A letter-writing campaign to members of Congress last
year helped protect 18,000 acres of privately owned land within
central Colorado’s Roosevelt National Forest. The area, known as
Cherokee Park, was owned by Union Pacific Railroad and targeted for
sale to developers for recreational homes. Once alerted, the Trust
For Public Land, a San Francisco-based organization, and the Poudre
River Trust in Fort Collins, Colo., organized more than 35
environmental organizations to write letters urging Congress to tap
the Land and Water Conservation Fund for $2.7 million to buy the
inholding. The Forest Service now manages the land, which is home
to a unique range of plants and ecological areas, including over 24
miles of riparian habitat on tributaries of the Cache La Poudre
River. According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the area
provides increasingly scarce winter habitat for elk, mule deer and
mountain lions. For more information, contact the Red Feather
Ranger District at
303/498-2770.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Saved from subdivision.
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