Elliot Ridge Roadless Area

Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED

3,205 acres (5.0 square miles)

How to get there
The Elliot Ridge roadless area is located two miles southwest of Heeney and the Green Mountain Reservoir. The primary public access to this area is from County Road (CR) 10, which begins off of State Highway 9 about 3 miles north of Green Mountain Reservoir.

• CR  10 becomes FS 23 (improved dirt) at the forest boundary. Just inside the boundary, the first road to branch off to the left of FS 23 is Lower Spring Creek Road (FS 1832; improved dirt). This winds through a vast maze of closed and obliterated timber roads, and eventually just ends in an abrupt fashion (take signs to “End of Road”). From here, you may locate the Gore Range Trail (60) that enters the Eagles Nest Wilderness Area through the Elliot Ridge RA.
• The second road to branch of to the left of FS 23 (about 2.5 miles past FS 1832) is the Mahan Lake Road (FS 1831; improved dirt). This road passes through an area of intensive logging on its way to the Elliot Ridge Trailhead (1895). This trail climbs south along Elliot Ridge into the Eagles Nest Wilderness. It is the main trail in the area. Beyond here, FS 1831 becomes rougher and eventually ends at a trailhead that provides access to the Mahan Lake/Elliot Creek area.
• Just past the turnoff to Mahan Lake Road (FS 1831), FS 23 turns into Sheep Mountain Road (FS 202; high clearance) at the divide just south of Sheep Mountain.  FS 202 drops down to Sheephorn Creek to meet Sheephorn Road (FS 753), which travels south along the western boundary of the unit, and meets the Wilderness boundary at the head of Sheephorn Creek.
• From Heeney, access is blocked by private land.
• The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Elliot Ridge RA are Piney Peak and Mount Powell.

Setting
Elliot Ridge is a high, rocky divide on the crest of the Gore Range. It is a prominent spine of Precambrian granite, and its steep talus and screefields fall away into rolling hills blanketed in lodgepole pine forests. These have been heavily logged. The terrain here consists of the northern crest of Elliot Ridge and part of the Elliot Creek drainage that flows northeast into the Blue River, just below the dam of Green Mountain Reservoir. The elevation 8,600 feet at Elliot Creek to 11,645 on Elliot Ridge.

What’s special about it?
Elliot Ridge is excellent summer range for big game. They use it to transition between lower-elevation BLM lands in the Colorado River basin to the north, and higher-elevation mountains in the Eagles Nest Wilderness Area to the south. As a result, this area supports a large herd of elk and many deer. The Mahan Lake area is high priority wildlife habitat, and contains a large population of a very rare plant species, the brown lady slipper. The roadless area also provides habitat for a wide variety of species:

• Black Bear Overall Range
• Elk Overall Range
• Elk Severe Winter
• Lynx Potential Habitat
• Moose Overall Range
• Moose Severe Winter
• Mtn Lion Overall Range
• Mule Deer Overall Range
• Mule Deer Severe Winter
• Turkey Overall Range
• CO River Cutthroat Trout

The Elliot Ridge RA is not only an important destination for hunters in the fall, but acts as a natural buffer between the Eagles Nest Wilderness and the heavily-logged lodgepole pine forests to the north of the unit. The area receives little summer use, and provides excellent opportunities to experience solitude.

Potential threats
Numerous recent timber sales along the roads that access this area have dramatically altered the natural qualities of the forests there. The maze of obliterated roads will take many years to recover. The rolling nature of the terrain below Elliot Ridge has facilitated a high incidence of vehicular encroachment into off-road areas. This is most common during hunting season. Future development of private parcels adjacent to the eastern portion of the unit could also lead to an increase of illegal trailblazing into the roadless area, as there is no policing in those areas. Combined, the ecologically damaging activities encircling this unit underline the need to maintain the roadless integrity of this area as an island of refuge.