I've hiked hundreds of canyons in Colorado and Utah. Bull Canyon will always remain in my mind as a unique, special, and surprising place.
Richard Compton,
Carbondale
Wilderness
Qualities
Bull Canyon lies along the southern flanks of Blue Mountain, an
uplifted, faulted plateau at the southeast end of the Uinta
Mountain range. Bull Canyon has the same geologic formations
found in Dinosaur National Monument -- green and purple Morrison
shales, deep vermilion Triassic shale and sandstone.
Above these foundations lie massive pale pink outcrops of Weber Sandstone, the same rock as the Yampa River canyon just a few miles north in the Monument.
Below the National
Monument's Plug Hat Rock Picnic Area, Bull Canyon reveals
a little known world of intricately carved canyons. Palisades
tower above the small creeks that drain the southern slopes of
Blue Mountain. The richly vegetated riparian habitats of Bull
Canyon and its tributaries are interspersed with
small stands of Douglas fir in the deep shade of the canyon
walls. Expanses of pinyon-juniper woodland range between
valleys. At lower elevations, the wide valley basin is covered
with sage, saltbush, greasewood, and grass.
The area offers historical interest as well. A documented campsite of the 1776 expedition of Dominguez and Escalante is located in Bull Canyon. The National Park Service has proposed that the Dominguez/Escalante Trail be designated a National Historic Trail.
Bull Canyon provides
important habitat for an abundant wildlife population. Nearly
all of Bull Canyon is considered critical winter range for mule
deer, and the east portion is summer elk range. Nesting golden
eagles and great horned owls are residents of the area, and it
has been identified as potential peregrine habitat for the
falcons of the National Monument.
Bull Canyon also is
home to ancient pinyon pine forests. The University of Arizona
has conducted a study of these relict pinyons and applied the
results of tree-ring chronology to studies of climatic
variability in North America.
Resource Information
No deposits of locatable minerals are known to exist within
Bull Gulch. BLM considers that Bull Gulch has low potential for
oil and gas reserves. There are no mineral leases within the
area and no mining claims. The only well drilled in the general
vicinity was on private land to the east and was a dry hole. The
state of Colorado owns the minerals for 640 acres of the area.
Portions of five grazing allotments exist within the WSA.
There is no known potential for coal or oil shale or any hard rock minerals. No mineral leases or mining claims exist within the area.
The timber in the area is useful only for fence posts and firewood, the scientific value of the relict pinyon forest of Bull Canyon far outweighs the minuscule economic value of this noncommercial woodland. In any case, portions of two grazing allotments are contained within the proposed wilderness boundaries. Wilderness designation does not conflict with continued grazing.
Bull Canyon is essentially a headwaters area, but the watercourses are intermittent. There are seven stock ponds and one developed spring. The spring is located on the extreme western boundary of the area in the K Creek drainage and serves a nearby residence via a 3/4 mile pipeline.
Boundary Issues
BLM's energy and mineral resource evaluation concluded Bull Canyon has minimal potential for all minerals. The geological formations, which include thin sedimentary rocks, extensive Precambrian rocks, and poor hydrocarbon sourcebeds, have not provided a good structural trap for fossil fuels. This assessment is born out by exploration outside the area, such as a 10,000-foot dry hole east of Bull Canyon drilled in 1983.
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