Experiencing the rugged landscape of the Ferris Mountains Wilderness Study Area (WSA), on the edge of the Great Divide Basin, requires a high-clearance vehicle and sturdy legs. If you lack either, let me describe the area’s untamed peaks, its remarkable plant and animal species, its distinct geology and a citizen’s proposal that urges the Bureau of Land Management to expand the WSA’s borders to fully protect its natural values.

The BLM is currently developing a draft plan for the area that would include only a limited portion of existing wilderness-quality lands found in the Ferris Mountains. The plan will fail to include nearly 7,000 acres of adjacent wild country that would enhance the value of this already stunning WSA, protecting wildlife and outdoor experiences for generations to come.

In response, hunters, business owners and conservationists have come together to support the Western Heritage Alternative, a citizen-generated management plan for the entire Great Divide region that would expand the 22,245-acre Ferris Mountains WSA by an additional 6,738 acres.

While the BLM is considering this homegrown document, a directive from U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, which WOC considers illegal, makes it difficult for BLM officials to fully protect the Ferris Mountains. Although the agency’s wilderness specialists agree with many of the Western Heritage Alternative’s proposals, the Interior Department’s directive takes away their power to designate new or expanded WSAs.

Four WOC adventurers took to the steep slopes of the mountains in early October, hiking through brilliant orange and yellow aspens and accompanied by brightly hued bluebirds flitting through the sagebrush.

The area is home to bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, mountain lions and numerous pronghorn. Wildlife thrives in this area, which contains just a few small ranch roads and two-tracks near its base and steep flanks that are only attainable by foot.

The rugged peaks that range from 9,100 to 10,037 feet gave outing participants expansive views of the Red Desert, with a portion of North America’s largest active sand dunes glistening in the sun. The dunes harbor Wyoming’s only listed endangered plant, the Blowout Penstemon, found only here and in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Outing leader Steve Jones, WOC’s watershed protection attorney, marveled at the area’s natural wonders. “These mountains are a precious jewel,” he wrote after the trip. “Their sparkling streams, looming flatirons and untouched beauty are imminently accessible, and yet removed from the clatter of the 21st century. To visit them is to go back to an earlier, untrammeled time, and be refreshed.”

Novelist Cris Mazza wrote that the Ferris Flatirons’ saw-toothed rocks look “like the top third of the Alps or Himalayas sliced off and set down on the Wyoming plateau.” These bizarre formations are made of sedimentary layers, built up over time, then fractured and tilted by Precambrian granite uplifts. The flatirons’ white limestone and pale-yellow sandstone formations are all that remain after more than 70 million years of erosion.

Because copper, silver, lead, zinc and gold are not abundant in the Ferris Mountains, they’ve been spared modern-day minerals development.

However, in 1897, George Ferris, for whom the mountains are named, and Ed Haggarty found enough copper to stake a mining claim. Today’s adventurers can still stumble upon the crumbling remains of the Ferris-Haggarty Company’s tramway, mining equipment and cabins.

There’s currently little financial incentive for industry to develop the Ferris Mountains’ oil, gas and coal resources. However, it’s important that the temporary protections afforded this WSA be made permanent in the event that improved technology and increased demand makes energy development in the WSA more attractive in the years to come.

For now, WSA status protects some but not all of the Ferris Mountains’ wilderness-quality lands, but some members of Congress are pushing to “sunset” WSA safeguards. Congress needs to block attempts to remove WSA protections and pass a bill that gives WSAs true wilderness status. And the BLM needs to produce a balanced management plan for the area to ensure that this remarkable wild landscape remains unfettered by human development.

There will be many opportunities for all citizens to adventure, not just into the rugged Ferris Mountains, but into the political planning process that will chart the future of the Great Divide region. Please let the BLM know that you support the Western Heritage Alternative’s proposals to expand the Ferris Mountains WSA and permanently protect it as a designated wilderness area.

Ask the BLM to support the Western Heritage Alternative by adding an additional 6,738 acres of wilderness-quality lands to the Ferris Mountains WSA.