Taylor Creek

The Taylor Creek Inventoried Roadless Area covers 16,639 acres of Gila country in the Black Range Ranger District of the Gila National Forest. The tract sits at the Burnt Corral Canyon–East Fork Gila River headwaters and drains out through Diamond Creek, Dry Diamond Creek, Beaver Creek, and Taylor Creek itself, meeting the East Fork of the Gila River downstream. Named springs — Fall Spring, Horse Trap Spring, Headquarters Spring, Trap Spring — and stock tanks (Knife, Corner, Lake, Rock Bottom, River, Snafi, Juniper, John, New, CCC) supply reliable water on a dry plateau.

The vegetation sequence moves from Chihuahuan and Intermountain grassland up into Sky Island forest. Apache-Chihuahuan Desert Grassland, Intermountain Semi-Desert Grassland, and Intermountain Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe on the low slopes give way to Sky Island Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Sky Island Juniper Savanna, and Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland on the mid-elevation benches. Arizona Plateau Chaparral on rocky slopes carries shrub oaks and Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa). Higher, Sky Island Oak Woodland, Sky Island Pine-Oak Forest, and Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland hold gray oak (Quercus grisea), Gambel oak, and southwestern ponderosa pine. Sky Island High Mountain Conifer-Oak Forest and Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest cap the highest ridges. Warm Desert Mountain Streamside Woodland along Taylor Creek, Beaver Creek, and Diamond Creek carries the riparian canopy — Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), cardinal catchfly (Silene laciniata), and golden corydalis (Corydalis aurea) grow under the canopy.

Wildlife uses the full stratification. Wapiti (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) range the oak and pine country. The pygmy nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) works the ponderosa; Townsend's solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) and plumbeous vireo (Vireo plumbeus) nest in the pine-oak. Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) forages on juniper mistletoe in the pinyon-juniper. Olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) works the mixed-conifer snags; broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) feeds in forest openings. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) hunts the open ridges; horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), Cassin's kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans), lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), and Say's phoebe (Sayornis saya) occupy the grassland and juniper savanna. Along the East Fork Gila River and Taylor Creek, yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) uses the streamside canopy, and the Arizona mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana) inhabits shaded canyon-floor habitat. Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) occurs in the downstream river. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A walker setting out from the Diamond Creek Trailhead or Trails End Trailhead drops into the streamside woodland, then climbs through pinyon-juniper, oak woodland, and ponderosa pine in a morning. The canyon pools hold cool water in sheltered reaches; a Cassin's kingbird calls from a juniper perch; the wind through the ponderosa on Burnt Corral Canyon's rim is the loudest thing around. The Gila Wilderness rises just west; the Black Range rises to the east.

The Taylor Creek Inventoried Roadless Area covers 16,639 acres in the Black Range Ranger District of the Gila National Forest, straddling Catron, Grant, and Sierra counties in the heart of the Gila country. Taylor Creek sits at the Burnt Corral Canyon–East Fork Gila River headwaters, with Diamond Creek, Dry Diamond Creek, Beaver Creek, and Taylor Creek itself draining the tract into the East Fork of the Gila River. The area adjoins the Gila Wilderness — the first administratively protected wilderness in the United States — and shares its long human history.

The earliest known inhabitants of the Gila country were the Mogollon people, who lived in the region from roughly 200 to 1400 CE and built the cliff dwellings that survive on the headwaters of the Gila River [1]. The Gila Cliff Dwellings, just west of the Taylor Creek area on the main Gila River, were inhabited by an agricultural Mogollon people — sometimes called Southern Ancestral Pueblo — in the late 1200s and early 1300s. Archaeologists have identified 46 rooms at the Gila Cliff Dwellings. After the Mogollon culture declined, the Apache — particularly the Chiricahua and Mimbreño (Warm Springs) bands — occupied the region [1]. The Chiricahua leader Geronimo was born near the Gila River and resisted Spanish, Mexican, and American incursions into the late nineteenth century [1]. Apache warfare in the Gila country continued until Geronimo's surrender in 1886.

