Mormon Creek Roadless Area

Adoption Status: ADOPTED

• To reach the Mormon Creek roadless area, drive up Fryingpan Road from Basalt, past Ruedi Reservoir.Two miles past Thomasville, at Biglow, bear left on the North Fork Road (FS 501).  The RA begins on your right as you pass Henderson Park. FS 501 continues along the northern boundary of the RA and ends at Savage Lakes Trailhead. Turn right at Henderson Park on FS 538 to drive along the southern boundary of the RA.
• The USGS 7 1/2’ quad for Mormon Creek is Nast.

Setting
Mormon Creek is a roadless area adjacent to the Holy Cross Wilderness. It consists of a heavily-wooded mountain that divides Cunningham Creek from the North Fork Fryingpan River.  Lodgepole pines dominate the lower reaches with aspens and spruce/fir forests up higher.  The elevation ranges from 9300 feet near Henderson Park to 11,800 feet on the Mormon/Cunningham divide. The terrain is generally steep and there are no developed trails in the RA.

What’s special about it?
Mormon Creek RA, being a steep and heavily-wooded arm of the Sawatch  Range, has retained a wild, primitive quality. In addition to being summer range for deer and elk, this unit is part of the Colorado Natural Heritage Program’s North Fork Fryingpan Potential Conservation Area.  There are riparian areas and wetland plant communities of high biodiversity significance, and the southern half of the unit has been identified as high-priority habitat by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Cunningham Creek on the southern boundary is a fishery for the imperiled Colorado cutthroat trout. The Fryingpan River headwaters area is considered prime lynx habitat because of places like the Mormon Creek RA. 

Potential threats
The steep slopes of this unit make it unsuitable for logging and the roads it would require. But, it is not inconceivable that the areas timber wouldn't attract those willing to profit from the wood fiber and stick the public with the clean up. Other than some fishing and hunting on the creeks at its boundaries, Mormon Creek RA sees little, if any additional recreational use.

Other info
The Mormon water diversion tunnel runs underneath the unit. Mormon Creek RA is one of ten roadless areas that, together with the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, comprise a roadless complex of over 165,000 acres (257 square miles). The USFS has recommended that Mormon Creek RA be added to the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, and are currently managing it as such. Conservation groups have identifed an additional 951 roadless acres in the adjacent area.