a Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture In Partnership with Western Colorado University Indigenous Fish and Wildlife Management Strategy Fossil Ridge Wilderness, Gunnison National Forest “Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.” – Aldo Leopold Indigenous Fish and Wildlife Management Strategy Fossil Ridge Wilderness, Gunnison National Forest Tobias Nickel Wilderness Fellow Master in Environmental Management (MEM) Candidate
[email protected] October 2020 Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests Gunnison Ranger District 216 N. Colorado St. Gunnison, CO 81230 Western Colorado University The Center for Public Lands 1 Western Way Gunnison, CO 81231 ON THE FRONT COVER Top: Henry Mountain, the highest point in the wilderness at 13,254 feet, as seen from an expansive, subalpine grassland meadow along the Van Tuyl Trail (Tobias Nickel, July 4, 2020) Middle left: Bighorn ram (CPW) Middle right: Southern white-tailed ptarmigan in fall plumage (Shawn Conner, BIO-Logic, Inc.) Bottom left: Colorado River cutthroat trout (Photo © Alyssa Anduiza, courtesy of Aspiring Wild) Bottom right: Adult boreal toad (Brad Lambert, CNHP) ON THE BACK COVER The shores of Henry Lake in the heart of the Fossil Ridge Wilderness. Rising to over 13,000 feet, the granite peaks of the Fossil Ridge tower in the background (Tobias Nickel, June 16, 2020) ii iii Dedication This publication is dedicated to all past, present, and future defenders of wilderness. Your efforts safeguard the Earth’s wild treasures from our species’ most destructive tendencies and demonstrate that humility and restraint are possible in an age of overconsumption and unfettered development.