Ward Mountain

The Ward Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area covers 15,927 acres in the Egan Range east of Ely, Nevada, within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The area takes in Ward Mountain itself, the Upper Terrace, Gallaghers Canyon, Lowry Canyon, Sawmill Canyon and its North Fork, and Open Spring Canyon. The roadless area carries the headwaters of Middle Steptoe Creek, fed by Holt Creek, Holt Camp Creek, Lowry Spring, Pine Spring, Ice Plant Spring, North Springs, and Blackrock Spring. Hydrology here is of major regional significance: the springs and headwater creeks on Ward Mountain feed the perennial flow in lower Middle Steptoe Creek and supply the Steptoe Valley below.

Vegetation tracks an elevation gradient from the warm pinyon-juniper foothills to the bristlecone band on the crest. Lower slopes are held by Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland with single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla), Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), and Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) over big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata). Above this, Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland carries curl-leaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) along rocky south- and west-facing ridges. The mid-elevation slopes hold Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest of white fir (Abies concolor) and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). The highest country carries Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest with Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland with bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis), and Rocky Mountain Subalpine Meadow and Rocky Mountain Alpine Meadow on the summit ridges. Streamside woodland of choke cherry (Prunus virginiana), mountain maple (Acer glabrum), and Wood's rose threads each spring-fed canyon.

The pinyon-juniper woodland supports pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), the central seed disperser of single-leaf pinyon. Cassin's finch (Haemorhous cassinii), evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus), and Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae) work the mixed conifer and aspen edges. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) hold the conifer-aspen ecotone. Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri) and sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) work the sagebrush slopes. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) move between the lower pinyon woodland and the high mahogany and aspen zones; pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) cross the lower steppe basins. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunt the ridges and steppe; rufous and broad-tailed hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus, S. platycercus) follow the bloom sequence through summer. Greater short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) occupies the warmer ground. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler entering through Sawmill Canyon or Lowry Canyon walks up through pinyon-juniper into stringers of mountain mahogany, then breaks into aspen and white fir on the cool side of the draws. The springs — Pine, Lowry, Ice Plant — open small bands of riparian green in otherwise dry country. Above timberline, bristlecone-and-limber-pine ridges hold the wind on the Upper Terrace, with long views east into Steptoe Valley and west into the next basin. In late summer, the Indian paintbrush along the meadows attracts rufous hummingbirds; in fall the aspens turn gold against the dark conifer slopes.

The Ward Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area lies in the southern Egan Range east of Ely, Nevada, within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest's Ely Ranger District. This country has been Western Shoshone homeland since long before American settlement. "The Western Shoshone people have inhabited Eastern Nevada since prehistoric times. Several Newe villages (Duck Creek, McGill, Warm Springs, Schellbourne, Egan Canyon and Cherry Creek) were located in Steptoe Valley. Ely was the largest village in the valley" [1]. "Throughout the valley; rabbit and antelope drives, along with deer hunts were held on a regular basis" [1]. "There is evidence and stories still told today that Shoshones traveled north and south through the Ward Mountain range" [1]. The Ely Shoshone Tribe, "one of the nine bands of what is known as the Western Shoshone Nation," is a "signatory of the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 entered into with the United States of America" [1].

Mining transformed the south slope of Ward Mountain in 1872. "Silver ore was discovered here in 1872 when freighters were looking for oxen that were grazing in the Willow Creek Basin area. The Ward Mining District, located two miles north of the park, was then developed" [2]. "In April 1875, the Martin & White Company from San Francisco invested money to extract silver ore, bought up several small claims and built smelters (furnaces) for melting ores" [2]. To feed the smelters, six beehive charcoal ovens were built along Willow Creek and "were used from 1876 through 1879 to help process rich silver ore" [2]. "Pinion pine was the raw material fed to the ovens. Each oven could produce a $600 batch of charcoal which sold for 18 cents a bushel" [3]. "A million dollars worth of silver was taken from a single chamber of the Ward mine. The boom lasted from 1872 to 1882" [3]. "As the successful mining began to taper off, most of the land within 35 miles was clear-cut of trees to be used in the ovens, mine bracing, and other uses" [4]. The town of Ward "officially died in 1888 when the post office closed" [4]. The Newe villages of Steptoe Valley were displaced as well: "Once the Copper Company moved into the area, the Newe people were forced to move due to homes being built on the land they occupied" [1].

Federal administration of the high country followed. The "Nevada National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in Nevada on February 10, 1909 with 556,072 acres" [6], and "it is likely that Ely served as the SO for the Nevada National Forest when it was established in 1909" [5]. The Forest Service later built a warehouse compound in Ely in the 1930s, and "the Murray Summit Cabin... was constructed at the Ward Mountain campground in 1956 and moved to the Ely site around 1989" [5] — a small surviving artifact of mid-twentieth-century forest recreation development on the mountain. "On October 1, 1957 the forest was divided between Humboldt National Forest and the reinstated Toiyabe National Forest" [6], leaving Ward Mountain administered by the Humboldt and ultimately by the joined Humboldt-Toiyabe.

The 15,927-acre Ward Mountain roadless area is managed today within the Ely Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Spring-Fed Headwater Protection: The roadless designation preserves the Middle Steptoe Creek headwaters and the discrete springs that feed them — Lowry Spring, Pine Spring, Ice Plant Spring, North Springs, and Blackrock Spring — along with Holt Creek and Holt Camp Creek. These springs supply the only perennial water on the upper Egan Range and sustain the streamside woodland that runs down each canyon. Without roads above the springs, recharge surfaces remain undisturbed and sediment delivery into the channels stays low.

