Northumberland

Northumberland is a 22,464-acre Inventoried Roadless Area in the Toquima Range of central Nevada, on the Austin-Tonopah Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, spanning Lander and Nye counties. The terrain is mountainous and montane, anchored by Mount Ziggurat and the limestone-and-volcanic spine of the Toquima crest. West Northumberland Canyon cuts the western flank, draining toward the Big Smoky Valley, while the eastern slopes feed the closed-basin headwaters of Hoodoo Canyon-Frontal Spaulding Salt Marsh. Surface water is sparse — Jet Spring is the principal named source — and most flow moves underground through karstic carbonate beds before emerging at lower-elevation springs and seeps.

The vegetation is a layered Great Basin section running from valley margin to subalpine ridge. Lower slopes support Great Basin Dry Sagebrush Shrubland and Intermountain Salt Desert Scrub. Mid-elevations carry Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland — single-leaf pinyon and Utah juniper — interrupted by Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland on rocky south- and west-facing slopes. Above the woodland, Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe and Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland form open meadows beneath stands of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland. Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest occupies the highest, north-facing pockets, while narrow ribbons of Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Great Basin Foothill Streamside Woodland thread the canyon bottoms. Simpson's hedgehog cactus (Pediocactus simpsonii), panhandle prickly-pear (Opuntia polyacantha), and matted buckwheat (Eriogonum caespitosum) hold the open ground; King's bird's-beak (Cordylanthus kingii) and Chambers' twinpod (Physaria chambersii) appear on calcareous outcrops, with dwarf lousewort (Pedicularis centranthera) under the pines.

The bristlecone-limber pine belt is the ecological signature of Northumberland. Pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), under review for federal protection, caches single-leaf pinyon seeds across the woodland and is the principal disperser sustaining stand renewal. Cassin's finch (Haemorhous cassinii) and broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) work the subalpine forb meadows, while sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) and black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) hold the lower sagebrush. Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae) nests in the mountain mahogany. Northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunts the open grassland, and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) work the cliff faces below Mount Ziggurat. Yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) appears in the streamside woodland along the lower canyons. Free-roaming horses (Equus caballus) and the occasional burro (Equus asinus) — administered as part of the Northumberland and Toquima Wild Horse Territories — graze the foothill sagebrush. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler entering through West Northumberland Canyon climbs from greasewood and sagebrush into juniper shade, then into pinyon, and finally into the open mountain mahogany of the upper slopes. The wind shifts at the bristlecone line — colder, drier, with the smell of resin and limestone dust. Cresting the Toquima ridge near Mount Ziggurat, the view opens west across Big Smoky Valley to the Toiyabe Range and east into Monitor Valley. On a still afternoon, the only sound is the rasp of pinyon jays moving through the woodland below and the wingbeats of a harrier crossing the grass.

The Northumberland Inventoried Roadless Area lies in the Toquima Range of central Nevada, on lands long inhabited by the Newe — the Western Shoshone — whose traditional territory covered southern Idaho, the central part of Nevada, portions of northwestern Utah, and the Death Valley region of southern California [8]. "Toiyabe" is itself an ancient Shoshone word meaning "mountain," reflecting one of the many Native American groups who lived in this area for centuries [3]. The Newe organized themselves in extended family bands named for foodways and used the surrounding ranges seasonally for hunting, gathering, and ceremony [9].

