The Gila National Forest is a protected national forest in New Mexico in the southwestern United States established in 1905. It covers approximately 2,710,659 acres (1,100,000 ha) of public land, making it the sixth largest National Forest in the continental United States. Part of the area, the Gila Wilderness, was established in 1924 as the first designated wilderness by the U.S. federal government. Aldo Leopold Wilderness and a small part of the Blue Range Wilderness are also found within its borders. (Most of the Blue Range Wilderness lies within neighboring Apache National Forest.) The forest lies in southern Catron, northern Grant, western Sierra, and extreme northeastern Hidalgo counties in southwestern New Mexico. Forest headquarters are located in Silver City, New Mexico. There are local ranger district offices in Glenwood, Mimbres, Quemado, Reserve, Silver City, and Truth or Consequences.
Terrain ranges from rugged mountains and deep canyons to semi-desert. Due to the extremely rugged terrain, the area is largely unspoiled. There are several hot springs in Gila National Forest, including Middle Fork Hot Springs, Jordan Hot Springs, and Turkey Creek Hot Springs.
Read more about Gila National Forest: History
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or forest:
“Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievments must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)