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GD2G97 12 users who especially enjoy the scenery along the Engineer Pass Road. As was true of the House-passed Colorado wilderness bill of 1992, special care was taken to exclude from wilderness several patented mining e1Aims in the south portion of the American Flats addition. Bowen Gulch This area was considered for wilderness designation during the Forest Service's "RARE II" review, but was not recommended for wilderness designation. The area is ac:ljacent to the Continental Di- vide and is unusual for Colorado because of its abundant rainfall, caused by the effects of the mountains on the prevailing westerly winds, and one of the most important stands of old-growth trees in the State-including some as large as five feet in diameter and more than 600 years in age. In 1984, prior to adoption of new poli- cies for protection of old-growth, the Forest Service carried out the environmental analysis of a proposed sale of timber in this area, and in 1988 completed a sale contract allowing harvesting of tim- ber in the Bowen Gulch area. However, the Louisiana Pacific Com- pany, in response to controversy about the sale, agreed not to log the area if substitute timber were provided, which the Committee understands has now been done. The reported bill designates a por- tion of the Bowen Gulch area as an addition to the existing Never Summer Wilderness, and, in section 6, prohibits timber harvest on another portion that is also withdrawn from mineral exploration or development and designated as the "Bowen Gulch Protection Area". Buffalo Peaks This wilderness area is located some 10 miles southeast of Leadville, Colorado, between the South Platte River and Arkansas River drainages, within Lake, Park and Chaffee counties. The area's rolling terrain, subalpine meadows, and timbered basins pro- vide habitat for bighorn sheep. Roads once existed in the area, but they have been closed since 1971 and there is little, if any conflict with grazing or off-road vehicle use. The wilderness boundaries have been drawn to avoid most patented mining claims and an electronic site near South Peak. Davis Peak Left as a Further Planning Area in 1980, the Davis Peak addi- tion to the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness Area is a lower-elevation area that includes a portion of the Encampment River. The bill as re- ported includes in wilderness the Manzanares Lake area, but ex- cludes the Dome Peak area, which is managed for timber produc- tion, livestock grazing and motorized recreation, as well as the area which serves as the Big Creek campground water collection system and the South Hog Fork Creek drainage, one of the highest produc- ing watersheds in the state. Fossil Ridge The bill as reported provides for wilderness designations of a por- tion of the Fossil Ridge Wilderness Study Area, between Crested Butte and Gunnison, Colorado, designated in 1980 by P.L. 96-560. The Forest Service once identified this 8S among the highest-rank-