Big Jacks Creek Wilderness

The Big Jacks Creek Wilderness, in the Big Jacks Creek Basin, consists of rugged canyons, streams and plateaus that provide habitat for redband trout, mountain quail and bighorn sheep, as well as two sensitive plant species. The basin ranges in elevation from 2,808 to 5,872 feet and drains a sagebrush-covered plateau dissected by rugged, sheer-walled canyons as much as 650 feet deep. Big Jacks Creek flows north into the Bruneau River, a tributary of the Snake. The basin is covered by big sagebrush, low sagebrush, salt desert shrub, and riparian vegetation. Low sagebrush types are found primarily on shallow, poorly drained soil and big sagebrush on deep, well-drained soils; the big sagebrush community is dominated by Wyoming big sagebrush and bluebunch wheatgrass, the low sagebrush community by black sagebrush, low sagebrush, Thurber needlegrass, Idaho fescue, and bluebunch wheatgrass. Salt desert shrub — shadscale, bud sagebrush, and Indian ricegrass — grows on poorly developed soils in the northern part of the basin. Thick riparian vegetation grows along perennial reaches of the creek: willow, dogwood, rose, and currant, with sedge and bluegrass in meadow areas. Two hiking trails give access to the Wilderness: the 3-mile round-trip Big Jack Creek Trail and the 2.5-mile round-trip Parker Trail.