The Dixie National Forest
The Dixie National Forest covers a huge diverse area in Southern Utah from The Great Basin along I-15 to the Colorado River. It encompasses high mountain forests to desert canyon gorges and is the gateway to the National Parks and Monuments on this webpage. The forest is a mixed use area managed for livestock grazing and timber. It also provides trails for hiking, horseback riding, all terrain vehicles and snowmobiling. There is fishing, camping and hunting.
This means it is a beautiful and interesting place to drive thru! You never know what you can find in the road or next to it. Here are a few of surprises along the way.
This means it is a beautiful and interesting place to drive thru! You never know what you can find in the road or next to it. Here are a few of surprises along the way.
The most surprising sight were thousands of dead spruce trees. Apparently this happens because a native beetle, the size of a grain of rice, can kill trees weakened by drought. This beetle cycle lasts about 50 years and happens about every 350 years and is essential to keeping the forest healthy. Trees can live for hundreds of years, and these Engleman spruce trees grow to over 100 feet tall!
This particular cycle of beetle infestation started in 1992 and will be over soon. You can already see younger, healthy trees growing in the nutrients of the fallen dead ones.
This particular cycle of beetle infestation started in 1992 and will be over soon. You can already see younger, healthy trees growing in the nutrients of the fallen dead ones.
