Derby & Red Dirt

Red Dirt: 12,739 acres (19.9 square miles)
Derby: 5,038 acres (7.9 square miles)
TOTAL: 17,777 acres (27.8 square miles)

How to get there
The proposed Red Dirt and Derby Additions to the Flat Tops Wilderness Area are located about 5 miles west of Burns on the east side of the Flat Tops.

• The primary access road to this area is the Derby Loop Road (Eagle County Road 39) form Burns. South Derby Road (FS 613) branches off to the west near the west end of the loop. South Derby Road divides the Red Dirt Area from Derby Area, and proceeds to Crescent and Mackinaw Lakes, where it provides access to the Flat Tops Wilderness. Look for FS 616, which breaks off South Derby Road and ends at Big Spring and a Winterhawk Outfitters camp. From here, hike the Ute-Sweetwater Trail (2032) through the unit or the W Mountain Trail (1817) west into the Flat Tops Wilderness. The High Basin Trail (2177) goes between Big Spring and Red Dirt Basin Road (FS 611).
• Red Dirt Basin Road (FS 611) provides access to the SE portion of the Red Dirt Area, and can be reached from Derby Loop Road (FS 613; see above) or from the Colorado River between Burns and Dotsero.
• For the Derby Area, access from the south via South Derby Road (FS 613; see above). From the north approach via North Derby Road (FS 610), and take FS 612 to Middle Derby Trailhead.
• The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the proposed Red Dirt and Derby Wilderness Areas are Dome Peak and Sugarloaf Mountain.

Setting
These proposed Areas occupy parts of the Derby Creek and Red Dirt Creek drainages that originate in the Flat Tops Wilderness and flow into the Colorado River. The Flat Tops Wilderness occupies a broad, uplifted volcanic plateau covered in rolling hills and dome-like mountains. These units are on a mid-elevation plateau forested mostly with aspens interspersed with open grassy meadows, and feature big views. Engelmann spruce snags, killed by spruce beetles in the 1950s, are abundant while the natural regenerative process is blanketing the understory with new tree growth. The creeks contain riparian vegetation (cottonwoods, alders, and willows). The elevation ranges from 7,500 feet at East Fork Red Dirt Creek to 11,411 at Star Mountain on the rim of the Flat Tops Wilderness.

What’s special about it?
In addition to the sweeping views of the Flat Tops Wilderness, these areas provide a mid-elevation transitional zone between the high Flat Tops and the Colorado River. This is an undeveloped area, with no major recreation destinations, and those that do choose to venture within this proposed Wilderness Area are certain to experience a very “primitive and unconfined type of recreation.”

The proposed Areas area very important to hunters, who use it heavily in the autumn, and is popular for horse packing as well. The Red Dirt Basin is critical winter habitat for deer and elk, and has been identified by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) as principal bird habitat. Much of the area is within CNHP’s Red Dirt Creek Potential Conservation Area to protect under-represented ecosystems.

Potential threats
There are several private ranches on the eastern boundary of these proposed Areas that, though active cattle ranches now, may fall prey to residential/recreation home development. This underscores the critical importance of maintaining the ecologically intact areas of public lands nearby.
Because of the rolling park-like terrain, the potential for illegal off-road vehicle use is quite high, especially during hunting season — when rogue hunters are more likely to tear new trails. Some trails and abandoned roads are inadequately closed.

Other info
There is an active cattle allotment in the area, and you may see stock ponds and fences. The Derby and Red Dirt roadless areas are two of nine Roadless Areas that abut the Flat Tops Wilderness to form a massive roadless complex of over 342,000 acres (533 square miles), the largest on the White River National Forest. Also, the proposed Red Dirt Wilderness Area is contiguous with the proposed Hack Lake Wilderness Area on the BLM land to the south.