NEW MEXICO
Gila National Forest

At over 3.3 million acres, the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico is the sixth largest national forest in the contiguous United States. In 1924, Aldo Leopold, a Gila forester, successfully urged the federal government to recognize a portion of the forest as the nation’s first wilderness area. With its headwaters in the forest, the Gila River, which runs westward into Arizona over a course of nearly 650 miles, is one of the world’s longest desert rivers.

Concerned about the future of the river and its watershed, American Rivers named the Gila to its 2008 America’s Most Endangered Rivers list.

With funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Forest Service will be able to protect the largest private inholding remaining in the Gila National Forest. The 1,292-acre property extends for eight miles along Bear Creek, a tributary of the Gila River. Bear Creek is also known to include habitat for the loach minnow, a federally threatened species. Surrounded almost entirely by existing public lands, protection of the property would greatly ease Forest Service land management, improve fire management, and secure public access for outdoor recreation.