The 492,418-acre Weminuche Wilderness is the largest 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. Its primary forest type is Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, with small amounts of aspen occurring in several major stream drainages.
However, numerous lower-elevation roadless areas surround the wilderness, totaling 65,164 acres of additional wilderness quality lands. These include small areas like 3,532-acre Martinez Creek. containing the largest known area of old-growth spruce-fir forest in the San Juans. This ancient forest has escaped disturbance for 600 years or more. The old-growth forest occurs at a relatively low elevation for unlogged old-growth in the San Juans. Other roadless areas contain extensive tracts of aspen, mixed Douglas-fir and white fir, and ponderosa pine forests.
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