Come explore the HD’s and share your experiences with Witness 4 Wildlife!
Colorado Wild, Western Environmental Law Center and San Juan Citizens Alliance are working with citizens to monitor wildlife movement in the HD Mountains in the San Juan National Forest. This effort is part of a national effort spearheaded by Patagonia's "Freedom to Roam" campaign to broaden awareness about wildlife corridors, and opportunities for wildlife connectivity conservation.
Two field trips on August 6th and 15th involved more than 20 volunteer naturalists, including an orrientation to the HDs and the objectives for wildlife monitoring. If you attended one of those trips, you should have received an email from Dan at Witness 4 Wildlife with your username and password, if you did not please let me know and we can try again. Please go to the Witness 4 Wildlife website and check out our May trip report! Entitled: Ryan and Paul’s trip to the HD’s.
This is the time of year to get out in the woods and share your experiences with others. Help us collect data and build advocacy for the HD’s.
From the North: Hwy 160 old stock trail/ Pine Piedra trail. From the traffic light on Highway 160 in Bayfield, travel East 11 miles before turning Right onto a Forest Service Road Marked "National Forest Access Relay Station." This road will be approximately 200 yards west of the top of Yellowjacket Pass, and just west of Mile Post 114. . If you reach Yellowjacket Pass you have gone too far. Once on the Relay Station road, drive uphill for approximately 2 miles to reach the radio towers at the end of the road. Access old stock trail/ Pine Piedra trail from here.
From the Northeast: Fossett Gulch Rd (613) from hwy 160. South on Fossett Gulch Rd takes you to Bull Cr Rd 841, 4x4. Further south on Fossett Gulch Rd takes you to N Turkey Rd 615 4x4. Fossett Gulch Rd also can be accessed from the South via hwy 151
From Southwest: Spring Creek Rd 4x4 all the way to the radio towers and the old stock trail/Pine Peidra Trail. Also accesses Zabel Canyon 4x4 rd and numerous closed roads.
From the West: Sauls creek from Hwy 160 to Crowbar creek 4x4, N Sauls creek 4x4, Fender rd 4x4 lots of territory and old roads…
We have more maps, more ideas and many more resources.
Background Colorado Wild, Western Environmental Law Center and San Juan Citizens Alliance are working together with the Freedom to Roam Organization www.freedomtoroam.org (originally started by Patagonia) and their Witness for Wildlife program www.witnessforwildlife.org, to monitor and bring attention to wildlife connectivity issues in and around the HD Mountains.
The goal is to train a team of volunteer naturalists who we hope will visit and monitor wildlife corridors in the HD’s over the year (or longer) ahead to monitor conditions, use, threats, etc.
The Southern Ute Tribe staff wildlife biologist Aran Johnson has been working in the HD’s monitoring mule deer migration. His data gives us a unique look into the importance of the HD’s as a wildlife corridor. The Freedom to Roam campaign has chosen the HD’s as a test site for their work on a national level to bring attention to the issue of wildlife corridors. www.freedomtoroam.org
A Naturalist training in August in the HD’s gave many of us a chance to get together and look at ways to make the HD’s monitoring program a success as well as an opportunity to work the kinks out of the Witness 4 Wildlife monitoring protocols.
Why the HD’s:
Although the HD’s are National Forest lands, it currently lacks any secure legal protection for wildlife.
A recent decision to allow natural gas drilling in the area threatens to add dozens of miles or roads and well pads to the area, not to mention dramatically increasing traffic on local roads and US Highway 160.
Although US Highway 160 in this area has one of the highest animal-vehicle collision rates in the nation, there are currently no plans to build crossing structures for wildlife in the HDs.
To combat these threats, Colorado Wild and San Juan Citizens Alliance have challenged the Forest service drilling decision in court, and are optimistic that we can overturn the approval of some or all of the well pads in the core of the HDs mule deer corridor. In addition, we're advocating for specific protections for the migratory corridor in the forthcoming San Juan National Forest Plan. We are also working to restore roadless area protections which would provide a great degree of security for the HDs in the future. Finally, we are working on a number of fronts to secure funds for wildlife crossing structures in the HDs along highway 160.
Two field trips on August 6th and 15th involved more than 20 volunteer naturalists, including an orrientation to the HDs and the objectives for wildlife monitoring. If you attended one of those trips, you should have received an email from Dan at 
Background