Nineteenth-century Anglo settlement in the Gila followed mining booms to the south (the Cooney Mine at Mineral Creek, 1880; Chloride in the Black Range, 1880) and extensive cattle ranching in the Gila valleys. The 916 Ranch on Mogollon Creek, founded in 1884 by Peter McKindree Shelley, established a family-ranching tradition that persisted across the Gila country into the twentieth century. The spring and tank names across the Taylor Creek tract — Fall Spring, Horse Trap Spring, Headquarters Spring, Trap Spring, Knife Tank, River Tank, Juniper Tank — preserve the fingerprints of the ranching landscape; the CCC Tank records the Civilian Conservation Corps work of the 1930s.

Federal forest administration arrived in stages. The Gila River Forest Reserve was proclaimed in March 1899; on July 21, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt issued Proclamation 582 enlarging the reserve and renaming it the Gila Forest Reserve [2]. Congress transferred the Forest Reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture that same year, creating the Forest Service; in 1907 Forest Reserves became "national forests" [3]. More than 148 million acres were added to the National Forest System during Roosevelt's presidency [3]. In 1924, regional forester Frank C. Pooler signed Aldo Leopold's proposal designating 755,000 acres of the Gila — just west of Taylor Creek — as the first administratively protected wilderness in the United States [1].

The 16,639-acre Taylor Creek Roadless Area is managed today from the Black Range Ranger District and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, preserving a block between the Gila Wilderness and the Black Range crest in one of the earliest protected landscapes of the American Southwest.

The Taylor Creek Inventoried Roadless Area protects 16,639 acres at the Burnt Corral Canyon–East Fork Gila River headwaters, adjoining the Gila Wilderness in the Gila National Forest. The tract spans Sky Island Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Sky Island Oak Woodland, Sky Island Pine-Oak Forest, Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland, Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest, and Warm Desert Mountain Streamside Woodland along Taylor Creek, Beaver Creek, and Diamond Creek. The area holds designated critical habitat for four listed species — loach minnow, spikedace, Chiricahua leopard frog, narrow-headed gartersnake, and Mexican spotted owl — making its roadless condition especially significant.

Vital Resources Protected

• Critical Habitat for Listed Native Fish and Aquatic Species: Taylor Creek, Beaver Creek, and Diamond Creek flow into the East Fork Gila River, which holds designated critical habitat for loach minnow (endangered), spikedace (endangered), Chiricahua leopard frog (threatened), and narrow-headed gartersnake (threatened). These species require cold, low-sediment, pool-and-riffle streams with intact riparian cover — conditions the roadless headwaters maintain. Gila topminnow (endangered) and Gila trout (threatened) occur in the broader drainage system.

• Mexican Spotted Owl Critical Habitat: The area is designated critical habitat for Mexican spotted owl (threatened). The continuous Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland, Sky Island Pine-Oak Forest, and Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest provide the canopy, snag, and prey structure the owl requires. The Gila National Forest is a stronghold for this species, and the Taylor Creek block contributes a substantial unfragmented unit of that stronghold.

• Mexican Wolf Experimental Range and Riparian Habitat: The area lies within the experimental-population range of the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), whose persistence depends on low road density. The streamside woodland along the East Fork Gila River and Taylor Creek provides critical habitat for southwestern willow flycatcher (endangered) and yellow-billed cuckoo (threatened), both of which require continuous gallery canopy.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation of Critical Habitat Streams: Road cut-and-fill on the steep canyon walls of Burnt Corral Canyon, Taylor Creek, Beaver Creek, and Diamond Creek would send fine sediment into federally designated critical habitat for loach minnow, spikedace, Chiricahua leopard frog, and narrow-headed gartersnake. Sediment buries spawning substrate and pool-and-riffle structure; the impact persists in stream gravels for decades. Because these are critical habitat streams, road-driven sedimentation carries both ecological and regulatory consequences.

