Win for the Weminuche
Wilderness Land Trust orchestrates transfer of 30-acre inholding to Forest Service

The crown jewel of the San Juan Mountains just got a little bigger. This week, The Wilderness Land Trust announced it bought two private inholdings of just more than 30 acres in the Weminuche Wilderness and transferred ownership to the U.S. Forest Service.

The parcels are in the southwest part of the wilderness, adjacent to and overlapping a portion of the popular Needle Creek Trail, which hikers use to access Chicago Basin from the Durango and Silverton Railroad. Due to convenient access from the train to the basin’s iconic 14,000-foot peaks, the trail sees heavy use through the summer.

“Most of those visitors who come to Chicago Basin for the scenic beauty and quiet solitude of the wilderness are unaware that the trail they’re traversing crosses several privately owned inholding properties where that experience is not guaranteed,” Margosia Jadkowski, of the Helena, Mont.-based Wilderness Land Trust, wrote in a press release this week. “Without the protections of the surrounding wilderness, these properties could be developed with cabins, resorts or mining and timber operations. Suddenly, the wilderness experience could be dominated by the buzz of chainsaws, the thwomp of landing helicopters, or even the trail blocked and closed to the public.” 

According to La Plata County Assessor records, The Wilderness Land Trust bought the parcels late last year from Interface Collaborative Group LLC, a general contractor based out of Fort Myers, Fla. The properties were then officially transferred to the Forest Service on June 5.

With flat, buildable, stream-side sites, the property was at risk of development, according to the Land Trust. Not only did the purchase help protect the land and public access to Chicago Basin, but it also helped protect an important water source and wildlife habitat.

“The Needle Creek property scores high for climate change resilience, biodiversity and landscape connectivity, all important conservation values that will be protected as wilderness,” Jadkowski said in the release.

At just shy of half a million acres, the Weminuche Wilderness is the largest in Colorado, spanning the Continental Divide with an average elevation above 10,000 feet. The Needle Creek property is the 15th property protected by the Trust in the Weminuche. It builds off the success of the nearby 7-acre Emerald Lake property, which the Trust acquired in 2018 and transferred to the Forest Service in 2023.

While the Needle Creek property is now protected as wilderness, the Land Trust said it will continue working with the Forest Service this summer to remove remnants of a hunting camp left by a previous owner.

The Wilderness Land Trust has protected 196 properties totaling over 7,300 acres in wilderness and proposed wilderness areas in Colorado. In the organization’s 33-year history, it has worked to acquire 610 private inholdings totaling more than 58,600 acres from willing landowners across the country and transfer them to federal ownership. It has completed 18 wilderness areas by removing remaining private inholdings.

“With each transfer, we come one step closer to completing the vision of the Wilderness Act,” Jadkowski stated. “Each project we work on carries the story of a place that has inspired countless people and communities, a family that has chosen to give up what is theirs to protect its future, and a vibrant, and often breathtaking, landscape supporting rich biodiversity.” ■