"It is about the size of a common sheep, the wool...more intermixed with long hairs...its horns bent backwards." - Meriwether Lewis on mountain goats

Deep within our nation's first National Forest- the Shoshone National Forest in northern Wyoming - flows the Clarks Fork River Canyon, named for Captain William Clark. This sheer-walled canyon steepens and narrows to a wild and virtually impassable watercourse that earns its status as Wyoming's only federally protected Wild and Scenic River. The roadless area just north of the Clarks Fork Canyon has terrain ranging from sagebrush flats to rugged mountain peaks. Deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, grizzly and black bears and the gray wolf all still range here.

What's at Stake

Established in 1891, the Shoshone National Forest is named for the Shoshone tribe of Lewis and Clark's Indian guide, Sacagawea. The Shoshone National Forest is part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem of northwestern Wyoming, which encompasses 14 million acres, making it the largest essentially intact temperate ecosystem in the world. Yellowstone National Park comprises only 16 percent of the ecosystem and areas such as the unprotected Deep Lake/Clarks Fork Roadless Area are an important component of a completely functional ecosystem - that, when left alone, will flourish indefinitely. This eastern portion of the Greater Yellowstone is critical to the recovery of the grizzly bear and the perpetual survival of the wolf and the water vole, a species particularly sensitive to disturbance.

The Threats

The Beartooth Plateau Roadless Area is primarily threatened by oil and gas development, particularly in the eastern portion of the area. In addition, although the Shoshone National Forest is critical habitat for recovery of the threatened grizzly and introduced gray wolf, the agency has allowed logging and roadbuilding at an accelerated pace without adequate analysis of the cumulative impacts of these actions.

Since 1986, over 5,000 acres of forest in the Clarks Fork Ranger District have been logged with dire consequences for the grizzly: reduced cover, reduced food sources in those areas where whitebark pine trees were lost and increased interaction with humans where new roads have been built to service logging activities.

More than 80,000 acres in prime grizzly habitat is available for oil and gas leasing on the Shoshone National Forest. This unacceptable level of industrial development ignores the values of protecting this magnificent ecosystem from further fragmentation.

The Solutions

Ultimately this area should be protected as wilderness. This is the only way to permanently protect the area. As an interim step, remaining roadless areas such as Deep Lake/Clarks Fork should be recommended as wilderness by the Forest Service.

In the meantime, no timber sales or oil and gas leasing and development should be allowed in this roadless area, which is far more valuable for wildlife and recreation. Temporary or illegally developed roads used for logging or by off-road vehicles should be closed and revegetated.

Photos by Kirk Koepsel

Background | 33 Places to Protect | Rivers, Prairies, Forests What's been Lost, What's Left  | Lewis & Clark Main