Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming

The Shoshone National Forest was set aside by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison as the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve on March 30, 1891. It was the first unit of its kind created after the passage of the Act of March 3, 1891, authorizing the establishment of forest reserves—as national forests were then called—to protect the remaining timber on the public domain from destruction and to insure a regular flow of water in the streams. On the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Shoshone, the national forests embrace approximately 176,000,000 acres of forest land, located in 36 States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.

The Shoshone National Forest is situated in the heart of the Absaroka Mountains, in northwestern Wyoming. It is bounded on the north by the Montana-Wyoming State line, on the east by the Big Horn Basin, on the south by the Washakie and Teton Forests, and on the west by the Yellowstone National Park. It lies almost entirely within Park County; minor portions extend into Hot Springs and Fremont Counties.

This national forest is the largest of 21 in the Central Rocky Mountain Region, including within its boundaries 1,592,428 acres, of which all but 26,104 are Federal land. The forest is about 75,000 acres larger than the State of Delaware. Elevations within the forest range from 4,600 to 13,140 feet, thus providing a wide variation in climate, vegetation, and wildlife. At the lower elevations the summers are warm and the winters mild. The higher mountains enjoy only a brief cool summer and are snowclad most of the year.

Few mountainous sections are more rugged or spectacular. Geologically the formations are new, and immense areas of exposed rock are broken by and interspersed with mountain meadows and mantles of unbroken forests. Those who have packed into the back country, or have driven through the North Fork of the Shoshone River Canyon, or over the Beartooth Plateau agree that the variety of scenery and vegetative types is superlative.