Two areas in Pitkin County are ripe for a wilderness designation, according to U.S. Rep Diana DeGette, but the congresswoman said Tuesday she is considering adjusting the boundary of one to remove a mountain biking trail.

DeGette met with three Pitkin County commissioners and sought their support for the local elements of her Colorado Wilderness Act of 2009. Today, commissioners George Newman and Jack Hatfield are expected to join DeGette on a horseback ride up to Assignation Ridge, part of a wilderness area she has proposed on the west side of Highway 133, between Carbondale and Redstone.

The Assignation Ridge/ Thompson Creek area that is part of her bill encompasses some 25,000 acres, including the Braderich Creek Trail. DeGette said she is considering removing the trail from her proposal so that mountain bikers can continue to use it. The Perham Creek Trail, already closed to bikers by the Forest Service, would remain off-limits to biking, and a trail currently used by off-road motorized vehicles would be closed, as well.

However, an area on the west side of the proposed wilderness has already been removed to accommodate motorized uses, DeGette said.

“My view is, we've got to be able to try to accommodate all of the recreationalists,” she said.

“As far as I can see it, part of multiple use is wilderness — no doubt about it,” Hatfield said.

DeGette's bill proposes designation of 34 areas comprising 850,000 acres in Colorado as wilderness. That is down from 63 areas covering 1.6 million acres when she began the effort 11 years ago, she said.

Now, the Natural Resources Committee, on which she sits, is contemplating putting forward an omnibus public lands bill this fall. The “stars are aligned” to push through some of the wilderness in her bill, DeGette said.

“What we're trying to do is figure out areas that are appropriate for wilderness designation right now so they can be included with this bill in the fall,” she said.

Areas that have long been managed as wilderness, as has part of the Assignation Ridge lands, as well as a small addition to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, are obvious choices, the congresswoman said.

“I also think wilderness should be reserved for areas that truly have wilderness characteristics,” she said.

The noncontroversial Maroon Bells-Snowmass piece would add roughly 330 acres on the northeast corner of the wilderness area, protecting the eastern slope of Eagle Mountain, she said.

DeGette plans to meet with ranchers this morning to discuss their concerns about grazing leases in the proposed Assignation Ridge/Thompson Creek area. The designation allows grazing, but ranchers have concerns about preserving their ability to engage in mechanized and motorized maintenance of those areas.

The signature rock “fins” in the Thompson Creek area would be protected by the wilderness designation, but would remain open to climbing and the bolting of routes, though not with the use of power drills, DeGette said.

Commissioner George Newman quizzed the congresswoman on the overlap between her bill and the proposed wilderness areas outlined in the Hidden Gems campaign. Both areas in Pitkin County are covered by both proposals, though the boundaries are not identical.

“What happens if your bill gets passed?” Newman asked. “That means Hidden Gems just takes that part out of their proposal?”

“Correct,” DeGette said.

The Hidden Gems campaign will seek a congressional representative to take its proposal in Pitkin and Gunnison counties forward; the proposal for Eagle and Summit counties is already in the hands of Rep. Jared Polis.

“I certainly do not intend to sponsor the Hidden Gems proposal,” DeGette said.

Though some parts of the Gems proposal mirror her own bill, other parts have not been thoroughly vetted, she said.

“It has a long way to go,” DeGette said.

janet@aspentimes.com