The Gila River is the life-blood of New Mexico: the last free-flowing river in the state that still has an abundance and diversity of fish and wildlife.
Below is a list of Gila and San Francisco river segments that would be protected under Wild and Scenic legislation proposed by community members in Grant and Catron counties.
Mogollon Creek is completely wild from its headwaters in the Gila Wilderness to the wilderness boundary, and has been at the center of efforts to recover the Gila trout. The Gila trout was federally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 after decades of conservation efforts by the State of New Mexico to protect and restore the species. In 2006, the Gila trout was down-listed to threatened and now inhabits eleven streams in New Mexico, including Mogollon Creek.
The main stem of the Gila River provides visitors with a profound sense of solitude. This long, meandering river corridor through the heart of the Gila Wilderness is an assertive landscape, where a combination of aridity and moisture sharpens the steep cliff walls and enhances the smooth riparian belt that surrounds the water. Constant volcanic eruptions from 35 million to 20 million years ago, followed by millennia of weather, pressure, and erosion, are what makes the geology along the Gila River so outstandingly remarkable today. Photo Credit: EcoFlight
The West Fork of the Gila River deserves protection as a Wild and Scenic river segment. This is one of the most visited locations in the Gila Wilderness, the first wilderness designated in the world. Activities such as multi-day backpacking, day hiking, horseback riding, and pack mule trips are all popular forms of recreation here. Opportunities to hunt and fish are also abundant, given that the West Fork of the Gila River runs through some of the most remote and wildest public lands left in North America.
The Middle Fork of the Gila River deserves protection as a Wild and Scenic segment largely due to its cultural and historical significance. Though no one knows when humans first came to live within the Gila region, there’s evidence that humans might have occupied the area as early as 9,500 B.C. At least five known cultures have inhabited what is now the Gila National Forest, including three prehistoric Native American cultures. The most prominent was the Mogollon civilization, which disappeared around the 13th century.
The Upper San Francisco Box deserves protection under the Wild and Scenic Act. Over millennia, the river has cut a tremendously deep and narrow gorge through this region that stretches 1,000 feet from top to bottom. The box canyon itself is astoundingly constricted and tight, with massive boulder fields, cascading waterfalls and deep pools that stretch for roughly 2 miles. This deep canyon, along with its associated geological wonders and scenery, is unique to the region and the Gila National Forest.