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<br />003716 <br /> <br />-.- ,'" ."' <br /> <br />extensive overmature spruce covered areas. This resulted in the well known epidemic of <br />spruce bark beetles following the war and the loss of most large Engelmann spruce on <br />thousands of acres on the White River Plateau. <br /> <br />Today, the beetle killed trees are silvery snags projecting high above the young forest <br />struggling to replace their parents. The Primitive Area remains as described in 1932, <br />". . .ideally adapted to pack trips, with outstanding.. .scenic features, excellent fishing <br />waters, big game animals, and inaccessibility .other than by horseback or foot...." <br />However, the wilderness traveller of 1974 will find fewer ". . .ideal camping places," than <br />his 1932 predecessor, for the beetles and an occasional high wind can combine to make it <br />unsafe to camp near the skeletons of the once great trees which clothed large parts of the <br />Flat Tops. <br /> <br />Although the Flat Tops Primitive Area was not among the areas reclassified as a Regulation <br />U-1 Wilderness prior to the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act, it is now under <br />consideration for addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System by Congress. In <br />the meantime, the Forest Service is continuing to manage the 102,124 acre Primitive Area <br />so that the natural processes can continue without interference by man; and, in the words of <br />the 1932 Management Plan, so ". . .this and future generations may have the opportunity to <br />observe and enjoy the outdoors under conditions similar to those existing prior to the <br />inroads of civilization. . . ." <br /> <br />'I <br />" <br /> <br />I: <br /> <br />.1 <br />I <br />