Mendocino National Forest

Mendocino National Forest
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Rattlesnake Creek
Map of the United States
Nearest city	Willows, California and Covelo, California
Coordinates	39°33′45″N 122°48′45″W / 39.56250°N 122.81250°W / 39.56250; -122.81250Coordinates: 39°33′45″N 122°48′45″W / 39.56250°N 122.81250°W / 39.56250; -122.81250
Area	913,306 acres (3,696 km²)
Established	1907
Governing body	U.S. Forest Service / Department of Agriculture
http://www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino

The Mendocino National Forest is located in the Coastal Mountain Range in northwestern California and comprises 913,306 acres (3,696 km²). It is the only national forest in the state of California without a major paved road entering it. There are a variety of recreational opportunities — camping, hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, backpacking, boating, fishing, hunting, nature study, photography, and off-highway vehicle travel.

The forest lies in parts of six counties. In descending order of forestland area they are Lake, Glenn, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity, and Colusa counties.^[1] Forest headquarters are located in Willows, California. There are local ranger district offices in Covelo, Upper Lake, and Willows.^[2]

Wilderness areas

The forest includes four wilderness areas:

Sanhedrin Wilderness - 10,571 acres (42.78 km²)
Snow Mountain Wilderness — 37,680 acres (152 km²)
Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness — 147,070 acres (595 km²) (partly in Trinity NF, Six Rivers NF, or on BLM land)
Yuki Wilderness - 53,887 acres (218.07 km²) (partly on BLM land)

The Sanhedrin and Yuki wildernesses were signed into law on October 17, 2006. This legislation, entitled "Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act", added areas to both the Yolla Bolly - Middle Eel Wilderness and Snow Mountain Wilderness, and established the two new wilderness areas in the Mendocino National Forest.

Rivers, lakes, and hot springs

Rice Fork Eel River at Crabtree Hot Springs

Rivers include: Eel River, Rice Fork Eel River, Middle Fork Eel River, Black Butte River, and Stony Creek (Sacramento River).

Lake Pillsbury is the largest recreational lake in the forest at 2,280 acres (9.2 km²) and offers boat ramps, camping and resorts.

Letts Lake, southeast of Lake Pillsbury is 35 acres (140,000 m²) in size and has hiking trails, campgrounds and is close to trailheads into Snow Mountain Wilderness. Another recreational spot is Crabtree Hot Springs.

Other lakes include Plaskett Lakes in the middle of the forest, Howard, Hammerhorn, Square and Long Lakes near Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness in the northern portion.

History

In 1902 the first surveys of public domain lands were conducted by Professor Lachie of the University of California, Berkeley, working under the direction of Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the United States Forest Service, to determine what land should be included in a forest reserve. In 1905 the U.S. Congress moved the reserves from the General Land Office in the Department of the Interior to the new Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. The Division of Forestry became the U.S. Forest Service.

President Theodore Roosevelt set aside the reserve (as authorized by the Forest Reserve Act of 1891)^[3] on February 6, 1907 as the Stony Creek Forest Reserve and one month later, the reserve was added to the national forest system as the Stony Creek National Forest.^[4]

Because of the difficulty of managing such a large tract of land, the northern portion was reassigned to Trinity National Forest, then the final boundaries of the new Stony Creek forest were drawn and was signed into law by executive order of the president on July 2, 1908 and renamed the California National Forest.

Yet another name

Sanhedrin Mountains of Mendocino National Forest

#71 Dry Creek Fire District truck at Lake Pillsbury.

"In order to avoid the confusion growing out of the state and a national forest therein having the same name" stated President Herbert Hoover when he signed an executive order renaming the forest to Mendocino National Forest on July 12, 1932.

The development of the forest increased to 81 offices, lookouts and guard stations until improvements in transportation and communications allowed some offices to be closed. Today there are three ranger districts, with some of the former guard stations now being utilized as "work centers" that are primarily staffed by fire crews. Two areas managed by the Mendocino National Forest are outside the contiguous boundaries and they are the Genetic Research Center in Chico, California, and the Lake Red Bluff Recreation Area in central California.^[5]

Genetic Research Center

Acquired by the Forest Service in 1974, it was originally a plant breeding research and plant introduction facility that was started in 1904 on a 209-acre (0.85 km²) site under the Agriculture Research Service. The center's research gradually changed to developing and producing genetically improved plant material for the reforestation program of the Pacific Southwest Region. Major work is done in the areas of biological, chemical, and clinical research on anti-cancer drugs derived from plants.^[6]

Wildfires

The infamous Rattlesnake Fire occurred here in 1953. One Forest Service employee and 14 volunteer firefighters perished. The circumstances of the tragedy resulted in major changes in firefighting strategy and training.^[7] The firefighters are memorialized at the Rattlesnake Fire Memorial overlooking Rattlesnake Canyon. Access to it can be found off of Forest Highway 7 on County Road 307/Alder Springs Road.

