Apache National Forest

Reservation Creek in the Apache National Forest (1936)

Apache National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico on July 1, 1908 with 1,302,711 acres (5,271.88 km²) from portions of Black Mesa National Forest. In 1974 entire forest was administratively combined with Sitgreaves National Forest to create Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.^[1] The area of the former Apache National Forest section covers most of Greenlee County, Arizona (excepting the southernmost part of the county), southern Apache County, Arizona, and part of western Catron County, New Mexico. It is much the larger of the two formerly separate entities. As of 30 September 2008, its area was 1,813,601 acres (7,339.4 km²),^[2] representing 68.9% of the combined Apache-Sitgreaves total area. There are local ranger district offices in Alpine, Duncan, and Springerville.^[3] (Springerville is also the headquarters of the combined Apache-Sigreaves.)

Reservation Valley in the park (1923)

Wilderness areas

The are four wilderness areas within Apache National Forest that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System:

• Bear Wallow Wilderness
• Blue Range Wilderness (partly in Gila NF)
• Escudilla Wilderness
• Mount Baldy Wilderness

References

1. Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United States (pdf), The Forest History Society
2. Table 6 - NFS Acreage by State, Congressional District, and County, 30 September 2008
3. USFS Ranger Districts by State

External links

• Forest History Society
• Listing of the National Forests of the United States and Their Dates (Forest History Society website) Text from Davis, Richard C., ed. Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company for the Forest History Society, 1983. Vol. II, pp. 743-788.

Coordinates: 33°35′00″N 109°05′02″W / 33.58333°N 109.08389°W