Introduction

Within the State of Colorado, much of the western two-thirds of the state is notable for the Rocky Mountains, including numerous mountain peaks with elevations in excess of 14,000 feet. National Forests in the State of Colorado are typically known as national forests in the Rocky Mountain Region, with seventeen (17) national forests–not all of which may exist in Colorado–within the region. Apart from Colorado, additional states associated with the United States National Forest Service in the Rocky Mountain Region include Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and the Cimarron National Grassland in Kansas.

Forests

The State of Colorado is home to all or part(s) of seven (7) United States National Forest units, including officially-designated National Grasslands. Select units are actually combined units between distinct national forests, as is the case with the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and the Pawnee National Grassland on both the east (Great Plains/High Plains) and west (Rocky Mountains) sides of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Further west, the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests are often identified as the epicenter of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with the Grand Mesa in particular representative of tablelands in the north-central portion of the State at relatively higher elevations. Additional features of the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado include the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland; the Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron (Kansas) and Comanche National Grasslands; the Rio Grande National Forest; the San Juan National Forest; and the White River National Forest. Rocky Mountain National Park is also largely located among the protected national forests generally west-northwest of the Greater Denver area in the State of Colorado.

Counties

The units representative of the Arapaho National Forest include Grand, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Routt, Jackson, and Jefferson Counties. For the Roosevelt National Forest, the included counties are Larimer, Boulder, Gilpin, and Jefferson, with the Pawnee National Grassland located further east in the High Plains region of the State. For the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests, the particular counties associated with the Grand Mesa include Delta, Garfield, and Mesa, with Uncompahgre located in portions of Montrose, Mesa, San Miguel, Ouray, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Delta Counties. Also within the nearby area is Gunnison National Forest, within Gunnison, Saguache, Hinsdale, Delta, and Montrose Counties. Though the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests are associated primarily with the State of Wyoming, in which the Thunder Basin National Grassland and Medicine Bow National Forest are located, Routt National Forest is associated with portions of Routt, Jackson, Rio Blanco, Grand, Moffat, and Garfield Counties–all toward the northwestern portion of the State of Colorado opposite the Wyoming line.

Interestingly, the combined Pike and San Isabel National Forests are associated with Mount Elbert, the highest peak in the State of Colorado at over 14,000 feet, as well as a number of significant mountain peaks elsewhere within the local portion of the Rocky Mountains at large. Today, Pike National Forest is associated with Clear Creek, Teller, Park, Jefferson, Douglas, and El Paso Counties, with San Isabel associated with Chaffee, Custer, Lake, Huerfano, Fremont, Pueblo, Saguache, Las Animas, Park, Costilla, and Summit Counties. Numerous wilderness areas are located within the San Isabel National Forest, along with nearby national forests such as Pike, Gunnison, and White River, just to name a few. To the southwest is the Rio Grande National Forest, associated with the areas surrounding the headwaters of the notable Rio Grande within the southern portion of the State of Colorado. The included counties are Saguache, Mineral, Conejos, Rio Grande, Hinsdale, San Juan, Alamosa, Archuleta, and Custer. Even closer to the Colorado portion of the Four Corners region is the San Juan National Forest, located within the Counties of Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, San Miguel, and San Juan.

Of all the national forests within the State of Colorado–and within the United States of America as a whole–the most significant national forest area is White River National Forest, the most visited national forest in the entire system largely thanks to the twelve (12) ski areas within the forest boundaries. The national forest is located within portions of Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, Summit, Rio Blanco, Mesa, Gunnison, Routt, and Moffat Counties, and is managed from offices of the United States Forest Service located within the City of Glenwood Springs toward the western edge of the State.