• Elevational Gradient Connectivity: Within 15,927 acres the area carries an unbroken sequence from Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland (32.7%) and Great Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe at the base, through Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland (21.3%) and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest, into Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest (15.4%) and finally Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland (7.6%) and Rocky Mountain Alpine Meadow on the summit ridges. The roadless condition keeps this gradient continuous, allowing mule deer to track seasonal forage upslope and downslope and giving climate-sensitive species the option of shifting their ranges.

• Mature Pinyon-Juniper and Mahogany Woodland: Pinyon-juniper and mountain-mahogany together cover more than half the area. Pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), under ESA review, depends on cone-bearing single-leaf pinyon stands for its food and is regionally declining. Without roads, the existing fire regime stays intact, cheatgrass cover stays limited, and the mature cone-bearing trees that pinyon jay requires persist.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Spring Disruption and Sediment Delivery: Road construction across the slopes above Lowry, Pine, Ice Plant, North, and Blackrock springs would expose cut-slope sediment to runoff and concentrate flow into ditches that bypass the natural recharge surface. The result is chronic sedimentation of Holt Creek and Holt Camp Creek and altered groundwater paths feeding the springs themselves. In an arid range where these springs are the only year-round water, any reduction in flow cascades through the streamside woodland and the Middle Steptoe Creek system below.

• Cheatgrass-Fire Cycle in Pinyon-Juniper and Sagebrush: A road corridor through Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and the sagebrush belt opens a documented invasion path for cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Pinyon-juniper systems were historically restricted to fire-safe rocky ridges with low fine-fuel cover; cheatgrass invasion increases fine fuels and shortens fire-return intervals, converting woodland and sagebrush to annual grassland in stand-replacing fire events. Loss of mature pinyon stands removes pinyon jay habitat and the seed crop that sustains regeneration across the range.

• Subalpine Disease Introduction: Roading into the Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland imports the spores of white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) on tires and equipment into bristlecone-and-limber-pine stands that have so far escaped infection because of their isolation. Construction also compacts thin alpine soils and shears the slow-growing root structure of the long-lived trees. Because bristlecone and limber pine grow on the order of millimeters per year, structural recovery from disturbance plays out over centuries.

The Ward Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area covers 15,927 acres in the Egan Range east of Ely, Nevada, on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest's Ely Ranger District. Terrain runs from pinyon-juniper foothills at the base through aspen-and-conifer slopes into bristlecone-pine ridges on the crest, with named drainages including Gallaghers, Lowry, Sawmill, and Open Spring canyons. The Ward Mountain Campground, originally developed in the mid-twentieth century, sits on the lower slopes.

Hiking and Backcountry Travel

The area carries one of the densest trail networks of any Humboldt-Toiyabe roadless area, with more than 40 miles of marked native-surface tread across roughly two dozen routes. The longest is the Ward trail (19701) at 4.9 miles; the Ice Plant ATV Loop (19208) runs 4.6 miles; the Ice Plant Canyon trail (19700, hiker-designated) covers 4.5 miles; the South Gallagher trail (19203) runs 3.2 miles; and the Ice Plant trail (19500) covers 2.7 miles. Shorter connectors and spurs — Iceplant Connector (19092, hiker), Lowery Connector (19206), PJ Trail (19508), North Gallagher (19204), and Lowery Canyon (19504) — link the main lines into loops. Access is from forest roads on the perimeter and from the Ward Mountain Campground.

Hunting

The pinyon-juniper, mountain mahogany, and aspen-conifer cover supports mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) under Nevada Department of Wildlife regulations. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) hold the conifer-aspen edge. Mountain mahogany ridges hold deer through winter. Hunters access the area on foot or horseback from the perimeter road network and the campground.

Birding and Wildlife Watching

Five eBird hotspots lie within 24 km of the area, with up to 157 species recorded at the most active (Steptoe Valley WMA — Comins Lake, with 547 checklists). Inside the roadless area itself, the elevation gradient stacks distinct bird assemblages: pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), Woodhouse's scrub-jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii), and bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) in the pinyon-juniper; Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri) and sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) in the sagebrush; western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) and dusky grouse in the conifer-aspen edges. Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) work the higher slopes.

Camping and Photography

The Ward Mountain Campground provides a developed base camp on the mountain. Dispersed camping is also allowed under Humboldt-Toiyabe rules — pack out human waste, stay 200 feet from springs and creeks, and observe seasonal fire restrictions. Photographers can work the bristlecone-and-limber-pine ridges of the Upper Terrace, the aspen draws in fall color, and the dawn light over Steptoe Valley from the east-facing slopes. The Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park, just south of the roadless area, makes a striking photographic subject; the six beehive ovens sit at the base of the mountain.

What the Roadless Condition Preserves

The recreation here depends on the existing trail and campground access — not on additional road construction. The springs that feed Middle Steptoe Creek remain undisturbed by cut slopes; the bristlecone ridges on the Upper Terrace remain accessible only by foot, horse, or the marked trails; the pinyon jay habitat in the lower woodland remains intact. New road construction would deliver sediment to Holt Creek and Holt Camp Creek, open invasion corridors for cheatgrass into the pinyon-juniper, and break the unfragmented mule deer habitat that gives the area its winter range value.