Sipsey Wilderness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sipsey Wilderness | |
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| IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area) | |
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| Location: | Alabama, USA |
| Nearest city: | Little Rock, AL |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 24,992 acres (101 km²) |
| Established: | 1975 |
| Governing body: | U.S. Forest Service |
The Sipsey Wilderness lies within Bankhead National Forest around the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River in northwestern Alabama, USA. The Sipsey Wilderness is the third largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River. Designated in 1975 and expanded in 1988, the 24,900 acre (101 km²) Sipsey is the largest and most frequently visited Wilderness area in Alabama.
The wilderness consists of the low plateau of Brindley Mountain which is dissected into a rough landscape by several creeks and rivers. Due to this landscape, waterfalls are very common in the wilderness. This feature has earned the wilderness the nickname "Land of 1000 Waterfalls."
Much of the wilderness was once logged, but new growth forests have now taken hold in the logged areas. Some old growth stands can also be found in the wilderness.
The Sipsey Wilderness helped to show that a smaller plot of restored land in the eastern US could be a wilderness just as much as a larger tract of virgin land in the west. This change in concept is reflected in the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act of 1975 which created the first federal wilderness areas in the east.
