The Uncompahgre Wilderness (formerly called the Big Blue Wilderness) is a
U.S. Wilderness Area in southwest
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
comprising . Elevation in the Wilderness ranges from to , at the summit of Uncompahgre Peak.
Managed by the
Uncompahgre National Forest, it is located approximately northwest of the town of
Lake City and some east of the town of
Ouray.
The area is named for
Uncompahgre Peak
Uncompahgre Peak () is the sixth highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent fourteener is the highest summit of the San Juan Mountains and the highest point in the drainage basin of ...
, which at is the highest peak in the
San Juan Mountains
The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...
. The Wilderness includes one other prominent
fourteener
In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener (also spelled 14er) is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado
Co ...
,
Wetterhorn Peak at .
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 General Mining Act of 1872 is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal Public land#United States, public lands. This law, approved on ...
. 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 Rock Drainage and the human footprint created by mining activities will degrade the Wilderness.
Notes
External links
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{{Protected areas of Colorado, state=collapsed
Protected areas of Gunnison County, Colorado
Protected areas of Hinsdale County, Colorado
IUCN Category Ib
Protected areas of Ouray County, Colorado
Wilderness areas of Colorado
Protected areas established in 1980
Uncompahgre National Forest