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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
6,030 acres (9.4 square miles)
How to get there
The
Baldy Mountain roadless area is located about 14 miles southwest of
Carbondale and 19 miles south of Newcastle. The best access is from
Glenwood Springs or Silt. There are no maintained trails in the area.
- From Glenwood Springs, take Garfield County Road 117 (a.k.a., 4
Mile Rd.) to Sunlight Ski Area. The road becomes Thompson Creek Road
(FS 300). Follow signs to Haystack Gate. From here, turn left onto West
Divide Road (FS 800; 4WD) toward Haystack Mountain, and drive along the
southern boundary of the unit. About 1.5 miles before FS 800 leaves the
National Forest, FS 843 branches off and goes up Mosquito Creek along
the northwest boundary of the unit, meeting East Divide Road (FS 801;
improved dirt) near Mosquito Mountain. Reservoir Park Road (FS 812)
travels from FS 801, through Reservoir and Elk Parks, along the
northeast boundary of the unit, back to Haystack Gate.
- To reach West Divide Road (FS 800) from Silt, go south on County
Road (CR) 331 to CR 342 to CR 344. This becomes FS 800 at the forest
boundary.
- To reach East Divide Road (FS 801) from Silt, go south on CR 311 to CR 313. This becomes FS 801 at the forest boundary.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Baldy Mountain RA are Quaker Mesa and Flatiron Mountain.
Setting
Baldy
Mountain roadless area occupies rolling, forested country in the upper
West Divide Creek drainage. Baldy Mountain is the southern end of a
series of moderately-steep hills that separate West and East Divide
Creeks. Mosquito Creek originates on the broad summit of Baldy Mountain
and flows into West Divide Creek. The southern slope of the mountain
features Gambel oak and sagebrush. The rest of the area is blanketed
with aspen and spruce/fir forests. Elevations in the unit range from
7,600 at West Divide Creek to 10,200 on Baldy Mountain.
What’s special about it?
The
Baldy Mountain area is prime elk habitat, and is an important area for
hunters. This unit receives very few human visitors except in the fall,
when hunting traffic is extremely heavy. The aspen forests are calving
ground for the elk. Mid-elevation forests, such as this have critical
ecological importance but largely enjoy no protections across the
national forest system. This area is one of a group of roadless areas
that form a broad wildland corridor that links the high Elk Range with
the Grand and Battlement Mesas to the west.
Potential threats
This
area receives heavy hunter use in the fall. There is a problem in
this area with illegal off-road vehicle use. Motorcycles blaze trails
through aspen forests, and 4WD recreation is common here. The unit
overlies the tight sands natural gas formations of the Piceance Basin
and portions of the unit contain leases dating back to mid-1950.
Roadless advocates should request that any development of the existing
leases require No Surface Occupancy stipulations. Existing leases
should also be allowed to expire at the end of the current lease term.
No new parcels in this roadless area should be leased. The WRNF is
currently anlyzing a proposed natural gas pipeline that would carve off
a portion of the RA on the west side. Advocates should request that the
WRNF find an alternative route that doesn't impact roadless areas.
Other info
Conservation
groups have identified another 1,301 acres of roadless area associated
with the Baldy Mountain RA (see map). These occur on the north side of
the unit and were omitted from the USFS roadless inventory. There are
cattle grazing allotments in the area. |
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