Gila Wilderness was designated the world's first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. Along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, the 558,014 acre (225,820 ha) (872 sq. mi.) wilderness is part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. The wilderness is approximately from north to south and east to west. U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Camping, hunting, and fishing are allowed with proper permit, but no roads, buildings, logging, or mining are permitted. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas allow hunting in season. The Gila Wilderness is located in southwest New Mexico, north of Silver City and east of Reserve. It contains the West Fork, Middle Fork and much of the East Fork of the Gila River; riverside elevations of around are the lowest in the wilderness. The Mogollon Mountains traverse an arc across the wilderness. The tallest peak within this range, Whitewater Baldy at , is in the northwest part of the wilderness along with several other summits more than high. At the northeast corner is prominent Black Mountain rising to . The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is adjacent to the wilderness. The Gila Wilderness is the largest designated wilderness area in New Mexico. History The Mimbres people, a subgroup of the Mogollon were active between 1000 and 1130 in the Gila Wilderness area, leaving cliff dwellings, ruins and other evidence of their culture. The Chiricahua band of Apache came into the area between 1200 and 1600. Because of their fierce protectiveness, the area remained undeveloped into the 1870s. In 1922, Aldo Leopold, a United States Forest Service supervisor of the Carson National Forest proposed that the headwaters area of the Gila River should be preserved by an administrative process of excluding roads and denying use permits. Through his efforts, this area became recognized in 1924 as the first wilderness area in the National Forest System. Gila became the first congressionally designated wilderness of the National Wilderness Preservation System when the Wilderness Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Flora and fauna Vegetation in the Gila Wilderness consists of a spruce-fir and quaking aspen forest above 9,000 feet (2,732 m), ponderosa pine forest between 6,500 feet (1,981) and 9,000 (2,732 m), and pinyon-juniper woodland and desert vegetation below 6,500 feet and on dry southern slopes. Brushy areas, grassland, and recently