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Show JULY 1996 THE \ | j ‘ a> a é co ah ee _ oF a iy} Gi rer REY i By Dick Carter he High Uintas are Utah’s magnificent anomaly. Not only does the area above timberline in a true alpine flora surpass all of the alpine areas in the Mountain West, but the flora of the lofty Uintas are more typical of the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana and Canada. But systematic over-logging embraced by the US Forest Service has caused concerns for wildlife, watershed, vegetation and a host of meaningful problems. Presently, the Forest Service has new plans to clearcut thousands of acres — the largest timber sale on record in the Uintas — in areas that will significantly fragment natural wild lands. The Uintas run east from Kamas for 150 miles to the Colorado border. The core 55 miles of this wrinkled ridgeline rarely drops below 11,000 feet, with at least a dozen major summits roaring to over 13,000 feet (including Kings Peak, Utah’s highest Clear-cuts, like this one on the north slope of the Uintas, decimate the forest and its inhabitants. the Uintas, these mountains are continually re-shaped by the harshest weather imaginable. The North Slope is a gentle, almost plateau-like region of lodgepole pine forests that surround meandering open parklands and high mountain meadows. River bottoms are wide and filled with willows, potholes and beaver ponds. A series of steep glacial stairs give rise to a belt of spruce and fir forests leading to alpine packed with these trees. Looking into the basins heart tightly of nate the immediate landscape. Off in , the distance deep glacial canyons get lost in the long jumble of spruce and fir forests, which gently tumble down river basins into lodgepole pine and out into the sagebrush of the Uintah Basin. The Uintas harbors a unique and sensitive fauna — Canada lynx, black bear, cougar, great grey and boreal owls, golden eagle, goshawk, osprey, ptarmigan, pileated and three-toed woodpeckers, river otter, pine marten, Rocky Mountain Photo by Steve Lewis bighorn sheep, moose and elk. Grizzly bear, timber wolf, bison and wolverine once found a secure home in the Uintas. In this mountain sanctuary, both the native Colorado and Bonneville cutthroat trout still find a few isolated steam miles in which to hide. In 1979, the Utah Wilderness Association proposed a 659,000 acre High Uintas Wilderness. The Forest Service responded a year later with a Continued on page 12 the Uintas, the South Slope, one begins to fathom the unique massiveness of this range. Here huge glacial basins domi- ad point at 13,528 feet). Rat het Fe , Ask for our Hundreds of glacially carved lakes dot small and large basins, some as high as 12,000 feet, others hidden in 2 for 1 Soup or Salad (offer expires 12/31/96) dense spruce and fir forests, Although active glaciers no longer find refuge in 801-655-8393 710 (New Lower) Main Street * Park City Goldener Fisch Juno en joy light ark Gity's Favorite on. Historic e Guaranteed Fresh quaking aspens lunches wild flowers twilight dinners Florist fragrant pines Main from our mountain Flowers alpine deck $18.95 e European Gardens “Mountain Times” Dinner Special 649-2600 3-course dinner with beverage now through October World Wide Delivery o PAGE 10 SILVER LAKE VILLAGE IN UPPER DEER VALLEY 649-7770 © “4 Lunch Friday-Saturday 11:30-2:30 Wednesday-Sunday 5:30-9:30 | Sunday Brunch 11:00-3:00 |