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<br />OfJ2383 <br /> <br />SANGRE DE CRISTO <br /> <br />Statistics <br /> <br />Jurisdiction: San Isabel and Rio Grande National Forests, US <br />Forest Service; San Luis Resource Area, BLM <br />RARE II Inventoried Roadless Area: 260,300 acres <br />Wilderness Study Area: 221,000 acres <br />RARE II Recommendation: 221,000 acres <br />Reagan Administration Recommendation: 190,500 acres <br />State of Colorado Recommendation: 248,000 acres <br />Conservationists' Recommendation: 256,000 acres <br /> <br />Location <br /> <br />The area includes the Forest Service's Sangre de Cristo wilderness <br />Study Area and the BLM's Papa Keal, Zapata Creek, South Piney <br />Creek, Black Canyon, and Sand Castle Wilderness Study Areas. They <br />are located five miles south of Salida, and 30 miles northeast of <br />Alamosa. <br /> <br />Wilderness Qualities <br /> <br />The Sangre de Cristo ("Sangres") WSA.is one of the most prized in <br />the state of Colorado for recreation~l opportunity. The area <br />contains a cornucopia of visual delights. Cascading waterfalls <br />and lush green valleys reward the eye as lofty crags and massive <br />peaks loom above. From the summits of those peaks, the Great <br />Plains recede into the horizon, and other famed mountains of <br />Southern Colorado can be viewed in the distance -- Pike's Peak, <br />Greenhorn Mountain, spanish Peaks, the Culebras, the San Juan and <br />Sawatch Ranges, and the rounded volcanoes of northern New Mexico. <br /> <br />Formed by huge fault blocks of Precambrian granite which were <br />thrust to heights of over 14,000 feet, the Sangre de cristo <br />formation is geologically unique in Colorado. Eroded over time, <br />there remain today 34 peaks over 13,000 feet in elevation, and six <br />over 14,000 feet. Because of the combined narrowness and great <br />height of the range, it is quite typical to have a rise of 7,000 <br />feet in only three miles of horizontal distance. These saw- <br />toothed, craggy peaks present some of the most challenging climbs <br />in the Rocky Mountains, <br /> <br />The Sangres are also the barrier which caused the formation of the <br />Great Sand Dunes, a contiguous National Monument Wilderness Area. <br />Thus, in a short hike, one has the opportunity to traverse a <br />variety of ecosystems, from sand dunes, through rolling, sagebrush <br />covered hills, and on up to alpine tundra. According to a <br />resource consultant to the Forest Service, the WSA contains <br />several important ecotypes not found elsewhere in the NWPS.30 <br /> <br />30George D. Davis, "Natural Diversity for Future Generations: <br />The Role of Wilderness," 1982. <br /> <br />28 <br />