![Flat Tops Wilderness location in Colorado](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Flat_Tops_Wilderness_location_in_Colorado.png)
Flat Tops Wilderness Area is the second largest
U.S. Wilderness Area
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...
in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. It is , with in
Routt National Forest Routt may refer to:
;Places
In the United States:
* Routt, Louisville, Kentucky
*Routt County, Colorado
;People
*Joe Routt
*John Long Routt
*Stanford Routt
Stanford Bermond Routt (born July 26, 1983) is a former American football cornerback. Aft ...
and in
White River National Forest
White River National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River (Green River), White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited National Forest ...
. It was designated a wilderness area in 1975.
Trappers Lake, located in the north of the area, was the lake that inspired
Arthur Carhart Arthur Hawthorne Carhart (1892–1978) was a US Forest Service official, writer and conservationist who inspired wilderness protection in the United States. He was one of the first to realize the importance of conservation and became a nationally r ...
, a
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
official, to plead for
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
preservation
Preservation may refer to:
Heritage and conservation
* Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible
* ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...
.
Description
The dominant feature of the Wilderness is the high plateau from which the peaks arise. The plateau forms the northeastern portion of the
White River Uplift capped by horizontal
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
flows from tertiary volcanic activity and is bounded by steep drops to valleys carved out by subsequent
glaciation
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
. The resulting mix of areas of treeless plateau at an elevation of 11,000 to 12,000 feet interspersed with verdant valleys is unique among Colorado mountain ranges. The area contains approximately one hundred and ten ponds and lakes and is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including many large mammals such as
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
,
elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
,
mule deer
The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.
Unlike the related whit ...
, black bear, and
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
s. This area has been affected by the non-native plant species,
yellow toadflax. The most common trees are
Engelmann spruce
''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-altitude mountain tree but also appears in watered canyon ...
,
subalpine fir
''Abies lasiocarpa'', the subalpine fir or Rocky Mountain fir, is a western North American fir tree.
Description
''Abies lasiocarpa'' is a medium-sized evergreen conifer with a very narrow conic crown, growing to tall, exceptionally , with a ...
and
lodgepole pine
''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...
, with aspen groves at lower elevations. The top of the plateau is
alpine tundra
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...
.
The highest point in the Flat Tops is the summit of
Flat Top Mountain (12,361 ft) on the east side of the range. The Devil's Causeway, perhaps the most popular geologic feature and hiking experience in the Flat Tops, is located in the same area. The Causeway is a narrow neck of the plateau where eroding glaciers on either side almost met. A trail crosses the Causeway which at its narrowest is 3 to 4 feet wide with drop-offs of hundreds of feet to the valleys on either side.
The eastern side of the Flat Tops Wilderness Area can be accessed by
Routt County
Routt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,829. The county seat is Steamboat Springs. Routt County comprises the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
P ...
Rd 7 through the town of
Yampa
Yampa is a Colorado municipalities#Statutory town, statutory town in Routt County, Colorado, Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 429 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census.
City name
is the Ute dialect, Northern U ...
, Colorado. The best-known destination approached from the west side of the range is
Trappers Lake.
History
The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service designated of the
Routt and
White River national forests as the Flat Tops Primitive Area on March 4, 1932, to be managed to protect the area's wild values.
Congress passed the
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lon ...
in 1964, which, among other things, required the Secretary of Agriculture to review the suitability of all
primitive areas for inclusion into the national wilderness system within ten years. Following this mandate, the U.S. Forest Service evaluated the Flat Tops primitive area and surrounding forest and in 1967 recommended 142,230 acres for wilderness designation.
Conflict arose over the inclusion in the wilderness proposal of lands adjacent to the South Fork of the
White River, near the southwest boundary of the proposed wilderness. Several private and public entities proposed dams and water diversions on the South Fork to facilitate development of rich
oil shale
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...
deposits to the west.
Timber interests also initially opposed designating wilderness outside the primitive area's boundary.
![A269, Devils Causeway, Flat Tops Wilderness Area, Colorado, USA, 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/A269%2C_Devils_Causeway%2C_Flat_Tops_Wilderness_Area%2C_Colorado%2C_USA%2C_2008.JPG)
Conservation groups, led by the Colorado Open Space Coordination Council and including
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
,
The Wilderness Society,
Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization based in the United States. It works to protect all native animals and plants throughout North America in their natural communities.
Background
Defenders of Wildlife is a n ...
, and the
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...
, supported protecting a much larger, 230,000-acre area that included lower elevation forest and lakes outside the primitive area.
On June 5, 1975, the Senate passed a bill sponsored by U.S. Senator
Floyd Haskell
Floyd Kirk Haskell (February 7, 1916August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1973 to 1979.
Early life and career
Floyd Haskell was born in Morrist ...
(D-Colo.) to designate 235,230 acres as the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 369–1 on December 1, 1975, and was signed into law by President
Gerald R. Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
on December 12, 1975. The lands protected as wilderness included the contested lands along the South Fork of the White River, effectively prohibiting the contested dam construction there.
In August 2002 two lightning-struck fires, the Big Fish and Lost Lake fires, burned more than 22,500 acres, almost 10% of the Wilderness Area.
See also
*
List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 803 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*United States National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wild ...
*
Flat Tops (Colorado)
References
{{Authority control
Protected areas of Eagle County, Colorado
Protected areas of Garfield County, Colorado
IUCN Category Ib
Protected areas of Rio Blanco County, Colorado
Wilderness areas of Colorado
White River National Forest
Protected areas established in 1975
Routt National Forest