Cherry Bluffs - Upper Reynolds Potential Addition to the Emigrant Wilderness
 Size:
Approximately 2,406 acres
Managing agency: Stanislaus National Forest
Location: In Tuolumne County.
 Description: The
Cherry Bluffs Upper Reynolds area includes two adjacent areas that offer high
quality wildland, challenging terrain, and logical additions to the Emigrant
Wilderness. The first area, Cherry Bluffs, surrounds the north end of Cherry
Lake with great granite bluffs that rise up as extensions of ridges protruding
from the Emigrant Wilderness and Yosemite National Park. On the east side of
the lake, the Cherry Bluffs area contains open granite slopes that climb toward
the top of Kibbie Ridge. This east portion of the Cherry Bluffs area has small,
isolated patches of old-growth trees, with most of the site featuring vast expanses
of bare rock, steep cliffs, and boulder piles left from countless rock slides.
On the west side of Cherry Lake, the bluffs rise sharply in a series of humps toward Hells Mountain, four miles north of Cherry Lake. The steepest bluffs, located directly northwest of the lake, are mostly bare granite with patches of brush, but one large block of truly impressive old-growth mixed-conifer forest survives on the first prominent knob and along the drainage to the west. Impressive individual sugar pines, ponderosa pines, and white firs represent what once covered the vast Granite Burn to the west and the countless miles of logged-over forest to the northwest.
Since there are no roads along Cherry Lake at its northern end, the steep slopes of the Cherry Bluffs area provide scenic views over the Lake, far-off Yosemite Park vistas, and forest landscapes to the west. Even on the most open slopes, hikers and climbers can easily find solitude and quiet within the patches of trees or sheltered rock fields of giant boulders. Once visitors climb further north into the portion of the Cherry Bluffs area that stretches between Cherry Lake and Hells Mountain, views into the Emigrant Wilderness are frequent and panoramic.
Adjacent to the Cherry Bluffs region, the Upper Reynolds area stretches from just south of the top of Hells Mountain northward toward Bear Meadow. Upper Reynolds provides highly valuable connectivity for wildlife sensitive to roads and human disturbance. The cliffs directly east of the area are nearly sheer with open granite slabs. Few closed-canopy or old-growth dependent wildlife can find connecting habitat across such bare slopes, but within the Upper Reynolds area, patches and strips of prime older forest, including extremely large old-growth cedars, give sensitive wildlife corridors along which they travel to and from habitats in the north and the south (including Yosemite National Park).
A major trail already lies within Upper Reynolds, providing access to Bear and Bourland Meadows. Upper Reynolds Creek and a tributary of the West Fork of Cherry Creek originate here.
Some cattle grazing occurs in areas west of Cherry Lake, but no effects on grazing would occur with wilderness designation. The cost of new road construction would be greater than the value of any potential logging profits. No known off-road vehicle routes or active mining claims are located within the area.
The addition of the Cherry Bluffs Upper Reynolds area to the existing Emigrant Wilderness would preserve critical north-to-south connectivity for forest-dependent species that are easily disturbed by roads, logging, and noise. The Cherry Bluffs area contains one large block and scattered small blocks of pristine old-growth conifers, in stark contrast to miles of adjacent, burned and logged lands. The Upper Reynolds area features lodgepole pine forests, individual old-growth cedars, and a variety of meadow and granite bluffs overlooking the core of the Emigrant Wilderness.
For additional information, please contact:
California Wilderness Coalition
(510) 451-1450
info@calwild.org
Or:
John Buckley
Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center
Box 396
Twain Harte, CA 95383
Phone: (209) 586-7440
Email: cserc@sonnet.com
www.cserc.org |
Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
