The Siskiyou Wilderness is a federal

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 ...

designated by the passage of the

California Wilderness Act of 1984 The California Wilderness Act of 1984 is a federal law (Public Law 98-425), passed by the United States Congress on September 28, 1984, that authorized the addition of over within the state of California to the National Wilderness Preservation ...

. Originally, the land area was The Northern California Wild Heritage Act of 2006 added for the current total of . All of the wilderness is in Northern California and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The wilderness spans three national forests: the Rogue River–Siskiyou, the Klamath, and the Six Rivers. The

Siskiyou Mountains The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, northea ...

form one of the longest continuous crests in the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast ...

region. Elevations range from to the summit of Preston Peak at above sea level. Trending in a north–south direction from the Oregon border down to near the town of Weitchpec and inland from the Pacific Ocean, the Siskiyous are dotted by rocky peaks rising over from the surrounding lowlands.

Flora and fauna

The Siskiyou Wilderness contains a diverse collection of conifer species including rarities such as Alaska cedar,

Port Orford cedar ''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'', known as Port Orford cedar or Lawson cypress, is a species of conifer in the genus '' Chamaecyparis'', family Cupressaceae. It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to in th ...

, and the Klamath Mountains-

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Brewer spruce. It is notable for the vast amounts of old-growth forests and many endemic species of wildflowers, shrubs and trees, as well as one of the world's largest concentrations of lilies. The wilderness is home to several rare species, including

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

northern spotted owl The northern spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis caurina'') is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus '' Strix'', it is a medium-sized dark brown owl native to the Pacific Northwest. An ...

and Roosevelt elk. There is also

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

, black-tailed deer, and many varieties of birds. The clear streams provide spawning grounds for

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...

coho The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...

and

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...

Recreation

The Clear Creek National Recreation Trail crosses of the northern portion and provides access to some of the more scenic parts of the wilderness—from near the

Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second large ...

to the

Smith River (California) The Smith River (Tolowa: ) flows from the Klamath Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in Del Norte County in extreme northwestern California, on the West Coast of the United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolutio ...

divide. In the southern part of the wilderness, the Kelsey National Recreation Trail begins at Bear Lake, and the experienced hiker can walk for about to the Smith River. The most heavily visited areas are in the northwest corner of the region—concentrated on trails that lead to lakes. Much of the area lacks trails and is difficult to access cross-country because of the dense brush. The Bigfoot Trail traverses the crest of the wilderness from north to south, through some of the most remote areas.

Climate

Footnotes

References

External links