How this Idaho forest became petrified!

02. October 2023 · Comments Off on How this Idaho forest became petrified! · Categories: Around The Campfire, Public Lands

Idaho has a petrified forest. Although remnants remain today, the area looked different 50 million years ago.

Located about ten miles south of Challis, the Malm Gulch forest was cool and wet like today’s Pacific Coast – covered with Redwoods and Sequoias.

However, this all changed when volcanic ash from erupting volcanos covered the land. This caused the trees to turn petrified – meaning that what remained of the wood became a hard, stony material.

Huge tree stumps and a dry, arid landscape are all that remain in the once lush, wet forest.

“Today, people see the white and pastel-colored soils and rocks in the Malm Gulch area, which are remnants of the ash deposits,” BLM notes on its website. “The heat of the eruptions destroyed most of the trees in the Malm Gulch forest. However, volcanic ash buried some trees that eventually became the petrified logs you see today.”

In 1970, the BLM installed fences around the stumps and continues to manage the area.

“The remaining petrified trees within Malm Gulch can never be replaced. If they are damaged, they will be gone forever,” BLM notes in Junior Explorer Discover the Malm Gulch Petrified Forest brochure. “Enjoy looking at these treasures, but please be respectful and leave everything as you find it for others to enjoy.”

Because the environment is so dry, not very many plants can live and thrive in the soil. However, some have adapted including the Challis milkvetch, Challis crazyweed, and wavyleaf thelypody – which are all unique to the area of land.

For more information on visiting the Malm Gulch, click here.

(Malm Gulch is a petrified forest near Challis. Photo: Bureau of Land Management.)

media-center-public-room-idaho-malm-gulch-junior-explorer-activity-guide

ITA – 2023 Wrap-Up

02. October 2023 · Comments Off on ITA – 2023 Wrap-Up · Categories: Around The Campfire


That’s (almost) a wrap

This year our first project was March 19th, with a group of BSU students working the Bernard Creek trail in Hells Canyon as part of their Alternative Spring Break Program. Our last project will be October 7th, maintaining the Dry Creek Trail in the Boise Foothills. That’s nearly seven months of trail work! The upshot of seven months was logging over 13,000 hours of volunteer time clearing almost 300 miles of trail and scouting over 100 for future projects- more than ever before! Rain, wind, heat, bugs…nothing (except the errant wildfire) kept us from pulling saws and working loppers, from scraping tread and cleaning drains. ITA volunteers are tough. And resilient. And fun!

So thank you. It’s you all— the volunteers, the individual and corporate donors, the grantors, the non-profit partners, the land manager partners— who’ve allowed us to expand our season. Having the funds and volunteer power to work low-elevation trails in the cooler seasons and focus on high-elevation trails with a shorter snow-free season in the heart of summer results in more trails cleared in more places, providing access to Idaho’s deepest river canyons and highest alpine lakes.

As ITA staff and board watch the sun set earlier each day and weather besides clear skies and sun take over the forecast, we look back on 2023 with gratitude and forward with optimism on 2024 and beyond. Spring Equinox here we come, Pulaski’s raised (but not over our heads, because that’s dangerous).

Melanie Vining
Executive Director

READ MORE!