Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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 straddles the divide between the Great Basin and the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

. In descending order of forestland area it is located in parts of Garfield, Washington,

Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

, Kane, Wayne, and Piute counties. The majority (over 55%) of forest acreage lies in Garfield County. Elevations vary from above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

near St. George, Utah to at Blue Bell Knoll on Boulder Mountain. The southern rim of the Great Basin, near the Colorado River, provides spectacular scenery. Colorado River canyons are made up of multi-colored cliffs and steep-walled gorges. The Forest is divided into four geographic areas. High altitude forests in gently rolling hills characterize the Markagunt, Paunsaugunt, and Aquarius Plateaus. Boulder Mountain, one of the largest high-elevation plateaus in the United States, is dotted with hundreds of small lakes above sea level. The forest includes the Pine Valley Mountains north of St. George. The Forest has many climatic extremes. Precipitation ranges from in the lower elevations to more than per year near Brian Head . At the higher elevations, most of the annual precipitation falls as snow. Thunderstorms are common during July and August and produce heavy rains. In some areas, August is the wettest month of the year. Temperature extremes can be impressive, with summer temperatures exceeding near St. George and winter lows exceeding on the plateau tops. The vegetation of the Forest grades from sparse, desert-type plants at the lower elevations to stand of low-growing pinyon pine and juniper dominating the mid-elevations. At the higher elevations,

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

and

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

s such as

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

, and fir predominate. The Dixie Forest Reserve was established on September 25, 1905 by the

United States General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government responsible for Public domain (land), public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 ...

. The name was derived from the local description of the warm southern part of Utah as " Dixie". In 1906 the U.S. Forest Service assumed responsibility for the lands, and on March 4, 1907 it became a National Forest. The western part of Sevier National Forest was added on July 1, 1922, and all of Powell National Forest on October 1, 1944.

Visitor centers

There are local ranger district offices and visitor centers in *Cedar City, with Duck Creek Visitor Center * Escalante, with Escalante Interagency Visitor Center *Pine Valley, in St. George, with Pine Valley Heritage Center *Powell, in Panguitch, with Red Canyon Visitor Center

Wilderness areas

There are four officially designated

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

s within Dixie National Forest that are part of the

National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federal government of the United States, federally managed Wilderness, wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally ...

. * Ashdown Gorge Wilderness * Box-Death Hollow Wilderness * Cottonwood Forest Wilderness * Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1905 establishments in Utah Protected areas established in 1905 Protected areas of Garfield County, Utah Protected areas of Washington County, Utah Protected areas of Iron County, Utah Protected areas of Kane County, Utah Protected areas of Wayne County, Utah Protected areas of Piute County, Utah

Visitor centers

Wilderness areas

See also

References

Further reading

External links