BROWSE GUARD STATION

About

Browse Guard Station sits at approximately 6,112 feet elevation in the Pine Valley Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest in Washington County, Utah. The site has significant historical importance as it was first developed in 1921 as the 179-acre Mill Creek Browse Experimental Range, where 27 fenced plot areas were established as control plots to study browse plants that could provide summer forage for cattle. In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the current Plan 5 guard station to replace an earlier, smaller cabin. The experimental project was abandoned in 1953, and the site became overgrown with dense brush until a fire in 2002 uncovered the historic plot areas. Since 1960, the Forest Service has shared this guard station with the Utah Fish and Game Department for use as seasonal housing. Unlike other guard stations in the Dixie National Forest such as Pine Valley, Jones Corral, Podunk, or Cowpuncher Guard Stations, Browse Guard Station is not available for public camping or overnight rental through Recreation.gov or any other reservation system.

Directions

Access is via U.S. Interstate 15 Exit 30. The lower portion of the approach is a maintained county gravel road, and from the gate up to the guard station the route is single-vehicle-wide hard-packed dirt with ruts and embedded rocks, alternating between shelf road and valley transits.