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Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness
From Untrammeled! | Part of the Untrammeled! series | 26:45
A hand-drawn map on a dining room table in a Colorado home was the main reason the spectacular Maroon-Bells Snowmass Wilderness was one of the first lands protected by the 1964 Wilderness Act. Find out how this wilderness area, and the entire wilderness act came to pass, how this land is treasured now, and in danger of being "loved to death."
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- Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness
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- Untrammeled!
Author and historian, Doug Scott, talks about the origins of the ongoing movement to protect America's wilderness. Field producer Marci Krivonen explores the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness, in the White River National Forest of Colorado, with hikers Jamie Harrison and Kitty Winograd. They set out on a 14-mile day-hike, despite an ominous-looking sky and muddy trail.
Marci visits Connie Harvey and Joy Caudill. These women, along with the late Dottie Fox, are known as the “Maroon Belles,” three women who began the work 50 years ago inspiring wilderness advocates to protect pristine places in western Colorado—including much of the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness.
Wilderness Act protection unfortunately isn’t enough to preserve the most popular areas, like Conundrum Hot Springs. Wilderness rangers, Kevin Frazier and Tsipora Prochovnick, and ranger intern, Noah Teller, discuss some of the challenges of protecting high-use destinations.
Marci wraps up her visit with the rest of the story about Jamie and Kitty’s hike.
This program was commissioned as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. It is the inaugural show of a podcast series that profiles America's wilderness areas.