Look at almost any map of North America. At the heart of the Rocky Mountains, there is a gap. The Continental Divide splits to form a broad desert basin, one of the most unique and spectacular landscapes in North America -The Red Desert. A wondrous and incredible place: the desert’s stunning rainbow-colored hoo-doos, towering buttes and prehistoric rock art define this rich landscape and provide a truly wild “home on the range” for the largest migratory game herd in the lower 48 states—over 50,000 pronghorn antelope in addition to a rare desert elk herd. A vast sea of sagebrush washes up against a coastline of isolated buttes, craggy rims, and spectacular badlands. Covering over five million acres of open country, this high-altitude desert contains some of the last unspoiled tracts of public land in a state known for its wide-open spaces.

A rare high-desert ecosystem, the Red Desert is home to a rich diversity of wildlife. Pronghorn antelope roam at will across the steppes, a herd 12,000 strong. Some of these antelope winter here and migrate northward for hundreds of miles to spend the summer in Grand Teton National Park, the longest mammal migration in the continental United States. Elk are year-round residents of the northwest corner of the Red Desert, representing one of few desert elk herds left in the nation. This region is also one of the last strongholds for rare and disappearing birds such as the ferruginous hawk, mountain plover, sage grouse, and burrowing owl. Although much of the landscape is above 7,000 feet in elevation, with long, cold winters, there are also several interesting reptiles that call the Red Desert home. The eastern short-horned lizard, or “horned frog” for short, can be found throughout the region. The southwestern corner of the Red Desert is home to the midget faded rattlesnake, a tiny relative of the prairie rattler that lives colonially near rock outcrops. Even the small mammals show remarkable diversity: the region features unusual species such as the pocket mouse, pygmy rabbit, Wyoming pocket gopher, and kangaroo rat
 

A land rich in western heritage

Curious visitors can still find traces of the Red Desert’s colorful past. The wind has hollowed out the ruins of failed ranches scattered across the empty miles, ghosts of an era when fortunes could be made on wool and beef. The site of Butch Cassidy’s famous Tipton train robbery lies in the heart of the Red Desert. Cassidy and his gang stashed fresh horses within the rugged natural fortress of The Haystacks, an advantage that allowed them to outrun the law on their way south into the Powder Wash country of northern Colorado. With a practiced eye, you might find wagon ruts carved into the sagebrush steppes by the passage of pioneering emigrants over a century ago. The Overland Trail traversed the arid country south of modern Interstate 80, and at one time was lined with military forts and stagecoach stations that have long since crumbled into rubble. The Cherokee Trail ran along the uplands near the Colorado border, following a string of reliable springs. Traces of the old Point of Rocks–South Pass Stage Road can still be found near Freighter Gap, a reminder of a brief but rambunctious mining boom in the South Pass area during the 1860s. And most famous of all are the Oregon and Mormon pioneer trails, which follow the well-watered valleys just across the divide.
And, of course, beneath the shallow veneer of recent history lies a rich tradition of Native American occupation that stretches back for thousands of years. Most recently, this was the homeland of the Ute and Shoshone peoples, who pursued a nomadic life following the migrations of bison herds and other game animals across the face of the desert. Many were the landmarks that are sacred to these original Wyoming emigrants. These folk left behind few traces beyond the pictographs that still adorn a few isolated rock outcrops. The wild horses that roam the Red Desert are perhaps a legacy of these wandering tribes, renegade escapees that founded the great herds that still thunder across the flats near Adobe Town and the Joe Hay Rim.

Desert landscapes at risk

In the northwestern corner of the Red Desert, the tabletop buttes and multicolored badlands of the Jack Morrow Hills are up for grabs. Marching across the heart of this area is an active dune field, where the shifting sands mount up into hundred-foot dunes. Hidden within the dunes are buried snowdrifts that melt in summertime, creating lush pockets of wetland in the midst of an otherwise parched landscape. The Jack Morrow Hills area is studded with spectacular landmarks such as the Pinnacles, Oregon Buttes, and the Boars Tusk, and the colorful maze of the Honeycomb Buttes sprawls across its northern margin. In addition, seven Wilderness Study Areas have been established here, given interim protection until Congress makes a final ruling on their fates.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had originally prioritized the Jack Morrow Hills as an important core habitat for the Steamboat Mountain elk herd, setting the area aside for the purposes of conservation.

