| Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED
6,684 acres (10.4 square miles)
How to get there
- The
Williams Fork roadless area is accessed from Green Mountain Reservoir on State
Highway (SH) 9 between Silverthorne and Kremmling. FS 200 climbs from SH 9 north of Green Mtn
Reservoir to the Williams Fork ridge and runs SE. Its right (west) branch (FS
2950.5) is the eastern boundary of the RA. Several shorts roads that originate
on SH 9 are cherrystemmed into the unit, some of which may provide public
access through private land. There are no maintained trails in this area.
- The
USGS 7 1/2' quads for Williams Fork RA are Squaw Creek, King Creek, and Battle
Mountain.
Setting
The Williams Fork RA sits on the western flanks of the
Williams Fork Mountains above the Blue River. The area is divided by at least
fifteen small drainages that descend steeply from the ridge crest to Blue
River. The elevation ranges from 8000 feet near Green Mountain Reservoir to
11,200 near Williams Peak. The lower elevations are covered in aspen and grass
shrubsteppe with lodgepole pines up higher. The ridge crest contains alpine
tundra and even some bristlecone pines, one of the oldest living organisms on
the planet.
What’s special about it?
The rugged, undeveloped nature of this roadless area
provides a fine opportunity to find solitude. The ridge provides excellent
views of the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness, as well as a wildlife corridor from the
higher Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness to lower BLM lands near Kremmling. The
Williams Fork ridge is a dramatic uplift with an exposed core of Precambrian
granites and gneisses, Cretaceous shales, and sandstone, and it therefore
provides outstanding geological scenery along the lower Blue River Valley.
This area has been designated by the USFS as critical big
game winter range and supports a large elk herd, as well as a moderately-sized
deer herd. The northern portion of the RA borders the Colorado Natural Heritage
Program’s Horse Creek Potential Conservation Area, and has a high degree of
biodiversity.
The unit is heavily used in the fall by hunters, as it is
easily accessible, and teeming with wildlife.
Potential threats
The steep nature of the terrain limits the potential for
development here. The primary threat to the condition of this unit is illegal
off-road 4WD use originating from private lands adjacent to the western
boundary of the RA, or from the Williams Peak Road (FS 2950) on the top of the
ridge.
Other info
There are two active cattle allotments within the Williams
Fork RA, with associated fences and stock ponds. Whereas the USFS has
identified this RA to be 6,684 acres in size, conservation groups have
identified an additional 2,082 acres of roadless area to the north along the
forest boundary. There is a section of undeveloped state land within the unit.
|
;)
;)