function as critical concentration points for wildlife and as microhabitat for moisture-dependent species such as Western Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium). Roadless conditions maintain natural catchment hydrology and minimize sediment inputs that would otherwise reduce the water-holding capacity of the tanks and impair the limited aquatic and riparian habitat available in this landscape.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

Fragmentation of Endemic Species Habitat

Road construction through the Red Point area would directly destroy and fragment the specific rocky plateau microhabitats where the IUCN Endangered Kaibab Pincushion Cactus (Pediocactus paradinei) and IUCN Vulnerable Siler's Fishhook Cactus (Sclerocactus sileri) grow. These species have restricted ranges by definition—confined to the Kaibab Plateau—meaning that habitat loss here cannot be compensated elsewhere. Transportation corridors are identified as a pervasive threat to Pediocactus paradinei; road grading and road use physically eliminates individuals and alters the soil surface conditions and microclimate that these cacti require.

Altered Fire Regime and Forest Stand Structure

The dominant forest communities in the Red Point area—Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland—are already affected by altered fire regimes stemming from a century of fire suppression, resulting in higher tree density and accumulated fuels. Road construction introduces new ignition sources, alters local wind and drying conditions through canopy openings, and allows vehicle-borne invasive plants such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) to establish along road edges. Cheatgrass invasion in adjacent pinyon-juniper and shrub communities increases fine fuel loads and shortens fire return intervals, converting native communities to exotic annual-dominated systems that resist restoration on decadal timescales.

Sedimentation and Degradation of Plateau Water Sources

Road construction and maintenance on the upper Kaibab Plateau would expose mineral soils on cut slopes across the Rock Canyon headwater catchment. Sediment transport from road surfaces and cut slopes into Findley Tank, South Rock Tank, Rock Canyon Trick Tank, and Crane Lake would reduce their water-holding capacity and impair the aquatic and semi-aquatic habitat they provide. Rocky Mountain Foothill Streamside Woodland—a community type already vulnerable to road development through altered hydrology and channel downcutting—occupies the area's limited linear drainages; road crossings and culvert installations alter streamflow dynamics in ways that are typically difficult to reverse.

The Red Point roadless area covers 7,139 acres on the North Kaibab Ranger District of Kaibab National Forest, on the upper Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona near the Utah border. Two long-distance national trails cross the district, and the area's diverse forest and the nearby Vermilion Cliffs corridor support birding and wildlife observation opportunities unusual even by Arizona standards.

Trails

The Arizona Trail (Trail 101) provides the primary formal access route, extending 52.1 miles across the North Kaibab Ranger District on a native material surface and designated for use by hikers and mountain bikers. Two verified trailheads serve the Arizona Trail on the district at the State Route 205/67 corridor. The Great Western Trail (Trail 150), running 94.0 miles across the district on native material surface, provides additional long-distance access for hikers and equestrians. No maintained campgrounds are verified within the roadless area itself; overnight visitors use dispersed camping along the trail corridors or facilities at Jacob Lake Campground approximately 24 kilometers from the area.

Mountain Biking and Hiking

The Arizona Trail (Trail 101) is the primary designated bike route through the North Kaibab district and passes through the full range of forest communities present in the Red Point area—from pinyon-juniper shrubland at lower elevations through ponderosa pine woodland to mixed conifer forest. The native material surface and the vertical relief of the Kaibab Plateau provide varied terrain. Hikers on the Arizona Trail or the Great Western Trail can access Orderville Canyon terrain, where the plateau edge offers views into adjacent canyon systems.

Hunting and Wildlife Observation

The North Kaibab Ranger District supports hunting for wapiti (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), American bison (Bison bison), and Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) under Arizona Game and Fish Department regulations. The documented presence of American bison on the upper Kaibab Plateau is notable; bison use the area's open ponderosa savanna and mixed conifer zones. Abert's Squirrel (Sciurus aberti), dependent on ponderosa pine, is abundant across the upper plateau forest. Hunters should consult current Arizona Game and Fish regulations for applicable seasons, permit requirements, and unit boundaries before planning any trip to this district.

Birding

Eight eBird hotspots within 24 kilometers of the Red Point area have recorded 73 to 132 species. The Vermilion Cliffs Condor Viewing Site—with 953 checklists and 127 species recorded—provides documented access to California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), which soars over the Kaibab Plateau and adjacent canyon country. The Kaibab NF--DeMotte Campground hotspot has recorded 132 species across 201 checklists, including many of the forest species present within the roadless area. Within the Red Point area, the subalpine and mixed conifer zones support American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis), Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), and Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina). Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) and Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) use the more open ponderosa and aspen zones. Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is conspicuous at higher elevations. Birders working the Arizona Trail trailhead at SR 205/67 can access both the upper plateau forest and lower pinyon-juniper zones within a single outing.

Natural History and Photography

The Red Point area's water features—Crane Lake, Rock Canyon Trick Tank, Findley Tank, South Rock Tank, and Telephone Hill Tank—draw wildlife concentrated in an otherwise dry upper plateau landscape. The tanks are productive photography locations, particularly during the dry season before summer monsoon rains, when wapiti, mule deer, bison, and raptors concentrate around standing water. The Kaibab Pincushion Cactus (Pediocactus paradinei), endemic to this plateau and listed as Endangered by the IUCN, grows in rocky openings and represents a plant photography subject found nowhere else on Earth.

Roadless Character and Recreation Quality

The recreational value of the Red Point area rests on its undeveloped, backcountry character. The Arizona Trail and Great Western Trail traverse unbroken interior forest across the plateau without road crossings in this section; bison and wapiti move freely through the forest without the behavioral disruption that vehicle corridors cause. The California Condor's documented use of the plateau airspace and adjacent canyon edges depends on an absence of the collision hazards that power lines and infrastructure associated with road development introduce. The Kaibab Pincushion Cactus microhabitats that make this area significant for natural history observation exist precisely because rocky ground surfaces here have not been graded or disturbed.