| |
Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED
5,764 acres (9.0 square miles)
How to get there
The West Brush Creek roadless area is located about 7 miles south of Eagle.
- From Eagle, go south on Brush Creek Road (becomes FS 400 at forest boundary). About 2.5 miles before reaching Sylvan Lake State Park, look for the McKenzie Gulch Trail (1869) on the west side of the road. This is the only trail that visits the interior of the roadless area. It crosses to the Gypsum Creek Road (FS 412). The Antone-Cabin Creek Trail crosses about a half a mile of the unit southwest of Sylvan Lake, and enters the Red Table RA. Private land blocks public access along the rest of FS 400.
- Access the west side of the RA by one of three ways: 1) The Brush-Gypsum Road (FS 414) between Sylvan Lake and Gypsum Creek Road (FS 412), that services a large powerline; 2) Hardscrabble Road (FS 413) and Beecher Road (FS 414; 4WD), which are reached by taking County Road 110 from Brush Creek Road, 5 miles southeast of Eagle; or 3) The Gypsum Creek Road (FS 412) from Gypsum.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the West Brush Creek RA are The Seven Hermits, Red Creek, and Crooked Creek Pass.
Setting
The West Brush Creek roadless area is situated on the eastern slopes of broad Hardscrabble Mountain, where it descends to West Brush Creek. The gentle, forested terrain on top of Hardscrabble has been affected by logging, and was not included in the RA. The terrain is made up of many steep-sided drainages with round, forested divides between each. Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir cover the north- and east-facing slopes in these drainages, with aspen and Douglas fir on the south- and west-facing slopes. Stands of lodgepole pine grow on some of the flatter areas. The evergreen basin of McKenzie Gulch, and the broad-topped, steep-sided landmark of Coffin Mountain are the most prominent topographical features here. Elevations range from 7,600 feet near West Brush Creek to 11,000 at the head of McKenzie Gulch.
What’s special about it?
West Brush Creek RA is part of a large network of unprotected roadless areas, separated only by a few roads, that covers much of the region between the Fryingpan and Eagle Rivers. It is another piece of a puzzle that, when put together, reveals a highly connected landscape, and a relatively healthy ecosystem. This unit has limited access and no recreational developments, and receives little human traffic. As a result, it is attractive for wildlife that try to get away from noise and traffic, particularly elk and bear.
Potential threats
Future timber harvesting on top of Hardscrabble Mountain would act to further fragment this large network of roadless areas and separate the West Brush Creek RA from the Hardscrabble RA. Private lands on West Brush Creek along the eastern boundary of the unit have a high potential for development, further underscoring the need to keep these large roadless blocks of public land intact. This would limit wildlife access to the creek, and across it to the Adam Mountain RA.
Other info
Conservation groups have identified 3,102 acres of roadless area on the northwestern side of the West Brush Creek RA. These were excluded from the USFS unit because of their proximity to timber sales and the presence of some old, long-abandoned roadbeds. This has reduced the size of the area by a third. |
|
|
;)
;)