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 In recent years, the availability of sizable private holdings within the Coconino National Forest has declined sharply. The majority of such parcels have either been developed for residential uses or found their way into Federal ownership through land exchange or purchase.
At 820 acres, the East Clear Creek property that conveyed to the National Forest in this exchange wass one of the single largest private inholdings remaining in the Mogollon Rim Ranger District. Aside from being breathtakingly beautiful, the nearly 2 linear miles of perennial watercourse supports a riparian ecosystem rich in coyote willow, broad leaf cattail, spikerush and many other types of hydrophilic vegetation.
  The parcel’s upper plateaus and ridges are dominated by stands of Ponderosa pine forest and native deciduous trees. The canyons that cut through the property (characterized by steep escarpments interspersed with a series of narrow ridges and well-defined tributaries) serve as important transition zones between the biomes of the upper plateau and the riparian corridor.
 
 This wealth of biomes supports a wide range of animal life. While larger animals such as elk, mule deer, turkeys, black bears, white-tailed deer, raccoons, ringtails and beavers all thrive on this property, this property is also important to many fish, reptiles and birds.
During the winter months, Bald Eagles use clumps of trees and snags on canyon slopes for roosts near the East Clear Creek drainage. Mexican Spotted Owls and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers are some of the other threatened or endangered bird species that find havens on the property.
 In return for this valuable ecological resource, the Coconino National forest has exchanged roughly 500 acres designated as the Last Chance Mine Parcel. A less-than-ideal property from a resource management perspective, this land has been subject to strip mining and other rough developments in years past and is bisected by both Forest Highway 3 and a commercial property.
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