South Wyoming Range

The South Wyoming Range encompasses 85,776 acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming, occupying the southern spine of the Wyoming Range above Star Valley and the Green River Basin. The terrain is mountainous and montane, with high points at Wyoming Peak, Triple Peak, Mount Darby, Lander Peak, and Mount Coffin, and named passes at Box Canyon Pass and Cheese Pass. Water is a defining feature: the area is the major source of dozens of named streams, including Upper North Piney Creek headwaters, South Cottonwood Creek, Middle Piney Creek, Lake Creek, Fish Creek, and the East Fork Greys River. Middle Piney Lake and North Piney Lake sit among the high cirques, and Lewis Falls, Wohelo Falls, and Menace Falls drop from glacial benches.

Forest communities arrange themselves along the elevational gradient. The foothills carry Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Rocky Mountain Foothill Limber Pine-Juniper Woodland, with arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), Wyoming Indian paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia), and Lewis flax (Linum lewisii) along the open slopes. Mid-elevations carry Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest and extensive Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest, with Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest brightening the moister benches. Above 9,000 feet, Rocky Mountain Dry and Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest gives way to Northern Rockies Subalpine Woodland and Parkland, where whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis, endangered globally) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) anchor the treeline. Rocky Mountain Alpine Meadow holds sky pilot (Polemonium viscosum), alpine collomia (Collomia debilis), Parry's primrose (Primula parryi), and the tall white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata, vulnerable). Rocky Mountain Alpine Rocky Terrain caps the highest summits.

The cold tributaries hold native Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) and introduced brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), with American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) feeding from midstream rocks and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) and western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) in slack-water margins. Moose (Alces alces) browse willow along the creek bottoms; mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) summer in the aspen and meadow edges. On the high talus, American pika (Ochotona princeps) gather forage from alpine herbs, and yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) sun on the rocks. Wolverine (Gulo gulo) range across the upper basins. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) drum in conifer cover, and rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus, near threatened) work the seep meadows. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler on the Wyoming Range National Recreation Trail moves the length of this country on foot or horse, with side trails climbing to Wyoming Peak and dropping into Box Canyon and Lunch Creek Meadows. From McDougal Gap or the South Piney trailhead, the route passes between subalpine fir and through open whitebark groves on the ridgeline. Below, the creeks gather in cirques — Middle Piney Lake, North Piney Lake — and spill over Lewis Falls toward the valley. The sound of falling water carries far in the thin air.

The slopes of the South Wyoming Range have carried human presence for thousands of years. Three archaeological sites within Sublette County place indigenous peoples in this country deep in prehistory: the J. David Love Site, south of present-day Pinedale, contains the oldest known burial in Wyoming, radiocarbon-dated to 7,200 years ago, and the Trapper's Point Antelope Kill Site dates to between 7,880 and 4,690 years ago [2]. Archaeological data suggest people have lived in this valley for at least 9,000 years [2]. In the centuries before Euro-American contact, the Green River valley to the east was summer home to Shoshone people, documented by Wilson Price Hunt in 1811, and a crossroads visited by Crow, and possibly Blackfeet, Arapaho, Ute, and Bannock [2]. The Eastern Shoshones coalesced from groups along the Snake, Green, and Bear rivers in the early 1700s after acquiring horses [1]. In 1868, Chief Washakie signed the second Treaty of Fort Bridger, securing the Wind River Reservation for the Eastern Shoshones [1].

European trappers entered Wyoming as early as 1807, and from 1825 to 1840 the Rocky Mountain fur trade rendezvous were held annually in the Green River country. Six rendezvous met near the junction of Horse Creek and the Green River, just east of the South Wyoming Range, in 1833, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1839, and 1840 [2]. The fur trade collapsed when silk hats replaced beaver in eastern markets, and the last rendezvous was held in 1840 [2]. In 1857–1859, federal engineer Frederick W. Lander surveyed and supervised construction of the Lander Cutoff, the only portion of the Oregon Trail built with government funds; the road climbed north of present-day Big Piney and ran up South Piney Creek through Snyder Basin and Star Valley toward Fort Hall, Idaho [2]. South Piney Creek is one of the watercourses draining the South Wyoming Range today.

In the late 1870s, cattlemen recognized the grazing potential of these mountain meadows, and ranches were established along the major Green River tributaries; ranchers later developed irrigation to raise hay after the blizzard of 1889–1890 destroyed many herds [2]. The transcontinental railroad of 1867–1868 created demand for ties, and skilled "tie-hacks" from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Austria hand-hewed lodgepole pine into ties and floated them down the Green River. Tie-hack operations spread south into the North and South Cottonwood Creek drainages of the Wyoming Range northwest of Big Piney, flourishing there through the 1920s and 1930s, and moved north to the Horse Creek drainages in the 1930s; the era ended in 1940 when the Union Pacific stopped accepting hand-hewn, river-driven ties [2].

Federal forest administration arrived in this country during the Progressive Era. The Teton National Forest, named after the mountain range, was established in 1908; the Bridger National Forest, named for the explorer Jim Bridger, was established in 1911 [3]. The two were administratively combined in 1973 to form the Bridger-Teton National Forest [3]. Oil and natural-gas drilling in Sublette County began in 1907 near the future La Barge field, and the industry has remained a defining presence in the region ever since [2]. The 85,776-acre South Wyoming Range roadless area lies within the Big Piney Ranger District and is protected today under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Headwater Protection. This 85,776-acre tract is the source of dozens of named streams — Upper North Piney Creek headwaters, South Cottonwood Creek, Fish Creek, the East Fork Greys River, and many others — that drain to both the Green River and the Greys River systems. The roadless condition keeps cut-bank sediment, culvert blockages, and channel rerouting out of the spawning gravels used by native Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout, and downstream these waters feed habitat in the Colorado River system for federally endangered Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail, and razorback sucker, whose recovery depends on cold, clean flows reaching the Green River.

