Conservation History of the Morey Peak Wilderness

The first conservationist to visit and document Morey Peak was John Muir in the 1870s. He described Morey Peak as the

“culminating point on a deeply serrate ridge at a height of ten thousand feet above the sea. This ridge is found to be made up of a series of imposing towers and pinnacles… while cool rills flow between them, watering charming gardens of arctic plants -- saxifrages, larkspurs, dwarf birch, ribes, and parnassia, etc. -- beautiful memories of the Ice Age, representing a once greatly extended flora.” (Muir, 1918).

Nearly a century later, Vernon B. Bostick, with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Department of Biological Sciences, initiated a floristic study of the area in 1969. Unfortunately, he ran out of financial support before he could investigate the deeper canyons and higher elevations of Morey Peak. In 1972, Bostick’s department and the UNLV Department of Geoscience signed a contract with the National Park Service to create an Inventory of Natural Natural Landmarks of the Great Basin. Morey Peak rose to the level of Priority 1 (Nationally Significant) within the inventory. Along with UNLV staff, Bostick relied heavily on information from other mid-20th century Nevada conservationist such as Charles S. Watson, Jr. with Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association (NORA) and Alvin R. McLane, author, mountaineer, and archaeological enthusiast. Watson contributed to filling out most of the Potential Natural Landmark Identification forms (PNLI) based on his extensive archives of NORA’s Index of Surveys Inventory and McLane provided detailed descriptions of the geology and alpine ecology of the highest reaches and deeper canyons of Morey Peak (May 1969 General inventory of Potential Natural Landmarks in Nevada- Typewritten report for NPS 8 pages; 1970 Evaluation of Morey Peak, Nye County, Nevada- Typewritten report for NPS 6 pages + photos and maps). Allen D. Bruner, Range Ecologist at University of Nevada, Reno, recommended Wilderness protection for Morey Peak and the Hot Creek Range for Bostick’s team. The Inventory of Natural Natural Landmarks of the Great Basin, submitted in 1975 recommended Morey Peak for inclusion in the National Natural Landmarks by virtue of unique geological formations (an enormous caldera), ecological systems (ponderosa pine, pinyon/juniper, bristlecone pine, wet meadows, and rare, relic, and endemic species), and outstanding natural and scenic values.

With the passage of the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCF), the state of Nevada became interested in protecting the natural integrity of the states American public lands. The late 1970s Nevada State-Wide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) stated that

"Unique natural and scenic areas must be managed more deliberately to offset the expanding human development” [SCORP page 2-5], and "areas with potential wilderness area qualities should retain a high priority for that designation , irrespective of their remoteness from urban centers" [SCORP, page 8-6]. The concurrent Nye County General Plan stated that "Primitive Areas... should be focused on the conscious preservation of open space. Nye County is still comparatively untouched and untraveled. Much of the back country is still inaccessible except by horseback. These vacant areas are intended to balance the tendency to urbanization and to preserve the original environment so as to permit continued enjoyment of 'native' Nevada. These essentially take the form of wilderness and scenic areas, drainage basins, and areas of historical or cultural significance... Morey Mountain: one of the more important recreation areas lies about in the center of Nye County, approximately 10 miles north of U.S. 6. This recreation complex includes 4-mile and 6-mile Canyons with their historic charcoal kilns, plus a proposed camp site. It appears as a major feature of the Nevada State Park Plan" [Nye County General Plan, pages 75-76]

This interest by the National Park Service and the State of Nevada in protecting and preserving the natural integrity of Morey Peak, combined with the natural resource and Wilderness protection directives of the 1976 Federal Land and Management Policy Act (FLMPA), gave the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the green light to work toward identifying potential Wilderness Areas and initiative better natural resource management plans.   In the mid 1970s, efforts to protect the wild and natural resources of the Morey Peak area by the BLM included “the Morey Habitat Management Plan recommended closing the South Sixmile Canyon to livestock grazing and closure of the road to vehicular traffic.”  This quote is from the 1987 Tonopah Resource Area Wilderness EIS, in a response to Rose Strickland’s July 7,1982 comment letter on page 301. It most likely may be referring to the Tonopah Management Framework Plan (MFP) for Livestock, Wildlife, and Wild Horses, part 1, 1975-1976, although this document is difficult to track down.  Nevada conservationist fully supported this closure of the south Sixmile Canyon road to protect the fragile and critical riparian and fishery habitats.  In the late 1970s, Nevada conservationist engaged in the BLM Wilderness Inventory process and submitted 5 specific letters of support of Wilderness protections for Morey Peak.  The BLM 1979 Initial Wilderness Inventory decisions include 29,000 acres of Morey Peak for intensive inventory.  Conservation efforts to include Morey Peak as a Wilderness Study Area (WSA) kicked into high gear and produced 8 specific letters outlining the wilderness and supplemental values of the area, along with 2327 general comments supporting Morey Peak as meeting wilderness criteria.  The BLM recommended 20,120 acres of Morey Peak for Wilderness Study Area status in the 1980 Wilderness Study Area Decisions for Nevada.  This required the BLM to administratively manage Morey Peak to preserve the Wilderness character of the unit the area either becomes a permanently designated Wilderness or is dropped from WSA status by an act of Congress.