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<br />loneliest country in America.
<br />'1 "There are places .....here you
<br />could spend a .....eek and never see
<br />;; or hear another person," said Eric
<br />_ Finstick, .....ho coordinated the 12-
<br />.-
<br />~ year wilderness study for the state
<br />::l BLM,
<br />Ho.....ever, wilderness advocates
<br />say it will be easier to find solitude
<br />than a political compromise to
<br />protect the tracts.
<br />Colorado's congressional delega-
<br />tion has faUed for 10 years to re-
<br />solve an impasse between develop-
<br />ment interests and environmental.
<br />ists over the designation of 700,000
<br />acres of Forest Service land as
<br />wilderness.
<br />The BLM's proposal will give
<br />the state 440,000 more acres of
<br />roadless tracts to consider. Colora-
<br />do already has 2.6 million acres of
<br />protected wilderness, none of it
<br />BLM land.
<br />The same political problems
<br />that have blocked the creation of
<br />extra Forest Service wilderness
<br />will be compounded for BLM wil-
<br />derness. "Many of the BLM wil-
<br />derness areas are downstream and
<br />face very significant downstream
<br />water-rights issues; the Forest Ser-
<br />vice areas do oot," said U.S. Sen.
<br />Tim Wirth, the state's principal
<br />congressional advocate for more
<br />wilderness.
<br />Environmentalists, who have
<br />been backed by Wirth, want wil-
<br />derness areas to be awarded water
<br />rights that will guarantee bounti-
<br />ful streamflows and prevent wa-
<br />terfalls from drying up.
<br />But water developers, who have
<br />been backed by U.S. Sen. Bill Arm-
<br />strong, say those water rights
<br />could prevent upstream dam-own-
<br />ers from taking the streamflows
<br />required to meet the needs of
<br />thirsty cities and crops.
<br />For the Forest Service areas,
<br />the water-rights argument has
<br />been largely theoretical because
<br />most proposed tracts are headwa-
<br />ters with no potential for up-
<br />stream dams. Bul several of the
<br />BLM areas are far downstream
<br />from existing dams and other wa-
<br />ter developments.
<br />A plane tour last week with
<br />Project Lighthawk, an environ-
<br />mental aviation group, showed
<br />that the downstream BLM areas
<br />contain some of the state's most
<br />spectacular scenery.
<br />In the 29,415-acre Dolores River
<br />Canyon area wes;t of Naturita, the
<br />Dolores River snakes through
<br />miles of slickrock adorned with
<br />petroglyphs and Anasazi ruins.
<br />The tops of many gooseneck river
<br />bends are adorned with towering
<br />red-rock castle formations.
<br />In northwest Colorado, the Yam-
<br />pa River cuts a 2,OOO-foot sy..ath
<br />through Cross Mountain Canyon,
<br />where expert kayakers challenge
<br />
<br />r
<br />
<br />--------
<br />
<br />proposed by the U.S. Bureau of
<br />Land Management are;
<br />. AIII.ricon Floh. 1,494 acres,
<br />southeast 01 Ouray.
<br />.1I_v.r Creek. 20,750, west
<br />01 Colorado 115 near Fort Car-
<br />son.
<br />. Block .Idg. Conyon..
<br />19,595, northwest of Colorado
<br />NatIOnal Monument near Fruits.
<br />. alock RidS. Cony.n. W....
<br />54,265, Colorado-Utah border,
<br />south side of Colorado River.
<br />.lJrown. Cany_. 6,614, east
<br />of Arkansas River, downstream
<br />from Nathrop.
<br />. .ull Ca"y-. 13,700, Colora-
<br />do-Utah border. north of Dino-
<br />saur National Monument.
<br />. .ull Gulch. 10,414, 6ast of
<br />Colorado River near Sweetwater.
<br />. Cr... Mounlaln, 14,081, on
<br />Yampa River canyon east of Di-
<br />nosaur.
<br />. Diolllolld Brook.. 35,380,
<br />Colorado-Utah border west of
<br />Browns Park Wildlife Refuge.
<br />. Dolor.. .1..... Ca.y_.
<br />29,415, on southwest Coloredo
<br />River, downstream from Bed--
<br />rod<,
<br />. De_inqu.. C.IlY.., 73,888,
<br />west Gumllson River near Delta.
<br />.10". Mou....I.. 330, west
<br />of Snowmass along Maroon
<br />Bells-Snowmass area.
<br />. 6unnl_n Gorg.. 22,078,
<br />southwest river canyon down-
<br />stream of BlaCk Canyon.
<br />. Hock leIk.. 10, southeast
<br />edge of Flat Tops wilderness ar-
<br />ea near Sweetwater.
<br />. Hondl.. P_k. 7,136, Lake
<br />'Fork of Gunnison headwaters,
<br />around 14,048-foot peak.