• Climate Refugia for Upper-Elevation Species. The high subalpine and alpine zones of the South Wyoming Range provide refugia for species pushed upslope by warming. Federally threatened whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), dependent on cool, snow-rich treeline, anchors the upper forest here, while American pika and federally threatened North American wolverine require the cold talus and persistent snowpack that the unfragmented elevational gradient maintains. The connected ridge-to-cirque corridor is also habitat used by federally threatened Canada lynx and grizzly bear seasonal range.

• Unfragmented Sagebrush-Conifer Connectivity. Closed-canopy Rocky Mountain Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest and extensive Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe transition seamlessly across the roadless boundary, providing migration corridors for mule deer and moose moving from summer high country to winter range. The absence of permanent roads preserves the unfragmented sagebrush blocks that support sage-associated fauna and limits the spread of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and other exotics that follow soil disturbance.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation and stream temperature increase. Road construction on the steep, snow-fed slopes above North Piney, South Cottonwood, and Fish Creeks would deliver chronic sediment pulses from cut slopes and ditch lines into spawning gravels used by Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout, embedding the substrate and degrading downstream habitat for endangered Colorado River fishes. Canopy removal at stream crossings raises summer water temperatures above the thermal tolerance of native trout, an effect that persists for decades after the road footprint is established.

• Loss of climate refugia connectivity. Roads break the continuous elevational gradient that allows pika, wolverine, lynx, and other cold-adapted species to track suitable habitat as climate warms. Whitebark pine stands above 9,000 feet — already in decline from white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetle — are particularly vulnerable to ignition and disturbance along road access, and once the high ridge is fragmented, the dispersal corridors that allow seedling regeneration across the range are lost.

• Invasive species and habitat fragmentation along corridors. Road construction introduces a permanent vector for cheatgrass, smooth brome (Bromus inermis), musk thistle (Carduus nutans), and other documented invasives that establish on disturbed soil and out-compete native vegetation. Combined with edge effects — drying, wind exposure, predator access — fragmentation of sagebrush steppe and aspen-conifer stands reduces the habitat value of the surrounding intact blocks well beyond the road footprint itself, and reversal requires active restoration over decades.

The South Wyoming Range supports an extensive network of hiker and horse trails across 85,776 acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The Wyoming Range National Recreation Trail (NRT) traverses the spine of the area in multiple signed sections — A (4.5 miles), B (3.5), C (7.1), E (4.5), F (7.5), G (6.0), H (1.4), and I (0.9), among others — for a combined distance of more than thirty miles of native-material trail open to hikers and horse parties. Access is from McDougal Gap, South Piney, Middle Piney Lake, Crow Creek, Spring Creek, Fish Creek, South Cottonwood, Marten Creek, North Fork Sheep Creek, and Straight Creek trailheads. Side trails climb to the Wyoming Peak summit (4.8 miles), drop into Box Canyon (3.2 miles), and follow named drainages including North Piney Creek (7.5 miles), Lake Creek (5.0 miles), South Piney Creek (5.3 miles), and Eagle Creek (5.1 miles).

Three developed campgrounds anchor weekend access: Sacajawea Campground, Middle Piney Lake Campground, and Forest Park Campground. Beyond these, dispersed backcountry camping is permitted on national forest land throughout the area, with no designated sites required. Backpackers using the NRT corridor commonly base out of Middle Piney Lake or Sacajawea and ride into the high cirques.

Cold-water angling is supported on streams draining the area. Native Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold in the upper reaches of North Piney Creek, South Cottonwood Creek, Fish Creek, and the East Fork Greys River; brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are present throughout the system. Middle Piney Lake and North Piney Lake hold cold-water fisheries accessible by trail. Big-game hunting under Wyoming Game and Fish Department regulations is supported throughout the area, with mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and moose (Alces alces) as the primary species pursued in season. Hunters and outfitters enter on foot or horseback from the trailheads listed above, carrying gear without motorized assistance.

Winter access shifts to snow travel. The Greys River Snowmobile Trail covers 31.2 miles on the western flank of the range, providing oversnow access from the Greys River valley during the winter season. Backcountry skiing and snowshoeing are supported on the unplowed trail corridors and adjoining ridges. The area carries deep, persistent snowpack into late spring.

Photographers and nature observers find subject matter throughout the elevational range — Wyoming Peak summit panoramas, the cirque pools of Roaring Fork Lakes and North Piney Lake, the falls at Lewis, Wohelo, and Menace, and the seasonal alpine bloom of sky pilot, Parry's primrose, and Wyoming Indian paintbrush. Wildlife viewing on foot turns up moose along the willow bottoms, dusky grouse in the lodgepole, and American pika and yellow-bellied marmot on the high talus.

What the South Wyoming Range provides — connected hiker and horse trails along an unbroken spine, native trout in cold tributaries, big-game habitat for deer and moose on unfragmented summer range, and deep snow for backcountry winter travel — depends on the roadless condition. Each trail accesses the country on foot from a perimeter trailhead; cold-water angling depends on the sediment-free streams produced by intact slopes; big-game populations depend on unfragmented seasonal range; and the winter quiet that backcountry skiers seek is the quiet of an unroaded ridge.