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Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED
11,034 acres (17.2 square miles)
How to get there
The Buffer Mountain roadless area is located just north of
the Towns of Vail and Avon.
- From
Vail, go north on Red Sandstone Road (FS 700; improved dirt) along the eastern
boundary of the unit. At Lost Lake Trailhead, take a left (south) on Red &
White Road (FS 734; high clearance). 1.5 miles brings you to the junction with
FS 787, which penetrates the area to reach some large clearcuts and ends at the
Buffehr Trail (2111) that descends to Vail. Further along FS 734, roads FS
734.1B and FS 779 (both 4WD) penetrate this area from the north.
- On the
west side, the June Creek Road (FS 717) provides vehicle access to the area.
This road begins east of Edwards and climbs along the creek to Red & White
Road (FS 734).
- For
non-vehicular access, the Buck Creek Trail (2106) climbs from Avon to Red
Spring on the Red & White Rd. The popular Trail 1896 traverses the hillside
above Gore Creek, with trailheads on the west end of West Vail and at the bottom
of Red Sandstone Rd. The Buffehr Trail (2111) climbs from Trail 1896 up the
ridge between Red Sandstone and Buffehr Creeks.
- You may
be confused by many motorized singletracks that branch and loop through the
area. Have your map handy.
- The
USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Buffer Mountain RA are Vail West and Edwards.
Setting
A long, low ridge, with a high point on Red & White
Mountain, runs east/west and divides the Piney and Eagle Rivers. The Buffer
Mountain roadless area occupies most of the south half of this divide. The
terrain consists of long, moderately-steep south-facing slopes dissected by at
least 13 separate drainages, principally Red Sandstone Ck, Buffehr Ck,
Nottingham Gulch, Buck Ck, Metcalf Ck, and June Ck. The ridge is largely
forested with aspen and lodgepole pine, while the lower slopes are quite arid
and brushy. The elevation ranges from 7,800 feet in the Eagle Valley to 10,672
feet on Buffer Peak.
What’s special about it?
The Red & White ridge is an important mid-elevation
corridor that connects the high peaks of the Gore Range to lower-elevation
range on BLM lands northwest of Wolcott. It is thus a transitional zone for the
migration of big game. Mid-elevation areas on public lands, like these, are are
largely unprotected. As these same lower elevation habitats on private lands
get increasingly developed, the value of these intact, unroaded public lands
lower elevation habitats will dramatically increase.
The Buffer Mountain area provides a quickly-accessible
recreational resource for residents in Vail and the Eagle Valley. There are
popular hiking and mountain biking trails here that begin right in town. While
that limits the amount of solitude in the area, it does provide an important
buffer of undeveloped lands around the bustling I-70 corridor. The area is also
popular among hunters in the fall.
Potential threats
The primary threat to the integrity of this area is
uncontrolled motorized trespassing. Much of this illegal off-road use
originates from the Red & White Road in the northern part of this unit. In
fact, parts of the NW portion of the unit are essentially used as a motorcycle
racetrack. These vehicles have co-opted many of the pack trails here, disobeyed
road closures, and blazed new singletracks of their own. There seems to be no
policing of this activity. Some of the encroachment is also connected to
private residential areas on the hillside north of Avon, on the SW boundary of
the unit.
Rapid development of adjacent private properties affects the
character of the roadless area, and facilitates illegal usage. In addition,
recent and ongoing timber extraction, particularly in the NE portion of the
unit, has left large clearcut patches across the mountains.
Other info
FS 779, a badly eroded 4WD route on the ridge between June and
Metcalf Creeks, should be closed, as it reduces the roadless area, is an
eyesore, and will continue posing an expensive maintenance burden on taxpayers
unless closed and rehabilitated ASAP. Conservation groups have identified an
additional 568 acres of roadless area that was not included in this unit by the
USFS. |
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