Golden Trout Wilderness

Infobox_protected_area | name = Golden Trout Wilderness
iucn_category = VI

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caption = Map of the United States
locator_x = 19
locator_y = 92
location = 46
nearest_city = Visalia, California
lat_degrees = 36
lat_minutes = 18
lat_seconds = 0
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 118
long_minutes = 19
long_seconds = 19
long_direction = W
area = 303,511 acres
established = 1978
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = USDA / US Forest ServiceThe Golden Trout Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located 40 miles east of Visalia, California within Inyo National Forest. It is 303,511 acres [ [http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=acreage&WID=210 Wildernes.net data page on the Golden Trout Wilderness] retrieved 19 Sept, 2008] in size and was created by the US Congress in 1978 as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The wilderness is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Elevations range from 3, convert|680|ft|m to convert|12900|ft|m.

Recreational activities include day hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and mountaineering.

Within the wilderness are portions of the Kern Plateau, the Great Western Divide 's southern extension, and the main stem of the Kern River, the South Fork of the Kern and the Little Kern River.

The wilderness area is bordered on the northeast and northwest by the high peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cirque Peak is the high point at convert|12900|ft|m.

Kern Plateau

The Kern Plateau is a large tableland with sprawling meadows, narrow grasslands along streams, and forested ridges and flats. The centerpiece of the plateau is Kern Peak (11,510 ft) which has far-reaching vistas of the middle and upper Kern River drainage and much of the far southern Sierra, including Olancha Peak, the southern Kaweah Range, the mountains of the Mineral King area, and the Dome Land Wilderness of the far southern Sierra.

Located in both Sequoia and Inyo national forests, this 500,000 acre plateau had been the center of a battle between preservationists and mutiple-use advocates. Before 1947, there was little incentive to develop the area, but that changed with the Secretary of Agriculture's plan to manage the area along mutiple-use guidelines due to its proximity to population centers. In addition, there was an epidemic of insect damage in the commercial timber, which was estimated at 30 million board feet. [Godfrey, Anthony "The Ever-Changing View-A History of the National Forests in California" USDA Forest Service Publishers, 2005 p. 387] A growing market for lumber added more pressure to develop the area and in 1956, a mutiple-use management plan was completed that included a timber sale on the plateau.

Wilderness advocates wanted to preserve the plateau, and opposed the forest service plan at public meetings. But, because no new facts were presented, the forest service went ahead with the timber sale which included building an access road. The sale contract contained special provisions to assure that the timber operators recognized them as they logged. A second road was constructed despite strong opposition from the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and the Kern Plateau Association.The Kern Plateau controversy in the 1950s deepened the chasm between the forest service and wilderness proponents. According to former regional forester Doug Leisz, "The Kern Plateau use controvery was the beginning of the preservationists vs. use fight which has since touched public lands over the entire country." (although an argument can be made that the battle over Hetch Hetchy with John Muir was the beginning.) [Godfrey, Anthony "The Ever-Changing View-A History of the National Forests in California" USDA Forest Service Publishers, 2005 pp 388-389]

California state fish

The golden trout is California's state fish [ The golden trout (Salmo agua-bonita) is native only to California and was named the official state fish by act of the State Legislature in 1947. Originally the species was found only in a few streams in the icy headwaters of the Kern River. Stocking of wild and hatchery-reared fish has extended its range to many waters at high elevation in the Sierra Nevada from El Dorado and Alpine Counties southward. It has also been planted in other states. Source: [http://www.library.ca.gov/history/symbols.html#Heading6 State website.] retrieved 18 May 2008] and there are two distinct native subspecies protected in this wilderness. One is the South Fork Kern golden trout and the other is the Little Kern golden trout. Pure-strain Little Kern trout are restricted to isolated populations above natural fish barriers in the Little Kern drainage area and are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act. [ [http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/species/t_e_spp/fish.html California Dept. of Fish and Game list of endangered fish, #30] ]

Recreation and restrictions

There are convert|379|mi|km of trail including the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which stays above convert|10000|ft|m elevation for most of the convert|25|mi|km|sing=on route through the Golden Trout Wilderness.Permits are required for all overnight use and there is a quota in effect for the Cottonwood Pass Trailhead. [ [http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/quotas.shtml List of wilderness areas of Inyo National Forest with quotas.] ] Other restrictions include a ban on fires along the PCT between Cottonwood Pass to the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness and also at the Rocky Basin Lake area.

References

Adkinson, Ron "Wild Northern California". The Globe Pequot Press, 2001

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/animal_spp_acct/little_kern_golden_trout.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service document on the Little Kern golden trout.] Retrieved 28 May 2008
* [http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Golden%20Trout Wilderness.net fact sheet] . Retrieved 28 May 2008
* [http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2412805000095553768BGQEvi Photo of Great Western Divide in the Golden Trout Wilderness.]
* [http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/152203/cirque-peak.html Summitpost webpage on Cirque Peak] .