National Park And National Forest—Two Administrative Styles
Congress established 76,586-acre Indian Peaks Wilderness Area in 1978 within Roosevelt and Arapaho National Forests to preserve the natural, recreational, and scenic value of this rugged rampart of mountains. A portion of Indian Peaks is within Roosevelt and Arapaho National Forests. A boundary change to conform park and forest boundaries to the topography eventually placed a bit of the Indian Peaks Wilderness within the national parks. Indian Peaks Wilderness derives its name from the many dramatic peaks it contains that are named for Native American tribes.
Although the trail systems of Indian Peaks and the national park interconnect very slightly, the two areas are virtually identical with regard to their recreational wilderness resources. Both are unexcelled in their mountain grandeur, and both are very accessible to hikers.
The main difference between Indian Peaks and the national park is administrative. The USFS manages Indian Peaks, and the National Park Service manages Rocky Mountain National Park.
Although the USFS has a generally broader duty in its care of the national forests than the NPS’s mission in caring for national parks, the differences between the two agencies may seem somewhat obscure. Public confusion about who runs Indian Peaks and who runs Rocky Mountain National Park is not remarkable, because the two managing agencies happen to manage these adjacent pieces of glorious landscape for nearly identical goals. There are some notable differences, however.
The NPS has a more elaborate system for handling visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park than the USFS system for Indian Peaks. Rocky Mountain National Park uses eight centers for educating visitors, sponsors lectures in five locations every summer evening, and hires a division of employees whose main responsibility is to conduct programs about the park for visitors. The USFS cooperates with the NPS to some extent in these efforts. Moreover, many if not most visitors to Indian Peaks also visit Rocky Mountain National Park and benefit from the NPS’s educational efforts.
In recent years, the Indian Peaks Wilderness Alliance (IPWA) and Grand County Wilderness Group have been very active in educating visitors about the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Volunteers hike trails within the Indian Peaks Wilderness and speak with the public while on the trail, answering questions and providing information.
Another difference is that Congress established Rocky Mountain National Park sixty-three years before it established Indian Peaks Wilderness. In those intervening years between 1915 and 1978, some worn spots developed in Indian Peaks at points of visitor concentration (Isabelle Lake, for instance), and they did not receive the kind of remedial attention overused spots ordinarily receive in a national park.
Since 1978, however, the USFS management of Indian Peaks has narrowed to focus primarily on the area’s recreational wilderness resources. Vigorous preservation of these resources has reduced trampling in particular spots, despite steadily increasing use of Indian Peaks. To hikers familiar with Indian Peaks before wilderness designation, the USFS efforts are already obvious. In this austere climate, where healing is slow, signs of previous wear and tear remain detectable. However, the trend toward restoration clearly is in the right direction and is evidence of good land stewardship.
To reduce wear and tear, backcountry camping regulations in both the national park and Indian Peaks require backpackers to obtain wilderness camping permits (for a small fee). Differences exist between the USFS and NPS permit systems. Permit applications and rules for camping in specific zones in Indian Peaks are available from US Forest Service offices at 2140 Yarmouth Ave., Boulder 80301 (north side of town along US 36); 9 Ten Mile Dr., P.O. Box 10, Granby 80446. Permits are also available at Indian Peaks Ace Hardware at the Nederland Shopping Center in Nederland, Colorado, for day-of-trip permits only. Backcountry campers in Indian Peaks do not need permits in winter unless group size exceeds seven people. Large groups are required to have permits for day and overnight trips year-round. No groups of more than twelve (people and packstock combined) are allowed. For more information call (303) 541-2500.
For hikers perhaps the main difference between the administration of Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park trails is that leashed dogs can accompany hikers on Indian Peaks trails but not on the national park trails. This is not an inherent difference between the two agencies; leashed dogs may hike on trails in some other areas administered by the NPS. Administrators of Rocky Mountain National Park, however, came to feel that problems caused by unsupervised dogs on trails were too great, and they banned them from the trails. Leashed dogs may still visit developed outdoor areas within the national park, such as campgrounds and along roads.
This administrative decision came about primarily because a significant number of irresponsible hikers with dogs failed to obey park regulations to keep dogs leashed. Letting dogs run loose conflicted with park wildlife management goals and annoyed or intimidated some park visitors who came to the national park for relief from annoyance.
Those people who hiked with unleashed dogs did not understand that they were jeopardizing canine companionship on park trails and decreasing the wilderness value of the national park. Even hikers who kept their dogs on leashes probably failed to understand that the future of dogs on trails in the national park was grim.
Since they lost the right to hike with their dogs on national park trails, dog owners were eager for dogs to be allowed on the trails of Indian Peaks. In public hearings preceding congressional establishment of Indian Peaks Wilderness, witnesses proclaimed the virtues of hiking with dogs. Unfortunately leash regulations were often violated. Proposals to ban dogs from Indian Peaks have met with heavy public opposition, however, as the community of dog owners has learned to define the value of dogs in the wilds and to suggest effective management alternatives to a complete ban. These include self-registration of hikers with dogs at trailheads, backcountry-use permits, limited access of dogs to certain trails, and special-use permits. Current Indian Peaks regulations merely require that all dogs be leashed; violators are subject to hefty fines.
The USFS deems peer pressure to be more effective than fines in enforcing the leash regulation. To help with this cause, American Kennel Club printed pocketsize cards entitled “A Few Good Reasons to Leash Your Dog,” which the USFS hands out to dog owners. The USFS encourages dog owners to take several copies of these cards (available from the USFS office in Boulder) to hand out to other dog owners they encounter on Indian Peaks trails. Indian Peaks Wilderness Alliance volunteers also distribute these cards and speak to dog owners on the trails.
Elk