Colorado’s Roan Plateau, Alpine Triangle and Outlaw Triangle, encompassing the state’s northwest corner and parts of Utah and Wyoming, are among the six best wild places in the American West, according to a list announced Friday by Field & Stream magazine.
All six locations are located on public lands and considered the finest intact public wildlife habitat remaining in the western United States. They were selected by the staffs of the magazine and Trout Unlimited. They offer outstanding wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing opportunities, but all face threats from outside interests that could severely harm or extinguish their quality in the future.
The Roan Plateau near Rifle offers some of Colorado’s best elk and mule deer hunting and is home to two genetically pure strains of Colorado River cutthroat trout. Much of the Roan has been leased for oil and gas drilling, which under the current plan likely would impact water quality and game migration corridors.
The Outlaw Triangle, once a hangout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is a unique complex of high-desert steppe and canyon country. It has exceptional value for big-game hunting and tailwater fishing in the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam. The area is threatened by proposed drilling for natural gas.
The Alpine Triangle in the San Juan Mountains offers bighorn sheep, elk and deer hunting, backcountry trout fishing and ghost towns and mining relics from the late 1800s. The area is threatened by potential hard-rock mining.
A series of online features about the areas will begin this week on the and websites. Also, all will be featured in the magazine’s December/January print edition.
