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GYPSUM — A coalition backing a wilderness designation for parts of the Colorado mountains has held talks with the Colorado Army National Guard to discuss how high-altitude helicopter training would be affected.
Members of the military and proponents of the Hidden Gems wilderness proposal met Friday after the National Guard said the designation could put landing zones used by the High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site off-limits.
The program, known as HAATS, is the only helicopter training site for the U.S. where the terrain and conditions are similar to those encountered by pilots in Afghanistan.
The Hidden Gems wilderness proposal would declare a total of about 450,000 acres as federal wilderness.
