Occupancy and use regulations updated for Collegiate Peaks Wilderness area

Gunnison, Colo. (May 14, 2025) — The Gunnison Ranger District with the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests announce updated occupancy and use regulations for the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness area. The district would like to highlight, in addition to the original regulations, campfires are now prohibited above 11,000 feet in elevation.

These regulations will protect wilderness resources and character, manage recreational use, and comply with U.S. Forest Service policy and the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas provide a natural environment for plant and animal species and offer opportunities for solitude and recreation in a place mostly undisturbed by modern human development. In addition, wilderness areas protect watersheds that provide clean drinking water to surrounding communities, filter and clean the air, and sequester carbon.

The Collegiate Peaks Wilderness regulations are now consistent with the regulations currently in place for the Holy Cross and Mount Massive Wilderness areas on the Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. These three congressionally designated wilderness areas are located within the Sawatch Mountain Range. This consistency in management is anticipated to lead to increased understanding and compliance by the visiting public, further protecting wilderness resources from damage caused by high elevation campfires and wood gathering.

Along with management consistency, these regulations will help to protect the sensitive soils and krummholz, which is a term used for trees that grow in the transition zone between forest and alpine vegetation. Trees in this zone grow slowly over hundreds of years due to the harsh weather conditions and can be severely damaged and perish if branches are cut or broken for firewood. 

“Protecting sensitive alpine wilderness resources is the point of the regulations. These resources are extremely slow to recover from high intensity disturbance,” said Gunnison District Ranger Dayle Funka. “Fire scars can last generations because campfires burn up the organic matter in the alpine soils that take a long time to get to a place where things can grow. These regulations are really geared toward long-term wilderness preservation.”

Forest Order # 02-12-00-24-18 detailing the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness regulations can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/gmug/alerts/collegiate-peaks-wilderness-occupancy-and-use-regulations

For more information, visitors can contact the Gunnison Ranger District by calling 970-641-0471.

About the Forest Service: The USDA Forest Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology– and rooted in communities–the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

 ###

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.