Tag Archive for: Colorado Wilderness

Public access protected as Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Grows

September 19, 2024-

This week another gap in Colorado’s Collegiate Peaks Wilderness was mended as The Wilderness Land Trust transferred the 19-acre Panama Principal Lode to be added to the wilderness area.

With the transfer completed, the threat of development has been removed from the property, and the wilderness area has been made more whole. The Collegiate Peaks Wilderness is located between Leadville, Aspen, and Crested Butte, and is a prime example of sensitive alpine habitat. With eight 14,000’+ peaks within it, it has the highest average elevation of any designated wilderness in the lower 48 states and includes 40 miles of the Continental Divide. Dwarfed krummholz trees dot the landscape, growing in twisted shapes, sheltered from the wind by surrounding rocks, showing how extreme the environment is within this high alpine terrain. Only the hardiest animals make this landscape their home. In fact, in 2009 a male wolverine was spotted in the Collegiate Peaks, the first confirmed sighting in the state since 1919.

M56, the young wolverine radio collared in Grand Teton National Park before making his way south to the Collegiate Peaks.

The 19-acre Panama Principal Lode property adjoins and builds off the success of two other Trust projects: the Grandview Lode which was added to the wilderness in 2019, and Spotted Tail Lode which is awaiting transfer. While they are all relatively small properties, their cumulative impact grows as we eliminate more and more inholdings throughout the Collegiate Peaks and nearby wilderness areas. Protection of the Panama Principal Lode also benefits recreation in this popular area, with public access now ensured on the Green Mountain Trail, which runs through the property. The property is also within the viewshed of the scenic Hwy 82 as it climbs to Independence Pass.

This project would not be possible without the donors who generously supported it, the volunteers who helped to restore the property to its wilderness character, and our partners at the Independence Pass Foundation and U.S. Forest Service.

“The Independence Pass Foundation is beyond thrilled that the beautiful Panama and Principal claims have become part of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, where they can be preserved and protected and enjoyed by the public for all time. HUGE thanks to The Wilderness Land Trust and the US Forest Service for making this possible, and to the dozens of volunteers who over four months hauled several tons of dilapidated structures and debris from the properties to make them ‘wilderness ready’ for transfer. What a wonderful way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act!”

– Karin Teague, Executive Director Independence Pass Foundation

This is the 14th property in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness that the Trust has protected.

 

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Protecting the slopes of Mount Champion

December 1, 2023-

The Wilderness Land Trust recently acquired 275 acres on the slopes of Mount Champion, just outside Colorado’s Mt. Massive Wilderness.

Less than an hour from the Roaring Fork Valley, locals and visitors have long been drawn to Independence Pass for its panoramic vistas and recreation opportunities for all ages and abilities. Mount Champion stands tall above the pass and, while the area is a popular destination, much of the peak’s south and west faces have been privately owned and at risk of development.

This month Amy Margerum Berg, owner of 275-acres on the west face of Mount Champion, generously donated the property to The Wilderness Land Trust to be subsequently transferred to public ownership in San Isabel National Forest. The property stretches from the North Fork of Lake Creek almost to the summit and includes remnants of the Champion Mine which was active from 1907-1940 mining gold, silver, copper, and lead.

“My late husband, Charles “Chuck” McLean, had the foresight to purchase these mining claims with the intent of protecting them from development. My son, Slater McLean, and I are so proud to be donating this land in his honor. He loved this land more than anything and spent hours exploring and hiking every inch of this spectacular backcountry wilderness. He would be very happy to know that the land will now be protected forever,” says Amy Margerum Berg.

The popular North Fork Lake Creek Trail leads hikers, backpackers, and horsemen into the 30,000-acre Mount Massive Wilderness and runs through the base of the donated property. Protecting the property under public ownership will ensure public access on the trail and mitigate the management and liability concerns that have recently cut off access to several of Colorado’s 14ers. The donation also protects important wildlife habitat, spanning from streamside riparian zones to alpine meadows above treeline, and is home to bighorn sheep.

The Champion Mine South property is just up the drainage from the 20-acre Blue Lake property which The Trust added to designated wilderness last year, removing the last remaining inholding in the Mount Massive Wilderness.

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17 more Colorado properties protected!

November 17, 2023-

This week The Wilderness Land Trust completed the purchase of 17 properties totaling 162 in and around the Handies Peak and Red Cloud Wilderness Study Areas in Colorado. 

Near Silverton and Lake City, the Handies Peak and Red Cloud Wilderness Study Areas draw a wide variety of recreationists. Several of the acquired properties are located near the trailhead and trail to American Basin, one of the most iconic scenic vistas in Colorado. The Alpine Gulch Trail runs through another of the properties. These two wilderness study areas have been recommended for designation as wilderness and are included in the Colorado Wilderness Act which has been passed by the US House and awaits a Senate vote. In removing these potential future wilderness inholdings before the wilderness is designated, we are helping to avoid management conflicts, including for public access, before they arise.

The area also has significant ecological value. In addition to being home to Bighorn Sheep and the endangered Uncompahgre Fritillary Butterfly, some of the properties are within a one-mile corridor separating the proposed wilderness with the already designated Uncompahgre Wilderness. Safeguarding against development in these wildlife corridors is important in the landscape-scale protection needed to build climate resilience in our wild places. The Handies Peak WSA also includes the headwaters of the Gunnison River, Animas River, and Rio Grande, which supply drinking water to many downstream communities.

The properties are accessed by the Alpine Loop Backcountry Byway, a very popular OHV route that traverses 63 miles through the alpine on roads built during the mining boom, including over Cinnamon and Engineer Pass. The properties’ proximity to this popular motorized route put them at especially high risk for development. In fact, while visiting the properties our lands specialists saw several newly constructed cabins on other nearby private properties. Real estate prices in the area for these remote properties are considerably higher than in other parts of Colorado, and are only rising. All of this makes protecting these properties not only critical, but urgent. There are still many remaining private inholdings in the area which the Trust is pursuing. As we near the end of the year and its accompanied fundraising drive, your continued support will help move these 17 properties through the transfer process, placing them in public ownership for generations to come, and will help us to protect more private properties in the area.

 

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