The Northumberland mining district was discovered in 1866 by a prospector named Logan [4]. Rich silver discoveries in the Toquima Range that year led to the organization of the Northumberland Mining District, named for the English county [5]. Ore was initially sent to Austin, but in October 1868 the Quintero Company moved in a ten-stamp mill from San Antonio and the small camp of Learville was born [5]. The Company went bankrupt in December, though the mill operated unsuccessfully until 1870 [5]. New discoveries in 1875 led to the rebirth of the district, and the town of Northumberland emerged after briefly being called Monitor and Bartell [5]. The town was started in 1879 and by 1881 was deserted [4]. A 10-stamp mill was built in 1879, but only operated 3 months [4]. The Monitor and Blue Bell were the principal mines at that time [4]. Activity at the silver mines was intermittent until about 1891, when it apparently ceased [4]. Another short revival began in 1885, when sixty miners returned to the district, but only lasted a year [5]. In 1908, the Reno Goldfield Mining Company erected a 100-ton cyanide and concentration mill, which operated until 1917 [5]. Gold was rediscovered in 1936, and by 1939 the Northumberland Mining Company began production [4], enlarging the mill to 325 tons to process ore from a new open-pit mine and building a camp with a school and softball team [5]. By 1941, 10,000 tons were produced per month, but Order L-208 shuttered the operation the following year [5].

Federal forest administration came to the surrounding range in the same era. Toiyabe Forest Reserve, NV, was established by Presidential Proclamation, March 1, 1907 [1]. The 1907 federal inventory recorded the Toiyabe at 625,040 acres [2]. The Humboldt National Forest was established in 1908 and the Toiyabe National Forest in 1907; the two were administratively combined in 1957 [3]. Today the Northumberland area is managed within the Austin-Tonopah Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest [6]. Northumberland Wild Horse Territory and the adjoining Toquima Wild Horse Territory of about 135,000 acres are administered from the same district [6]. Just south of the roadless area, the 35,860-acre Alta Toquima Wilderness, designated in 1989, protects the Mount Jefferson high country [7]. The Northumberland area itself remains an Inventoried Roadless Area protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

The Northumberland Inventoried Roadless Area covers 22,464 acres of mountainous, montane country in the Toquima Range, anchored by Mount Ziggurat and West Northumberland Canyon. The vegetation moves from Great Basin Dry Sagebrush Shrubland (about 38% of the area) through Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe to subalpine grassland, Intermountain Mountain Mahogany Woodland, Great Basin Subalpine Bristlecone Pine Woodland, and isolated stands of Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest at the highest elevations. Hydrology is minor — Jet Spring and the Hoodoo Canyon-Frontal Spaulding Salt Marsh headwaters — but the elevational gradient and the bristlecone-limber pine belt give the area outsized conservation value.

Vital Resources Protected

• Bristlecone-Limber Pine Subalpine Integrity: The Toquima ridge above 9,500 feet supports stands of Great Basin bristlecone pine and limber pine — among the slowest-growing, longest-lived conifers on the continent. Roadlessness preserves the cold, dry, isolated stand conditions that have so far kept these populations free of white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola). Without graded access, recreational disturbance, or fuelwood removal, the stands retain the structural complexity and seed-source distribution that century-scale recruitment depends on.

• Pinyon Jay-Pinyon Woodland Mutualism: Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland (about 24% of the area) supports the Pinyon Jay (under federal review), the principal seed-disperser that caches single-leaf pinyon seeds across the woodland and sustains stand renewal. The roadless condition keeps the closed-canopy woodland intact and unfragmented, preserving the mosaic of older seed-bearing trees and recruitment patches the jay-pinyon mutualism requires across landscape-scale movement distances.

• Sagebrush-to-Subalpine Elevational Gradient: From sagebrush shrubland on the lower slopes through mountain sagebrush steppe, mountain mahogany, subalpine grassland, and the bristlecone belt, the area preserves a continuous, unbroken elevational gradient that is increasingly rare in central Nevada. This continuity supports the climate-refugia function the Toquima ridge will play as warming shifts species ranges upslope, and sustains migration paths for sage thrasher, black-throated sparrow, Virginia's warbler, and free-roaming horses administered as part of the Northumberland and Toquima Wild Horse Territories.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Bristlecone Stand Exposure to Blister Rust: Road construction into the upper Toquima brings vehicles, equipment, and human foot traffic into stands of limber pine and bristlecone pine that have remained largely free of Cronartium ribicola because of their isolation. Roads function as vectors — moving spores on tires, boots, and disturbed soil into the subalpine — and once blister rust establishes in a five-needle white pine stand, the pathogen can cause serious population decline that is functionally permanent.

