The C. Hart Merriam Base Camp Site is a historic campsite in Coconino National Forest, north of Flagstaff, Arizona. It is significant for its association with Clinton Hart Merriam (1855–1942), the United States' first eco-biologist. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
Description and history
The Merriam Base Camp Site is located about northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona; about three miles east of U.S. Highway 180, southeast of the intersection of Forest Roads 151 and 418, within the Coconino National Forest. The Arizona Trail passes near the Merriam Base Camp Site. The campsite is located at an elevation of about , on a knoll in the foothills northwest of Humphreys Peak, near Little Spring, a natural spring emanating from a meadow.
This camp is the site from which Clinton Hart Merriam, then head of a predecessor of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, performed the fieldwork and research leading to the development of the ecological concept of the life zone. He described life zones in the San Francisco Mountains, in which the distribution of animal and plant life was described with respect to latitude, altitude, and other environmental factors. Merriam's work in this area was flawed but important, driving the development and refinement of what was then a new concept.