Roadless Areas and Special Designations:


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Five Inventoried Roadless Areas are located along the Siskiyou Crest: Kangaroo (about 100,000 acres, including the Red Buttes Wilderness and other contiguous roadless land), Condrey Mountain (20,000 acres, including contiguous roadless land), McDonald Peak (12,000 acres, including contiguous roadless land), the 10,000-acre Kinney, and the 8,000-acre Little Grayback.

In addition to the Forest Service Inventoried Roadless Areas, smaller, but ecologically important, roadless areas exist on Forest Service and BLM land within the proposed monument. These patches of roadless wildlands are fragmented, but extensive, and provide essential habitat connectivity between the larger blocks of more pristine landscape. They also contain much of the highest-quality remaining lower elevation habitat in the region, including the Dakubetede roadless area in the Little Applegate watershed. These unroaded forests, while not inventoried by the federal agencies, house an important representation of biodiversity that often differs in ecological composition from the larger, higher elevation Wilderness and roadless areas. (Click here to read a narrative description of featured Roadless Areas).

The Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest has designated at least a dozen Botanical Areas along the Siskiyou Crest, that “were identified as those areas containing concentrations of rare species, exceptionally rich and diverse floras, or plant communities rarely found in an undisturbed condition.” Many of these Botanical Areas are easily accessed from Road 20, off the Mt. Ashland exit from Interstate 5, offering a spectacular display of summer high country wildflower bloom for hikers and recreationalists.

The Audubon Society’s Important Bird Area (IBA) Program “is a global effort to identify and conserve areas that are vital to birds and other biodiversity.” The IBA Program has designated two Important Bird Areas within the proposed monument, the Siskiyou Crest IBA and the Anderson Butte/Sterling Ditch IBA. These areas have been selected after a statewide analysis showed they provide particularly important habitat for an array of resident and migratory species (Click here for more details).

Approximately 60 miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail traverse the Siskiyou Crest about midway along its 2600-mile route from Mexico to Canada. This is one of the most unusual, dynamic and interesting sections of this iconic trail the Pacific Crest Trail Association calls “an internationally significant resource for the enjoyment of hikers and equestrians”. (Click here for more featured trails)


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