• Fragmentation of Spotted Owl Critical Habitat and Wolf Range: Road construction through Mexican spotted owl critical habitat introduces edge effects, nest-site disturbance, salvage-logging pressure, and predator-prey alteration, all of which are documented as difficult to reverse. The same roads would introduce motorized disturbance into Mexican wolf experimental range, where hunting, persecution, and displacement along access corridors drive population declines.

• Riparian Degradation for Cuckoo and Flycatcher Habitat: New roads crossing the East Fork Gila River and Taylor Creek would remove or degrade the gallery streamside canopy that southwestern willow flycatcher and yellow-billed cuckoo require. Riparian habitat is already scarce in the Southwest, and once lost to road corridors, it rarely recovers to functional condition at short time scales.

The Taylor Creek Inventoried Roadless Area covers 16,639 acres of Gila country in the Black Range Ranger District of the Gila National Forest, adjoining the Gila Wilderness to the west. Six verified trails, three trailheads (Trails End, Links, Diamond Creek), and an extensive backcountry trail network support hiking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and world-class birding.

The trail system is substantial. Green Fly Trail (26, 13.7 miles, native material, hiker and stock) is the longest route and traverses the full length of the tract. Iron Trail (771, 5.2 miles) accepts stock on native tread. CCC Trail (772, 4.5 miles, hiker and stock) takes its name from Depression-era construction. Link Trail (713, 3.9 miles, hiker only) connects routes. Adobe Springs Trail (804, 3.6 miles) is horse-accessible. Diamond Creek Trail (40, 3.1 miles, hiker and stock) drops to the Diamond Creek drainage. All on native-material surface; parties base from Trails End, Links, or Diamond Creek trailheads.

Birding is outstanding. Six eBird hotspots sit within 24 kilometers of the area, anchored by Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (199 species, 672 checklists), Gila Hot Springs (163 species), Gila NF–Middle Fork Gila River Trail (155 species), Gila River at the Confluence of East and West Forks (139 species), Gila NF–NM-15 Access to Gila Cliff Dwellings (128 species), and Gila NF Visitor Center (122 species). These hotspots establish the Taylor Creek country as one of the richest birding districts in the Southwest. In the area itself, expected sightings include pygmy nuthatch, Townsend's solitaire, plumbeous vireo, and olive-sided flycatcher in the ponderosa and mixed conifer; phainopepla, Cassin's kingbird, lark sparrow, and Say's phoebe in the pinyon-juniper and juniper savanna; and yellow-billed cuckoo along the East Fork Gila River streamside.

Hunting under New Mexico Department of Game and Fish regulations is a significant dispersed use. Documented game species include wapiti (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo); the broader Black Range Ranger District also supports black bear, mountain lion, and javelina. Hunters use Green Fly Trail and Iron Trail to reach back-country elk bedding areas in the upper Taylor Creek drainages.

Fishing is supported where smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) occurs in the East Fork Gila River below the confluence. The East Fork, Taylor Creek, and Beaver Creek are waters regulated by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish; wild native Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae) — a threatened species — occurs in the broader drainage but requires catch-and-release and water-specific regulations where open. Anglers check current rules before fishing.

Equestrian travel is especially well supported: all six verified trails accept stock except the Link Trail, and the three trailheads provide stock-friendly access. Stock parties water at Headquarters Spring, Fall Spring, Horse Trap Spring, Trap Spring, and the East Fork of the Gila River.

Photography rewards the streamside canopy of Taylor Creek and Beaver Creek, the long views from Burnt Corral Canyon rim across the East Fork Gila River into the Gila Wilderness, and the Sky Island gradient in autumn. Dispersed camping and dark-sky stargazing round out the experience — the area sits within one of the darkest-sky regions in the lower 48.

The recreation Taylor Creek offers — 13.7-mile through-hiking on the Green Fly Trail, multi-day horseback trips, hunts that depend on unbroken elk habitat, 199-species birding days, and fishing on the East Fork of the Gila River — depends directly on the area's roadless condition. A new road would fragment Mexican spotted owl critical habitat, disturb Mexican wolf range, and introduce sediment to federally designated critical habitat streams for loach minnow, spikedace, and narrow-headed gartersnake.