This past weekend I snagged a seat on an EcoFlight tour of proposed new Colorado wilderness areas. The bills that would create those new protected zones have been stalled in Congress for several years, but public lands advocates are hopeful that the logjam will break one of these days. In particular, Conservation Colorado wanted to highlight the White River National Forest Areas included in Congressman Jared Polis’s new measure that would add about 60,000 acres of protected land in Summit County. But rough flying weather prevented us from heading east from the Eagle County airport. Instead, we cruised above some of the Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas like Pisgah Mountain that could also someday be designated as wilderness by Congress. And even though we didn’t get to fly to the target area, it’s always a treat to soar above the Rockies like a bird.
