The Ashdown Gorge Wilderness is located in eastern Iron County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States, within the arid Colorado Plateau region.

Description

The wilderness is within the

Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km²) and stretches for about across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it st ...

adjacent to

Cedar Breaks National Monument Cedar Breaks National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the U.S. state of Utah near Cedar City. Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater, stretching across , with a depth of over . The elevation of the rim of the amphitheater is over ...

and characterized by extremely steep-walled canyons cut through the west rim of the

Markagunt Plateau Markagunt Plateau is a volcanic field in southern Utah, United States. Formed in a region of older volcanics, it consists of several cinder cones and associated lava flows. Some of the lava flows feature lava tubes such as Mammoth Cave, while oth ...

. Elevations in the wilderness range from to . Rattlesnake Creek and Ashdown Creek flow through the wilderness. The

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

was designated by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

in 1984 and is administered is by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

. Like the more famous

, Ashdown Gorge is known for its multicolored rock formations and plateau-top stands of 1,000-year-old

bristlecone pine The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus'', subsection ''Balfourianae''). All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, ''Pinus ...

s. The Gorge is named after the family of George Ashdown who set up a sawmill there in 1898. Today there are of private land

inholding An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area. In-holdings result from private ownership of lands predating the designation of the park or fores ...

s mostly surrounded by the wilderness. In 2006, Iron County officials were considering a proposal to expand Cedar Breaks National Monument to include the Ashdown Gorge Wilderness, the private inholdings and nearby Flanigan Arch. With congressional approval the area would be renamed Cedar Breaks National Park.

References

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External links

* * * * {{Authority control Protected areas of Iron County, Utah Wilderness areas of Utah Dixie National Forest

Description

See also

References

External links