President Lyndon Johnson signs the Wilderness Act into Law

On September 3, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act! Our congressionally designated Wilderness Areas are the most protected public lands in the United States, with wild land ecosystems providing for wildlife and spectacular native plants. We are so fortunate to have the Eagles Nest Wilderness on the west side of the Lower Blue River Valley and Ptarmigan Wilderness on the east side. Wilderness Areas are protected by law preventing any “permanent installation,” or building roads or using any mechanized, wheeled and motorized equipment.

Wilderness Areas are unique. Only a tiny 2.7% of the United States is designated Wilderness. These areas are preserved “in their natural condition… where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Eagles Nest Wilderness was established by Congress in 1978. The Ptarmigan was established in 1993.

With a Front Range population of over 5 million and tourism continuing to grow, our Wilderness areas are “being loved to death”. Thanks to hundreds of volunteers with Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance, there is an immense amount of work from busy hands. Volunteers clear fallen trees from trails, and clean up campsite debris commonly found close to lakes, streams and fragile high alpine zones, where they are not legally allowed.

When the Wilderness Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson, he stated “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”

In the Lower Blue, we have private lands in between these Wilderness Areas. They are managed to maintain the open space views and enhance our wetlands, riverside ecosystems while promoting healthy wildlife habitat. Join us in celebrating 60 years of our beautiful valley and the spectacular Wilderness Areas surrounding us on September 3!!

Karn Stiegelmeier
FOLBR Board Member