The Trough Fire burned almost 25,000 acres (100 km²) of the Mendocino National Forest in 2001 including land in the Snow Mountain Wilderness.

Wildlife

Tule elk herd at Lake Pillsbury

The tule elk is one of the largest land mammals native to California, with cows weighing up to 350 pounds, and the largest bulls weighing roughly 500 pounds. Hunted to near extinction during the state's gold rush era, the animals were reintroduced to the Lake Pillsbury Basin in the late 1970s by the California Department of Fish and Game, and the herd has steadily grown, numbering around 80 in 2007.

The elk live on the north shore of the lake at the bottom of Hull Mountain, and enjoy wild clovers and grasses, along with the green summer and fall foliage around Lake Pillsbury's edges. Mendocino National Forest and Los Padres National Forest are the only two national forests in California to have tule elk. There is a 10-day hunting season beginning on the second Wednesday in September each year.

Vegetation

An estimated 60,000 acres (240 km²) of old growth occur here, including forests of Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), White Fir (Abies concolor), Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), and Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii).^[8]

Footnotes

↑ Table of acreage by state
↑ USFS Ranger Districts by State
↑ Section 24 authorized the President to set aside timber reserves, along with the national parks and monuments already in existence, a shift in public land policy from disposal to retention. The natural resources found on public lands were to be "managed for the people" in the future. After heated discussion of its implications for homesteaders and presidential power, the bill was accepted and later signed by President Benjamin Harrison on March 3, 1891.
www.fs.fed.us/global/wsnew/fs_history/issue12.doc
↑ Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United States (PDF), The Forest History Society
↑ United State Forest Service fact sheet titled Mendocino National Forest-the first 100 years.
↑ Official webpage on the Genetic Research Center accessed June 28, 2008
↑ Cermak, Robert W, Fire in the Forest-A History of Forest Fire Control on the National Forests in California 1898-1956 USFS Publisher, 2005 pg.319-323
↑ Warbington, Ralph; Beardsley, Debby (2002), 2002 Estimates of Old Growth Forests on the 18 National Forests of the Pacific Southwest Region, United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mendocino National Forest.

Protected areas of California

National Park System

National Parks	Channel Islands Death Valley Joshua Tree Kings Canyon Lassen Volcanic Pinnacles Redwood Sequoia Yosemite

National Preserves	Mojave

National Monuments	Cabrillo Castle Mountains Cesar E. Chavez Devils Postpile Lava Beds Muir Woods World War II Valor in the Pacific

National Seashores	Point Reyes

National Historical Parks	Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front San Francisco Maritime

National Historic Sites	Eugene O'Neill Fort Point John Muir Manzanar

National Memorials	Port Chicago Naval Magazine

National Recreation Areas	Golden Gate Santa Monica Mountains Whiskeytown

State Parks

State Parks	Ahjumawi Lava Springs Andrew Molera Angel Island Annadel Año Nuevo Anza-Borrego Desert Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland Bidwell–Sacramento River Big Basin Redwoods Border Field Bothe-Napa Valley Burton Creek Butano Calaveras Big Trees Castle Crags Castle Rock Caswell Memorial China Camp Chino Hills Clear Lake Crystal Cove Cuyamaca Rancho D. L. Bliss Del Norte Coast Redwoods Donner Memorial Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point Emerald Bay The Forest of Nisene Marks Fort Ord Dunes Fremont Peak Garrapata Gaviota Great Valley Grasslands Grizzly Creek Redwoods Grover Hot Springs Hearst San Simeon Hendy Woods Henry Cowell Redwoods Henry W. Coe Humboldt Lagoons Humboldt Redwoods Jedediah Smith Redwoods Julia Pfeiffer Burns Leo Carrillo Limekiln MacKerricher Malibu Creek Manchester McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial McLaughlin Eastshore Mendocino Headlands Mendocino Woodlands Montaña de Oro Morro Bay Mount Diablo Mount San Jacinto Mount Tamalpais Navarro River Redwoods Pacheco Palomar Mountain Patrick's Point Pfeiffer Big Sur Placerita Canyon Plumas-Eureka Point Mugu Portola Redwoods Prairie Creek Redwoods Red Rock Canyon Richardson Grove Rio de Los Angeles Robert Louis Stevenson Russian Gulch Saddleback Butte Salt Point Samuel P. Taylor San Bruno Mountain Sinkyone Wilderness South Yuba River Sugarloaf Ridge Sutter Buttes Tolowa Dunes Tomales Bay Topanga Van Damme Washoe Meadows Wilder Ranch

