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i , Forests and the now's southeast region. The need for winter range management is increasing due to the encroachment by private land development on winter range located on private land. Conclusion: The area was determined to be unavailable due to the needs for management of wildlife habitat, commercial forest land on a local basis for production of fuelwood, minerals potential, and need for management practices to increase water yield. Is the area needed for wilderness? The Pike and San Isabel National Forests contain 257,420 acres of wilderness. This amounts to 11 percent of the Forests' area. In addition, other wildernesses with approximately 298,800 acres are adjacent to the Forest. Chaffee, Lake, and Park Counties currently contain about 247,000 acres of wilderness which is 11 percent of the counties' area. Addition of the Buffalo Peak WSA would increase this to about 304,000 acres or about 13 percent. The addition of more area would not support the goals identified in county comprehensive plans (Table C). The Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and Lake, Chaffee, and Park County Comprehensive Plan goals do not reflect a need for additi,ona1 wilderness in this area. The WSA is not needed to improve the representation of landforms and ecosystems in the National Wilderness Preservation System, as those within the Buffalo Peaks area are common to other existing wildernesses. No threatened or endangered plant or wildlife species have been identified. No vegetative or wildlife species have been identified in the area that require a wilderness environment for survival. Conclusion: This area is not needed for wilderness because of its proximity to existing wilderness and the amount of wilderness in the vicinity. In addition it is not needed to increase the variety of landforms or ecosystems of the National Wilderness preservation system. 18 ~ (2814