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Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED
1,990 acres (3.1 square miles)
How to get there
The Tigiwon roadless area is located 4 miles south of
Minturn and 1 mile east of Redcliff.
- From
State Highway (SH) 24, south of Minturn, the Tigiwon Road (FS 707) leads to the
trailheads for Half Moon (2009) and Fall Creek (2001), which enter the Holy
Cross Wilderness Area. The Tigiwon RA is on your left as you drive up this
road.
- The
other access road to this area is the Peterson Creek Road (FS 706; 4WD). It
begins at SH 24 and ends vaguely a few miles up Peterson Creek. This road is
maintained by the Holy Cross Jeep Club and may not be open to the public. Plan
on walking it, as the gate may be locked, and beavers may have turned it into a
new pond. Eventually this road turns into a trail.
- The USGS
7 1⁄2' quads for Tigiwon RA are Mount of the Holy Cross and Minturn.
Setting
The Tigiwon roadless area occupies part of the lower Fall
Creek drainage, which flows from the Tuhare Lakes to the Eagle River. Fall
Creek and Peterson Creek and the forested divide between them comprise the
landforms of this area. The Eagle Mine Superfund site lies to the north of this
unit. The elevation in the unit ranges from about 9,200 feet at Fall Creek to
11,167 on the Holy Cross Wilderness boundary. The majority of this unit is
forested with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, and features lush subalpine
wetlands around Fall Creek.
What’s special about it?
This area is surrounded by the Holy Cross Wilderness Area on
three sides, and it has retained wilderness qualities. It is a logical
extension to the Holy Cross Wilderness. The area is utilized as summer range by
big game, including bear, and Fall Creek contains excellent examples of alpine
wet meadows. The unit also works with other nearby roadless units (No Name, Homestake,
Game Creek and Chicago Ridge) to provide a broad and varied wildlife movement
corridor between the Holy Cross Wilderness and the Eagles Nest Wilderness to
the north - a critically important corridor for maintaining the connection
between the portions of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem to the north and south
of I-70.
The Tigiwon Road is an extremely scenic and popular
recreational road, and is the primary access for Mountain of the Holy Cross.
The area also receives moderate use as a hunting destination.
Potential threats
Increased development of private parcels on the northern
boundary of this unit will increase its importance as a buffer between SH 24
and the Holy Cross Wilderness. Also, because of the extreme popularity of this
road in summer, and the limited parking availability at its end, many
thoughtless spurs to unofficial campsites exist along the Tigiwon Road on the
edge of this unit. As always, large spruce trees have have the highest market
value in this region and wherever these are present, there will always linger
the potential for them to be harvested.
Other info
Tigiwon RA is one of ten that surround Holy Cross Wilderness
Area. Together, they form a roadless complex of over 165,000 acres (257 square
miles). Conservation groups have identified 1,841 acres of roadless area in
addition to that recognized by the USFS, effectively doubling the actual size
of the Tigiwon RA.
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