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<br />000897
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<br />FLAT TOPS PRIMITIVE AREA
<br />WHITE RIVER AND ROUTT NATIONAL FORESTS
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<br />The Flat Tops Primitive Area was established on March 5, 1932, by R. Y. Stuart, Chief of
<br />the Forest Service, U,S,D,A, Lewis R. Rist, Forest Supervisor, recommended the designation
<br />of the area in his report of December 17, 1929, revised on February 1, 1932, At that time
<br />the entire White River Plateau was included in the White River National Forest, Currently, it
<br />is included in both the White River and Routt N,F.'s,
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<br />Thirteen years earlier - in 1919 - Forest Service Recreation Engineer Arthur Carhart
<br />proposed that beautiful Trappers lake at the base of the Flat Tops escarpment, be kept
<br />undeveloped, This policy was adopted, road and summer home plans for the lake dropped,
<br />and the Forest Service took the first steps in the evolution of the Wilderness concept as part
<br />of a balanced pattern of land management, The growth of this concept led to the
<br />formalizing of Regulation L-20 on July 12, 1929, settling a uniform designation and
<br />management policy for National Forest Primitive Areas.
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<br />The 1932 Management Plan for the Primitive Area noted that, "The White River Flat Tops
<br />include a vast region of ,unique wildernesS, . ,in which are to be found ideal conditions for
<br />the enjoyment of the outdoors comparable to those existing at a more primitive period,"
<br />The plan recommended that these conditions be perpetuated ", , ,consistent with necessary
<br />economic considerations, , .", Structures and occupancy, except to assist in utilization of
<br />timber, forage, and water resources, was prohibited, as were resorts and summer homes, No
<br />private land inholdings were within the boundary of the Primitive Area,
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<br />Some 52,775 acres were considered to support timber stands of commercial quality, and the
<br />plan noted, ''The area is suitable for practical forest management but due to unsatisfactory
<br />marketing conditions, the harvesting of the timber must necessarily be delayed for some
<br />time in the future," It added, "The Engelmann spruce stands consist for the most part of
<br />large mature and overmature trees:' and, "Timber., .will be cut in accordance
<br />with, "management plans which take primitive values into account," Obviously, even
<br />though Regulation L-20 was a significant milestone in the evolution of Wilderness
<br />management, the concept as it is known today-an area untrammeled by man-had not fully
<br />developed in 1932.
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<br />Ten years after the promulgation of Regulation L-20, the Secretary of Agriculture issued
<br />Regulations U-1 and U-2, which further refined the wilderness management concept, These
<br />regulations, U-1 for Wilderness Areas over 100,000 acres and U-2 for Wild Areas under
<br />100,000 acres, eliminated the provision for commercial timber harvest, However, each
<br />Primitive Area would have to be reviewed before it could be redesignated under' the more
<br />restrictive "U" Regulations, By this time, 76 Primitive Areas had been established
<br />throughout the National Forest System,
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<br />Before the Flat Tops could be reviewed, World War 11 hegan, The Primitive Area and
<br />surrounding undeveloped lands on the White River National Forest were not affected by
<br />man through the war years, but the dynamic stresses of nature continued to build up in the
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