Tonto National Forest

Tonto National Forest
Map showing the location of Tonto National Forest
Map showing the location of Tonto National Forest
LocationGila, Maricopa, Yavapai, and Pinal counties, Arizona, U.S.
Nearest cityPayson, Arizona
Coordinates33°48′N 111°18′W / 33.8°N 111.3°W / 33.8; -111.3
Area2,873,200 acres (11,627 km2)
Established1905
Visitors5,922,000 (in 2005)
Governing bodyUnited States Forest Service
WebsiteTonto National Forest
A pool of water, a remnant of the last rains, in a dry wash in Tonto National Forest
Unofficial trail sign in Pine Canyon

The Tonto National Forest, encompassing 2,873,200 acres (1,162,700 ha; 11,627 km2), is the largest of the six national forests in Arizona and is the ninth largest national forest in the United States.[1][2] The forest has diverse scenery, with elevations ranging from 1,400 feet (427 m) in the Sonoran Desert to 7,400 feet (2,256 m) in the ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim (pronounced MOH-gee-on, or MUH-gee-own). The Tonto National Forest is also one of the most visited "urban" forests in the United States.[3]

The boundaries of the Tonto National Forest are the Phoenix metropolitan area to the south, the Mogollon Rim to the north and the San Carlos and Fort Apache Indian Reservation to the east. The Tonto (Spanish for "foolish") is managed by the USDA Forest Service and its headquarters are in Phoenix. There are local ranger district offices in Globe, Mesa, Payson, Roosevelt, Scottsdale, and Young.[4]

On June 13, 2020, a wildfire ignited in the Tonto Basin area. The Bush Fire, as it was named, burned 193,455 acres (783 km2), becoming Arizona's fifth largest fire on record. The fire was sufficiently contained by July 1, prompting the Incident Management Team to transition control to the Forest Service, which subsequently conducted a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessment to begin rehabilitation efforts. Investigators determined the fire was human-caused.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Land Areas of the National Forest System" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service. November 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  2. ^ "Tonto National Forest". U.S. Forest Service, Tonto National Forest. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "Tonto National Forest – History and Development". fs.usda.gov. United States Forest Service. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  4. ^ USFS Ranger Districts by State, ufwda.org; accessed July 8, 2020.
  5. ^ "Bush Fire| InciWeb". inciweb.nwcg.gov.
  6. ^ "Here are the five largest wildfires in Arizona history". ktar.com. 22 June 2020.