• Download the Turkey Creek Roadless Area map [pdf]
Turkey Creek is one of several roadless areas contiguous to the existing 492,418-acre Weminuche Wilderness. The Weminuche Wilderness is the largest wilderness and roadless area in the Southern Rocky Mountains. The Weminuche is primarily a high-elevation wilderness, containing over 80 miles of the Continental Divide and numerous peaks exceeding 13,000 and 14,000-feet in elevation. The primary forest type present in the wilderness is spruce-fir, with small amounts of aspen occurring in several major stream drainages. Ponderosa pine is almost entirely absent within the wilderness, and aspen is severely underrepresented.
The largest adjacent roadless area is the 25,750-acre Turkey Creek unit on the wilderness area’s eastern boundary. The Turkey Creek unit is the most significant landscape corridor on the
San Juan National Forest. The area is a broad skirt of dense forest extending from 12,000-foot peaks at the wilderness’ edge to the San Juan River. Low elevation forests of the greater Weminuche Wilderness/Roadless area abut similar unroaded low elevation forests of the greater South San Juan Wilderness/Roadless Area, split only by Highway 160 at the San Juan River. This is the only location where the Weminuche and South San Juan connect, and it occurs in a forested corridor suitable for movement by species such as lynx and wolverine that prefer forested movement routes.
This landscape connection also occurs at the confluence of several major elk migration corridors, and private lands adjacent to the northeast of the corridor are already protected in part by conservation easements. Turkey Creek contains extensive stands of ponderosa pine and aspen, greatly expanding the ecological diversity of the Weminuche Wilderness. Turkey Creek provides suitable habitat for lynx and wolverine. It also comprises an important big game migration corridor.
The popular Turkey Creek trail cuts through the area’s center. The overwhelmingly remote and undeveloped character of the roadless area provides outstanding opportunities for primitive recreation and solitude. There are no noticeable human imprints within the unit. Adjacent private ranch lands are protected in part by private conservation easements.
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