State Natural Reserves	Antelope Valley California Poppy Armstrong Redwoods Azalea Caspar Headlands John B. Dewitt John Little Jug Handle Kruse Rhododendron Los Osos Oaks Mailliard Redwoods Mono Lake Tufa Montgomery Woods Point Lobos Smithe Redwoods Torrey Pines Tule Elk

State Marine Reserves	Albany Emeryville Crescent

State Historic Parks	Anderson Marsh Antelope Valley Indian Museum Bale Grist Mill Benicia Capitol Bidwell Mansion Bodie California Citrus California State Indian Museum Chumash Painted Cave Colonel Allensworth Columbia Cowell Ranch/John Marsh El Presidio de Santa Barbara Empire Mine Folsom Powerhouse Fort Humboldt Fort Ross Fort Tejon Governor's Mansion Hearst San Simeon Indian Grinding Rock Jack London La Purísima Mission Leland Stanford Mansion Los Angeles Los Encinos Malakoff Diggins Marconi Conference Center Marshall Gold Discovery Monterey Old Sacramento Old Town San Diego Olompali Petaluma Adobe Pigeon Point Light Station Pío Pico Point Sur Railtown 1897 San Juan Bautista San Pasqual Battlefield Santa Cruz Mission Santa Susana Pass Shasta Sonoma Sutter's Fort Tomo-Kahni Wassama Round House Watts Towers of Simon Rodia Weaverville Joss House Will Rogers William B. Ide Adobe Woodland Opera House

State Beaches	Asilomar Bean Hollow Bolsa Chica Cardiff Carlsbad Carmel River Carpinteria Caspar Headlands Cayucos Corona del Mar Dockweiler Doheny El Capitán Emma Wood Gray Whale Cove Greenwood Half Moon Bay Huntington Leucadia Lighthouse Field Little River Malibu Lagoon Mandalay Manresa Marina McGrath Montara Monterey Moonlight Morro Strand Moss Landing Natural Bridges New Brighton Pacifica Pelican Pescadero Pismo Point Dume Point Sal Pomponio Refugio Robert H. Meyer Memorial Robert W. Crown Memorial Salinas River San Buenaventura San Clemente San Elijo San Gregorio San Onofre Santa Monica Schooner Gulch Seacliff Silver Strand Sonoma Coast South Carlsbad Sunset Thornton Torrey Pines Trinidad Twin Lakes Westport-Union Landing Will Rogers William Randolph Hearst Memorial Zmudowski

State Recreation Areas	Admiral William Standley Auburn Austin Creek Benbow Lake Benicia Bethany Reservoir Brannan Island Candlestick Point Castaic Lake Colusa-Sacramento River Folsom Lake Franks Tract George J. Hatfield Harry A. Merlo Kenneth Hahn Kings Beach Lake Del Valle Lake Oroville Lake Perris Lake Valley Martial Cottle Park McConnell Millerton Lake Picacho Providence Mountains Salton Sea San Luis Reservoir Silverwood Lake Standish-Hickey Tahoe Turlock Lake Woodson Bridge

State Vehicular Recreation Areas	Carnegie Clay Pit Heber Dunes Hollister Hills Hungry Valley Oceano Dunes Ocotillo Wells Prairie City

Other	Burleigh H. Murray Ranch California State Mining and Mineral Museum California State Capitol Museum California State Railroad Museum Castro Adobe Delta Meadows Estero Bay Hatton Canyon Indio Hills Palms Point Cabrillo Light Station Point Lobos Ranch Point Montara Light Station Reynolds Wayside Campground San Timoteo Canyon Stone Lake Verdugo Mountains Ward Creek Wildwood Canyon

National Forests and Grasslands

National Forests and Grasslands	Angeles Butte Valley NG Cleveland Eldorado Humboldt-Toiyabe Inyo Klamath Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Los Padres Mendocino Modoc Plumas Rogue River – Siskiyou San Bernardino Sequoia Shasta–Trinity Sierra Six Rivers Stanislaus Tahoe

