It’s obvious to me that hunters and anglers and other outdoors-men and women stand to benefit from Sen. Michael Bennet’s proposed Hermosa Creek Wilderness Bill. Sen. Bennet and his staff have worked diligently on crafting the bill, and he’s seeking public comment on the proposal.
The Hermosa-Hesperus Peak Roadless Area, at 148,000 acres, is the largest roadless area in Colorado. I’ve hunted elk in some of this terrain. It’s rough country and excellent big- game habitat. As southwest Colorado native, outfitter and hunting guide Mike Murphy says: “This is a rare wild place where elk have enough hiding cover that a few still die of old age. And if we don’t have that, we’re mismanaging the resource.”
Sen. Bennet’s bill would create a three-zone special management area for Hermosa Creek made up of 37,236 acres of wilderness on the west side of the creek, a 43,217-acre roadless area, and a zone open to timber activity and other uses.
However, we have mixed feelings. For almost 40 years, conservationists have wanted to see wilderness protection for much of the 100,000 undeveloped acres in the Hermosa watershed. As one of Colorado’s San Juan National Forest representatives from the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers put it: “Overall, this is a great bill. However, it lacks adequate protection for part of the Hermosa Roadless Area that includes Bear Creek, Hesperus Mountain, Rough Canyon, Rio Lado, etc. This would connect the Animas River drainage to the Dolores River drainage — a rare opportunity that should not be missed.”
Another Durango-area BHA member adds, “The area for the proposed wilderness designation is already roadless. It is a very steep, rugged area . . . . I will support this bill because I know that some wilderness designation is better than none.”
Some of the most vocal opponents of additional Colorado wilderness designations in the San Juans and elsewhere have recently come from a small, if loud, user minority group: mountain bikers.
Dennis Coello, author of “The Complete Mountain Biker,” says, “In this day of man’s increasingly mechanical approach to the outdoors, when thousands experience nature not for what it is through observation but as a playground, there aren’t many places left where one is guaranteed one won’t be run over by a Jeep or snowmobile or mountain bike. Preserving those [wilderness] areas — at the cost of a disgruntled few — seems worth the price.”
Mountain bikes appropriately are not allowed in designated wilderness areas because they represent a mechanical advantage. Bicycles, and ORVs even moreso, effectively shrink the wilderness, allowing a visitor to cover distances in a short time that might otherwise require several days of foot travel. As authors Mark Pearson and John Fielder explain in “Colorado’s Canyon Country,” the spirit of wilderness is “one of shedding the trappings and pace of civilization in favor of the slower rhythms found in nature.”
With 62 miles of streams eligible for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Hermosa Creek watershed is rated “outstanding,” the state’s highest water-quality designation. But as the state’s largest unprotected roadless area, it’s at risk of losing that coveted designation. While the significant protection offered in the draft Hermosa Creek Wilderness Bill is greatly appreciated, for a place this special we should be able to do even better and encourage Sen. Bennet to make the most of this fleeting moment to add the full protections sportsmen and women have been asking for since this long process first began.
David A. Lien is co-chairman of Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
