Ptarmigan

4,573 acres (7.1 square miles)

How to get there
The proposed Ptarmigan A Addition to the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Area is located immediately NE of Silverthorne at the south end of the Williams Fork Mountains.

• The Ptarmigan Trail (69) begins in Silverthorne, and passes through this area on its way to the Williams Fork ridge in the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Area.
• The unit can be also be accessed from the north by Bushee Creek Road (FS 1908).
• The USGS 7 1/2’ quad for the proposed Ptarmigan Wilderness Area is Dillon.

Setting
The proposed Ptarmigan Addition is adjacent to the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Area and occupies the steep slopes between Silverthorne and the Wilderness boundary. The elevation ranges from 9,300 feet to 11,500 feet and is forested with aspens.

What’s special about it?
This proposed wilderness addition would bring the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness boundary down to the back doors of residents in the Dillon/Silverthorne area providing immediate access to high quality quiet recreation opportunities. It is part of a major big game migration corridor that crosses I-70 where it passes through Eisenhower Tunnel. Mule deer and elk use this area in the winter. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has identified this proposed Wilderness Area as an area of high habitat priority.

Potential threats
Pine bark beetles populations are rapidly expanding in the area, eating their way through the mature lodgepole pine trees. Beetles alone are not a threat to the area - this is a natural cycle the forest has evolved with over millenia - but inappropriate human responses to them does pose a threat. While there is no ecological justification for salvage logging, there is pressure to quickly harvest beetle kill in order to capture the economic value. This calculation overlooks the important ecoogical function dead trees play in nutient cycling and providing snag habitat. It also ignores the destructive effects salvage logging will have on the ecology of these forest, seriously impairing its ability to naturally regenerate the next forest.

Other info
There is an active cattle allotment within the proposed Ptarmigan Wilderness Area. This landscape is part of a 50,114 acre (78.2 square mile) roadless complex that consists of the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Area, the Williams Fork Roadless Area (on the Routt National Forest), and the Ute Pass/Acorn Creek RAs.