National Wilderness Preservation System	Agua Tibia Ansel Adams Bucks Lake Caribou Carson-Iceberg Castle Crags Cucamonga Desolation Dick Smith Dinkey Lakes Emigrant Golden Trout Hoover Inyo Mountains Ishi Jennie Lakes John Muir Kaiser Marble Mountain Mokelumne Mount Shasta Wilderness North Fork San Gabriel Sanhedrin San Jacinto San Rafael Sespe Siskiyou Snow Mountain South Fork Eel River South Sierra South Warner Thousand Lakes Trinity Alps Ventana Yolla Bolly–Middle Eel Yuki

National Monuments and Recreation Areas	Giant Sequoia National Monument San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Smith River National Recreation Area Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area Sand to Snow National Monument

State Forests

Boggs Mountain Demonstration Ellen Pickett Jackson Demonstration Las Posadas LaTour Demonstration Mount Zion Mountain Home Demonstration Soquel Demonstration

National Wildlife Refuges

State Wildlife Areas

Wildlife Areas	Antelope Valley Ash Creek Bass Hill Battle Creek Big Lagoon Big Sandy Biscar Butte Valley Buttermilk Country Cache Creek Camp Cady Cantara/Ney Springs Cedar Roughs Cinder Flats Collins Eddy Colusa Bypass Coon Hollow Cottonwood Creek Crescent City Marsh Crocker Meadows Daugherty Hill Decker Island Doyle Dutch Flat Eastlker River Eel River Elk Creek Wetlands Elk River Fay Slough Feather River Fitzhugh Creek Fremont Weir Grass Lake Gray Lodge Green Creek Grizzly Island Hallelujah Junction Heenan Lake Hill Slough Hollenbeck Canyon Honey Lake Hope Valley Horseshoe Ranch Imperial Indian Valley Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains Kinsman Flat Knoxville Laguna Lake Berryessa Lake Earl Lake Sonoma Little Panoche Reservoir Los Banos Lower Sherman Island Mad River Slough Marble Mountains Mendota Merrill's Landing Miner Slough Monache Meadows Morro Bay Moss Landing Mouth of Cottonwood Creek Napa-Sonoma Marshes North Grasslands O'Neill Forebay Oroville Petaluma Marsh Pickel Meadow Pine Creek Point Edith Putah Creek Rector Reservoir Red Lake Rhode Island Sacramento River San Felipe Valley San Jacinto San Luis Obispo San Luis Reservoir San Pablo Bay Santa Rosa Shasta Valley Silver Creek Slinkard/Little Antelope Smithneck Creek South Fork Spenceville Surprise Valley Sutter Bypass Tehama Truckee River Upper Butte Basin Volta Warner Valley Waukell Creek West Hilmar Westlker River White Slough Willow Creek Yolo Bypass

Ecological Reserves	Albany Mudflats Alkali Sink Allensworth Atascadero Creek Marsh Bair Island Baldwin Lake Batiquitos Lagoon Blue Sky Boden Canyon Boggs Lake Bolsa Chica Bonny Doon Buena Vista Lagoon Butler Slough Butte Creek Canyon Butte Creek House Buttonwillow By Day Creek Calhoun Cut Canebrake Carlsbad Highlands Carmel Bay Carrizo Canyon Carrizo Plains China Point Clover Creek Coachella Valley Coal Canyon Corte Madera Marsh Crestridge Dairy Mart Ponds Dales Lake Del Mar Landing Eden Landing Elkhorn Slough Estelle Mountain Fall River Mills Fish Slough Fremont Valley Goleta Slough Indian Joe Spring Kaweah Kerman King Clone Laguna Laurel Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Lokern Magnesia Spring Marin Islands Mattole River McGinty Mountain Morro Dunes Morro Rock Napa River North Table Mountain Oasis Spring Panoche Hills Peytonia Slough Pine Hill Piute Creek Pleasant Valley Rancho Jamul Redwood Shores River Springs Lakes Saline Valley San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon San Felipe Creek San Joaquin River Santa Rosa Plateau Springville Stone Corral Sycamore Canyon Sycuan Peak Thomes Creek Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Watsonville Slough West Mojave Desert Woodbridge Yaudanchi