• Pinyon-Juniper Fragmentation and Cheatgrass Invasion: Road clearing through Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Great Basin Dry Sagebrush Shrubland exposes mineral soil, breaks biological soil crusts, and creates linear corridors that Bromus tectorum colonizes rapidly. Cheatgrass invasion shortens the fire-return interval, eliminates fire-intolerant pinyon and big sagebrush, and converts the system to annual grassland — a transition that disrupts the Pinyon Jay-pinyon mutualism and is generally irreversible at the landscape scale.

• Climate Refugia Connectivity Loss: Constructing roads across the elevational gradient fragments the continuous slope along which species are projected to shift upward as the climate warms. Cuts and fills create barriers for ground-dwelling fauna and small-statured plants, while edge effects from cleared corridors warm and dry the adjacent canopy. The Toquima's role as a cool, isolated refugium for subalpine species depends precisely on the unbroken slope and lack of warm-edge intrusions that road construction would eliminate.

The Northumberland Inventoried Roadless Area covers 22,464 acres of mountainous, montane country in the Toquima Range on the Austin-Tonopah Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The area has no developed campgrounds and no formal trailhead facilities. Two non-motorized Forest Service system trails enter or cross the area: the Ziggurat Trail (#24211, 3.8 miles, native-surface) climbs the western slope of Mount Ziggurat, and the Winter Freight Connector (#24216, 2.4 miles, native-surface) provides a low-traffic route between Toquima drainages. Both are dirt and rock under foot, exposed in places, and unsuitable for full-size vehicles.

Backcountry hiking and horseback riding are the principal foot-powered uses. From the Winter Freight Connector, riders and hikers can climb cross-country toward the Ziggurat Trail and the limestone ridge above West Northumberland Canyon. Pack stock are well suited to the route, and the open mountain mahogany and pinyon-juniper give long sightlines for navigation. Water is scarce — Jet Spring is the principal named source — so visitors should plan to carry water in or filter from the spring. Dispersed camping is permitted under standard Humboldt-Toiyabe rules; pack out all waste and avoid camping in or near bristlecone or limber pine stands above the woodland.

Hunting is a significant draw. Northumberland lies within Nevada Department of Wildlife management units that support general-season and limited-entry hunts for mule deer in the pinyon-juniper and mountain mahogany, and for Rocky Mountain elk on the higher meadows. Sage grouse, chukar, and rabbit hunting are available in the sagebrush and shrubland margins. All hunting requires current Nevada tags and licenses; check unit boundaries with the Nevada Department of Wildlife before the season.

Birding is best in the woodland-to-subalpine zone. Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) move through the pinyon canopy in noisy flocks; observers near older seed-bearing stands have a strong chance of recording the species. Cassin's Finch (Haemorhous cassinii) and broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) work the subalpine forb meadows; sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) and black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) hold the lower sagebrush; Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae) sings in the mountain mahogany. Northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunts the open grassland, and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) work the cliffs below Mount Ziggurat. Yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) appears in the streamside woodland along the lower canyons.

Wild horse viewing and photography are available on the foothill sagebrush. Northumberland and the adjoining Toquima Wild Horse Territories together cover about 135,000 acres of National Forest land within the Toquima Range; herds of free-roaming horses (Equus caballus) and the occasional burro (Equus asinus) graze the lower benches and can be observed from the trail and from the perimeter access roads. Photographers should keep a respectful distance and avoid driving herds. There is no developed angling or boating in the area — surface water is too scarce.

The recreation profile of Northumberland is built on its roadless condition. Without graded roads through the canyons, the Ziggurat and Winter Freight Connector trails carry little traffic, the bristlecone-limber pine stands above remain undisturbed, the Pinyon Jay woodland keeps its seed-caching structure, and the wild horse herds use the unfragmented elevational gradient between summer crest and winter foothill range. Hunters, hikers, and riders find the kind of low-density Toquima backcountry that exists only where motor access ends at the boundary.