<br />. PIer". RI..... ContJguou.. 3D,
<br />Colorado-Wyoming border near
<br />existing Platte wilderness.
<br />. Powdorhor.. 48,115, north-
<br />eaSI of Lake City in southwest
<br />Colorado,
<br />. Rodcloud Pook. 27,884,
<br />southwest 01 Lake City, around
<br />14.034-foot peak.
<br />. SOw....up M..CI. 18,835,
<br />west Oolores River near Uravan.
<br />. Skull Cr_k. 14,050, north of
<br />U,S. 40. east of WillOw Creek.
<br />'. TClMguacho CrMk., 7,748,
<br />on creek east of Uravan, near
<br />Uncompa9hre Plateau.
<br />. Willow Cr_k. 13,503, north
<br />01 U.S. 40. east 01 Dinosaur.
<br />
<br />some of the most fearsome white-
<br />water in the West.
<br />Dominquez Canyon along the
<br />Gunnison Rh'er has dinosaur bones
<br />and many other archaeological
<br />sites. Upstream on the river. the
<br />steep-sided Gunnison Gorge is a
<br />Gold Medal trout stream.
<br />Browns Canyon along the Ar.
<br />kansas River downstream from
<br />Buena Visla has the Rocky 11oun-
<br />lain West's most popular stretch of
<br />whitewater rafting rapids.
<br />Harold Miskel, a Colorado
<br />Springs utility official who also
<br />represents the pro-development
<br />Colorado Water Congress on wil-
<br />derness issues, concedes that some
<br />of tho$e tracts are beautiful. But
<br />he worries that a leal to protect
<br />. backcountry scenery could hurt
<br />
<br />Reservoir,-a water project under
<br />consideration by Colorado Springs
<br />upstream of Browns Canyon. "is
<br />an example of a facility that could
<br />be eliminated if a downstream wil-
<br />derness area is given a water
<br />right"
<br />However, ~ environmentalists
<br />note that Congress in October ap-
<br />proved a 2.3-million acre Arizona
<br />wildern!'Ss bill that gave water
<br />rights to many downstream BLM
<br />areas. If Colorado negotiates sepa.
<br />rate water rights for each tract,
<br />the impact to upstream water de-
<br />velopers will be lessened or even
<br />eliminated, they said,
<br />Not all BLM tracts feature roar-
<br />ing rivers. Two proposed areas be-
<br />tween Lake City and Silverton con.
<br />tain Redcloud. Sunshine and
<br />Handies peaks, all over 14,000
<br />feet. The nearhy Powderhorn and
<br />American Flats areas, earlier pro-
<br />posed for wilderness designation in
<br />Wirth's Forest Service bill, contain
<br />one of the largest unbroken ex-
<br />panses of alpine tundra in the con-
<br />tinental U.S.
<br />Those areas are among the
<br />BLM.s most popular. Rut to really
<br />!'Scape civilization, backpackers
<br />can hike through the 3S,380-acre
<br />Diamond Breaks, which contains
<br />prehistoric Fremont ruins, in far
<br />northwestern Colorado. The main
<br />way to enter, after a 90-minute
<br />drive from the nearest full-time
<br />gas station, is via a long swinging
<br />bridge over lhe Green River.
<br />But BLM officials say even Dia-
<br />
<br />Hlver do.....nstre<lm from
<br />The 29.square-mile area
<br />by fewer than 200 people
<br />got its name in the Old We
<br />rustlers herded stolen live
<br />the rugged mesa to carve
<br />tie brands, "sew 'em up'" ;
<br />burn new brands into the c
<br />fore selling them elsewhel
<br />The 74,OOO-acre Blacl
<br />Canyons along the Colora(
<br />near Fruita combine solitl
<br />splendor. Some side can}
<br />visited by only a few doze
<br />a year; another square-m
<br />is home to a dozen natur
<br />stone arches ranging fror
<br />yards high to more than 1
<br />"Black Ridge is the ero...
<br />the Maroon Bells of BLM
<br />rado," said Mark Pearso
<br />Sierra Club.
<br />Pearson and Darrell Kr
<br />the Wilderness Societv, arr
<br />ers, are upset that B-LM I
<br />only 440,000 acres as wi!
<br />They said it should try to
<br />1.2 million acres as wilde!
<br />But other puhlic land USt
<br />tioned whether Colorado n.
<br />more wilderness. About 4
<br />of the state now has fed(
<br />derness protection. The
<br />Service bill, combined Yo-
<br />posed RLM additions, WOL
<br />that to 5.5 percent.
<br />;'Before we write off am
<br />ea as a wilderness playgr
<br />people from California a
<br />York, we have to consider
<br />pact on local Colorado c(
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