CARBONDALE, Colo. — Coloradans will now have more protected land in their backyard thanks to a recent acquisition in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.
On Monday, U.S. Forest Service officials announced that the White River National Forest had acquired the Panama/Principal Lodes parcel from The Wilderness Land Trust.
The parcel, about 19.3 acres in size, is located in the Green Mountain area south of US 82 (Independence Pass Road) and north of Lincoln Creek.
The acquisition of that parcel of land means public access is now ensured on the Green Mountain Trail, a “popular social trail through the property,” officials said in a news release Monday.
“It is great to see this sizeable and important addition to the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness come to fruition, allowing the Forest Service to move ever closer to securing the future for the Green Mountain area,” said White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams.
The trust first purchased the property in August 2020, said Brad Borst of The Wilderness Land Trust.
“This sensitive alpine habitat will now be protected for future generations of wildlife and people. We’re grateful for our partnership with the White River National Forest on this, and many other projects, to ensure the future of Colorado’s wilderness areas,” he said.
USFS officials said the White River National Forest has been working with The Wilderness Land Trust for several years to acquire private inholdings in the wilderness in the Green Mountain area. The 8.7-acre Grandview Lode was added to the wilderness in 2019, and 10.3-acre Spotted Tail Lode is awaiting transfer, they said.
The 2.3 million-acre White River National Forest manages approximately 750,000 acres of designated wilderness across eight wilderness areas, more than a third of the land it manages, USFS officials added.
In all, there are 14ers (peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in elevation) along the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, comprising Huron Peak, Missouri mountain, Mt. Columbia, Mt. Oxford, Mt. Yale, Mt. Belford, La Plata and Mt. Harvard, according to the USFS.
Read more about the stories behind those names here.
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