Marine Protected Areas	Abalone Cove Albany Mudflats Anacapa Anacapa Año Nuevo Asilomar Atascadero Beach Bair Island Batiquitos Lagoon Big Creek Big Creek Big Sycamore Canyon Bodega Bolsa Chica Cambria Cardiff and San Elijo Carmel Bay Carmel Pinnacles Carrington Point Catalina Marine Science Center Corte Madera Marsh Crystal Cove Dana Point Del Mar Landing Doheny Doheny Duxbury Reef Edward F. Ricketts Elkhorn Slough Elkhorn Slough Encinitas Estero de Limantour Fagan Marsh Farallon Islands Farnsworth Bank Fort Ross Gerstle Cove Goleta Slough Greyhound Rock Gull Island Harris Point Heisler Park Hopkins Irvine Coast James V. Fitzgerald Judith Rock Julia Pfeiffer Burns La Jolla Laguna Beach Lovers Cove (Catalina Island) Lovers Point MacKerricher Manchester and Arena Rock Marin Islands Mia J. Tegner Moro Cojo Slough Morro Bay Morro Bay Morro Beach Natural Bridges Niguel Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Painted Cave Peytonia Slough Piedras Blancas Piedras Blancas Pismo Pismo-Oceano Beach Point Buchon Point Buchon Point Cabrillo Point Fermin Point Lobos Point Reyes Headlands Point Sur Point Sur Portuguese Ledge Punta Gorda Redwood Shores Refugio Richardson Rock Robert E. Badham Robert W. Crown Russian Gulch Russian River Salt Point San Diego-Scripps San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon Santa Barbara Island Scorpion Skunk Point Sonoma Coast Soquel Canyon South Laguna Beach South Point Swami’s Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Van Damme Vandenberg White Rock (Cambria)

Bureau of Land Management National Landscape Conservation System

National Monuments	Berryessa Snow Mountain California Coastal Carrizo Plain Fort Ord Mojave Trails Sand to Snow Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains

National Conservation Areas	California Desert King Range

Wilderness Areas	Argus Range Big Maria Mountains Bigelow Cholla Garden Bighorn Mountain Black Mountain Bright Star Bristol Mountains Cadiz Dunes Carrizo Gorge Chemehuevi Mountains Chimney Peak Chuckwalla Mountains Chumash Cleghorn Lakes Clipper Mountain Coso Range Coyote Mountains Darwin Falls Dead Mountains Dick Smith El Paso Mountains Fish Creek Mountains Funeral Mountains Golden Valley Grass Valley Headwaters Forest Reserve Hollow Hills Ibex Indian Pass Inyo Mountains Jacumba Kelso Dunes Kiavah Kingston Range Little Chuckwalla Mountains Little Picacho Machesna Mountain Matilija Malpais Mesa Manly Peak Mecca Hills Mesquite Newberry Mountains Nopah Range North Algodones Dunes North Mesquite Mountains Old Woman Mountains Orocopia Mountains Otay Mountain Owens Peak Pahrump Valley Palen/McCoy Palo Verde Mountains Picacho Peak Piper Mountain Piute Mountains Red Buttes Resting Spring Range Rice Valley Riverside Mountains Rodman Mountains Sacatar Trail Saddle Peak Hills San Gorgonio Santa Lucia Santa Rosa Sawtooth Mountains Sespe Sheephole Valley South Nopah Range Stateline Stepladder Mountains Surprise Canyon Sylvania Mountains Trilobite Turtle Mountains Whipple Mountains

National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands Cordell Bank Greater Farallones Monterey Bay

National Estuarine Research Reserves

Elkhorn Slough San Francisco Bay Tijuana River Estuary

University of California Natural Reserve System

Angelo Coast Range Reserve
Año Nuevo Island
Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
Bodega Marine
Box Springs
Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center
Burns Piñon Ridge
Carpinteria Salt Marsh
Chickering American River
Coal Oil Point
Dawson Los Monos Canyon
Eagle Lake Field Station
Elliott Chaparral
Emerson Oaks
Fort Ord
Hastings
James San Jacinto Mountains
Jenny Pygmy Forest
Jepson Prairie
Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh
Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino
Landels-Hill Big Creek
McLaughlin
Motte Rimrock
Quail Ridge
Sagehen Creek Field Station
San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh
Santa Cruz Island
Scripps Coastal
Sedgwick
Stebbins Cold Canyon
Steele Burnand Anza-Borrego
Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains
Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center
Valentine Eastern Sierra
Younger Lagoon

Heritage registers: World Heritage Sites; World Network of Biosphere Reserves; National Register of Historic Places; National Historic Landmarks; National Natural Landmarks; California Historical Landmarks; California Points of Historical Interest; California Register of Historical Resources

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