Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness

Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
The Vermilion Cliffs seen from the floor of the river valley
Location	Coconino County, Arizona / Kane County, Utah, USA
Nearest city	Page, Arizona
Coordinates	36°53′46″N 111°49′37″W / 36.8960968°N 111.8268367°W / 36.8960968; -111.8268367Coordinates: 36°53′46″N 111°49′37″W / 36.8960968°N 111.8268367°W / 36.8960968; -111.8268367[1]
Area	112,500 acres (455 km2)[2]
Established	August 28, 1984
Governing body	U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a 112,500 acres (455 km²) wilderness area located in northern Arizona and southern Utah, USA, within the arid Colorado Plateau region. The wilderness is composed of broad plateaus, tall escarpments, and deep canyons.

The Paria River flows through the wilderness before joining the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry, Arizona.

The U.S. Congress designated the wilderness area in 1984 and it was largely incorporated into the new Vermilion Cliffs National Monument proclaimed in 2000 by executive order of President Bill Clinton.

Both the wilderness area and the National Monument are administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The Colorado Plateau and its river basins are of immense value in the Earth sciences, specifically chronostratigraphy, as the region contains multiple terrain features exposing miles-thick contiguous rock columns geologists and paleobiologists use as reference strata of the geologic record.^[3]

Human history

Ancient petroglyphs, granaries, and campsites indicate that ancestral Puebloan people utilized the Wilderness between AD 200 and AD 1200. They hunted mule deer and bighorn sheep and grew corn, beans, and squash in the lower end of the canyon. Paiute people later occupied and traveled much of the area before Europeans arrived. Because no habitations or large villages have been found in the canyon, researchers believe the canyon was primarily used as a travel route.^[4][5]

The first documented Europeans in the area were Fathers Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition. The expedition stopped at the mouth of the Paria River in 1776 after they unsuccessfully attempted to establish a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California. The 19th century drew outlaws who hid out in the Wilderness and prospectors who mined gold, uranium, and other minerals.^[4][5]

Wildlife

A variety of wildlife makes its home in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness.

Birds

Many bird species are found in the Wilderness, including bald eagle, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, and Cooper's hawk. Other birds seen in the Wilderness include white-throated swift, violet-green swallow, rock wren, canyon wren, killdeer, cliff swallow, black-throated sparrow, ruby-crowned kinglet, blue-gray gnatcatcher, black-chinned hummingbird, great blue heron, flycatchers and various species of duck.^[6] The Wilderness was the location of a 1996 release of captively-bred endangered California condors in an attempt to re-introduce them to the wild.^[7]

Mammals

Mammals found in the Wilderness include mule deer, bobcat, fox, mountain lion, porcupine, beaver, coyote, jack rabbit, cottontail rabbit, ground squirrels, kangaroo rat, and various other rodent species. Desert bighorn sheep were successfully reintroduced to Paria Canyon in the 1980s and are usually found in the cliffs and crags of the lower canyon.^[6]

Reptiles and amphibians

A variety of reptiles live in the Wilderness, including rattlesnake, chuckwalla, side-blotched lizard, leopard lizard, desert spiny lizard, and collared lizard. The red-spotted toad can be spotted in the canyon and four species of fish are occasionally found in the Paria River - the flannel mouth sucker, bluehead sucker, razorback sucker, and speckled dace.^[6]

Vegetation

Vegetation in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness can be divided into three different zones of riparian vegetation communities, which run parallel to each side of the river. Plants found closest to the water include cattails, common reeds, sedges, rushes, and horsetails.^[8]

Drier soil farther from the water makes a good environment for woody vegetation which has survived the repeated flooding, such as coyote willow, cottonwood, ash, tamarisk, and seep-willow. This zone is referred to as the "regeneration site" because some of the trees that grow here survive to produce the next generation of mature canopy.^[8]

Beyond the regeneration site trees grow strong and tall. Dominant vegetation includes cottonwood, willow, ash, and tamarisk. This zone is the fringe between riparian and desert uplands, often sharing vegetation like rabbitbrush, Indian ricegrass, arrowweed, and sand dropseed.^[8]

Other vegetation found in the Wilderness include pinyon pine, juniper, boxelder, various species of cactus, and other desert flora.

Recreation

Hiking is the most common recreational activity in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, followed by camping, photography, and canyoneering. Hikes through Paria Canyon are popular. The White House Trailhead is the main entrance and, therefore, more popular than the other trailheads in the Wilderness. Wire Pass Trailhead is the starting point for hiking into the canyon via Buckskin Gulch, as well as to spectacular sandstone formations such as The Wave on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes.^[9]

The BLM has placed a limit on overnight camping in the Paria Canyon portion of the Wilderness in order to protect it from overuse. It is also necessary to obtain a permit for the popular hike to the Wave formation in Coyote Buttes.^[2][9]

See also

• Wilderness Act
• List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
• List of Arizona Wilderness Areas
• List of Arizona Wilderness Areas

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

• "Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
• "On-Line Recreation Permits". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
• "Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness". Wilderness.net. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 

Protected areas of Utah Federal National Parks Arches Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Zion NPS National Monuments Cedar Breaks Dinosaur Hovenweep Natural Bridges Rainbow Bridge Timpanogos Cave National Historic Site Golden Spike National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Historic Trail Mormon Pioneer National Forests Ashley Caribou-Targhee Dixie Fishlake Manti-La Sal Sawtooth Uinta-Wasatch-Cache Forest Service areas Desert Biosphere Reserve Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area National Wildlife Refuges Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Fish Springs Ouray National Conservation Areas Beaver Dam Wash Red Cliffs BLM National Monument Grand Staircase-Escalante U.S. Wilderness Areas Ashdown Gorge Beartrap Canyon Beaver Dam Mountains Black Ridge Canyons Blackridge Box-Death Hollow Canaan Mountain Cedar Mountain Cottonwood Canyon Cottonwood Forest Cougar Canyon Dark Canyon Deep Creek Deep Creek North Deseret Peak Doc's Pass Goose Creek High Uintas LaVerkin Creek Lone Peak Mount Naomi Mount Nebo Mount Olympus Mount Timpanogos Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Pine Valley Mountain Red Butte Red Mountains Slaughter Creek Taylor Creek Twin Peaks Wellsville Mountain Zion State State Parks Northern Region Antelope Island Bear Lake Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn Deer Creek East Canyon Flight Park Great Salt Lake Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail Hyrum Jordan River OHV Park Jordanelle Red Fleet Rockport Starvation Steinaker Utah Field House of Natural History Utah Lake Wasatch Mountain Willard Bay State Parks Central Region Fremont Indian Goblin Valley Green River Huntington Millsite Palisade Scofield Territorial Statehouse Yuba State Parks Southern Region Anasazi Coral Pink Sand Dunes Dead Horse Point Edge of the Cedars Escalante Petrified Forest Frontier Homestead Goosenecks Gunlock Kodachrome Basin Otter Creek Piute Quail Creek Sand Hollow Snow Canyon Utah State Parks and Recreation