The agency recently changed its course and approved a long-term land-use plan that would open much of the Jack Morrow Hills to oil and gas drilling, including many of the key elk habitats. Conservation groups, backed by the comments of over 13,000 concerned citizens, challenged the proposed plan and put forward their own alternative focused on protecting the region’s unique natural values. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, reopened the BLM’s planning process to evaluate this conservation alternative. This land-use planning process is currently underway.
Far to the south, near the Colorado border, stand the jagged rims of Adobe Town. Here wind, rain, and time have sculpted a wonderland of spires, canyons, and badlands from a vast scarp that towers above the Sand Creek basin. This is Wyoming’s largest tract of desert wilderness, encompassing almost 200,000 acres of wild country.
The eastern edge of the desert is bounded by the Atlantic Rim, a long swell of high country rising from the alkali flats. Here the uplands are robed in desert grasslands and shrub fields and dissected by shallow draws and deep canyons. In winter, the Atlantic Rim becomes a haven for wintering elk and deer, which descend from the lush meadows of the Sierra Madre each year to feed on the wind-cured grasses exposed here by incessant winds.
America’s Heritage:

Hidden away in southwestern Wyoming lies one of the most unique and spectacular landscapes in North America—The Red Desert. A wondrous and incredible place: the desert’s stunning rainbow-colored hoo-doos, towering buttes and prehistoric rock art define this rich landscape and provide a truly wild “home on the range” for the largest migratory game herd in the lower 48 states—over 50,000 pronghorn antelope in addition to a rare desert elk herd. Since the settlement of the West and even long before, this region has played a special role in the lives of Native Americans and early settlers. For thousands of years the Red Desert has been a sacred place of worship for the Shoshone and Ute Tribes. Pioneers, Pony Express riders, Mormon settlers and mountain men also found important landmarks among the desert’s features, guiding them west toward Oregon, Washington, Utah and California.

A Rich High Desert Landscape

The desert offers an unparalleled wilderness experience, with world-class wildlife viewing and hunting opportunities. Seven wilderness study areas (WSAs) including: Buffalo Hump, Sand Dunes, Alkali Draw, South Pinnacles, Honeycomb Buttes, Oregon Buttes and Whitehorse Creek, the largest cluster in Wyoming, lie within the Jack Morrow Hills area of the Red Desert. These WSAs make up the heart of a landscape that includes the largest active sand dune field in North America, ice-cold freshwater ponds, seasonal wetlands, aspen-covered buttes, volcanic features and colorful clay hillsides for which the desert is famous. Throughout the year these landscapes serve as home for thousands of animals and a paradise for humans to retreat from the world into a vast wilderness. In the springtime, thousands of sage grouse gather in the desert as they have done for centuries. In the fall, hunters and wildlife lovers descend on the region to track deer, antelope and elk through six-foot stands of sage, limber pine and aspen. Rock hounds and paleontologists can find fossilized shark’s teeth, tortoise shells and petrified wood scattered on the ground. Anthropologists can gaze at the sheer southern face of Steamboat Mountain, wander back in time and picture the land when it once was a favorite “Buffalo Jump” hunting area for Native Americans.


The Red Desert is home to over 350 wildlife species, including: cougar, mule deer, bobcat, black bear, badgers, coyotes, owls, falcons and eagles. In addition, over 50,000 pronghorn antelope call the region home. A rare desert elk herd also thrives in the area.



Heart of the West’s History



Mountain men exploring the Rockies first set foot in the wild, wide-open land of the Red Desert in 1825. During one of the earliest surveying expeditions of the west, in 1871, Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, passing through part of the Red Desert, noted the region’s aspen groves and clear flowing springs upon Steamboat Mountain. Except for a few roads and the tragic loss of bison herds roaming the Great Divide Basin, the landscape looks very similar today as it did then. On the northern edge of the Red Desert lies a historic gold mining area. Here, the old mining towns of South Pass City and Atlantic City remain today. Just south of them lies the Sweetwater River valley that provided an easy route to South Pass and the crossing of the Continental Divide. The pass served as the primary mountain gateway from the east to the west for hundreds of thousands of emigrants. Even today you can still see the imprints that their wagons left behind on their long journey along the Oregon, California and Mormon pioneer trails. Prior to the arrival of early settlers and explorers, the desert was also home to many cultural and spiritual sites of the Shoshone people. Scattered throughout the landscape are two thousand-year-old rock art sites, and stone circles are said to be significant spiritual sites for the Shoshone people. Tipi rings, outlining ancient campsites of the Shoshone are evident throughout the region. A dramatically scenic black volcanic plug known as the Boar’s Tusk that is strongly associated with the origins of their culture is also in the center of the region.



Development Pressure Continues

The Red Desert is the largest and undeveloped high elevation desert left in the United States. Despite this distinction, the area has long been the focus of multinational oil, gas and mining corporations. According to the Bureau of Land Management, this pressure will continue to grow, with the industry hoping to turn southwestern Wyoming into the major natural gas producing region in the United States by 2015. Over 90% of southwestern Wyoming’s public land is available for oil and gas leasing and development. Thousands of gas wells sprawl throughout this region, linked together by a growing web of service roads, giant overhead power lines and pipelines. These gas fields fragment wildlife habitat and disrupt animal behavior and migration. Emissions from generators and compressors degrade air quality, while contamination from spills can pollute surface and groundwater. The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for developing a management plan for the region. It is within this plan that the future of the rare desert elk and the heart of the Red Desert itself will be decided. Permanently protecting 600,000 acres, out of 15 million acres of public land in southwestern Wyoming would safeguard at least one area of the state’s magnificent wide-open landscape, an area that possesses all the qualities of a National Park.