Uncompahgre Wilderness

Infobox_protected_area | name = Uncompahgre Wilderness
iucn_category = Ib

---

caption =
locator_x = 86
locator_y = 90
location = Colorado, USA
nearest_city = Grand Junction, CO
lat_degrees = 38
lat_minutes = 6
lat_seconds = 16
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 107
long_minutes = 28
long_seconds = 42
long_direction = W
area = 102,721 acres (415 km²)
established = January 1, 1980
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = U.S. Forest Service
U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The Uncompahgre Wilderness (formally called the Big Blue Wilderness) is a U.S. Wilderness Area in southwest Colorado comprising 102,721 acres (415 km²). Elevation in the Wilderness ranges from convert|8400|ft|m to convert|14309|ft|m, at the summit of Uncompahgre Peak. [http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/gmug/recreation/wilderness.shtml Wilderness Areas] - Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests]

Managed by the Uncompahgre National Forest, it is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of Lake City and some 10 miles (16 km) east of the town of Ouray.

The area is named for Uncompahgre Peak (14,309 ft / 4361 m), the highest peak in the San Juan Mountains. The Wilderness includes one other prominent fourteener, Wetterhorn Peak (14,015 ft / 4271 m).

Mining claim

Located within the Uncompahgre Wilderness is the Robin Redbreast Gold Mine, owned by Robert and Marjorie Miller of Montrose, Colorado. Marjorie Miller’s father staked the claims in 1938, more than 50 years before the land was designated Wilderness, and was preserved by the General Mining Act of 1872. The Forest Service has established requirements that would lessen mining impacts, such as reducing motorized vehicle use and night lighting. The Millers say workers will use picks and shovels to extract ore, haul it out with mule teams over existing trails, and use helicopters to deliver larger equipment to avoid the impacts of truck use. Environmental groups have expressed concern that acid mine drainage and the human footprint created by mining activities will degrade the Wilderness. [ [http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17044# "A gold mine in the Colorado wilderness?"] by Morgan Heim, High Country News Online, May 31, 2007]

References

ee also

*List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
*Wilderness Act

External links

* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/gmug/recreation/wilderness.shtml Wilderness Areas] - Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests
* [http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Uncompahgre%20Wilderness Uncompahgre Wilderness] - Wilderness.net
* [http://www.coloradowilderness.com/wildpages/uncompahgre.html Uncompahgre Wilderness Area] - ColoradoWilderness.com
* [http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_wilderness_area/co_uncow.htm Uncompahgre Wilderness, Colorado] - GORP