Long-time supporters might remember when we first started inventorying public lands across the White River National Forest for congressional protection. The dramatic peaks and lakes of the Tenmile Range were some of the most compelling and were included in the Hidden Gems Citizens Wilderness Proposal. Through years of careful work with communities we succeeded in getting these lands – along with 30,000 acres surrounding Camp Hale (where the 10th Mt. Division trained during WW II) – included as cornerstones of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act. Recognizing the outstanding local support, in October 2022, President Biden took executive action and designated the 53,800- acre Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument!
Monument designation both honors the legacy of the 10th Mt. Division and gives meaningful protections to wildlife and wildlands, safeguarding areas we have long sought to shield from logging, mining, and other new development. As President Biden’s proclamation states, “…Camp Hale and the Tenmile Range form a geologically and ecologically linked landscape — rugged and stunning in appearance — that contains numerous features of scientific interest, including tarns, waterfalls, and alpine tundra…”
This new National Monument caps off years of work by Wilderness Workshop to protect these special places. Moving forward, we will continue to advocate for the CORE Act, which includes new wilderness and special management areas in the Continental Divide, and can only be designated by Congress.
“The area’s high peaks and alpine valleys contain rare and fragile native alpine tundra ecosystems that include species uniquely adapted to high altitudes….visitors might glimpse Canada lynx — a federally listed threatened species — or the boreal toad — Colorado’s only alpine species of toad.” – From “A Proclamation on Establishment of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, Oct. 12 2022”