Acquisitions will help to add onto public lands in pristine state ecosystems

The Montana-based Wilderness Land Trust announced Wednesday it recently acquired two private inholdings within Colorado wildernesses, expanding 51 acres for future public use.

The two properties are the 20-acre Busher Claim in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness and the 31-acre Great Western Lode in the Weminuche Wilderness.

The properties were previously privately owned, and at risk of development, according to a news release from the Trust. 

There are more than 275,000 acres of private property nationwide, known as inholdings, within designated wilderness areas and unlike the surrounding wilderness, they are not protected and can be developed with homes, resorts, timber and mining operations. 

The Wilderness Land Trust works with willing sellers to purchase these properties and protect them to benefit public access, wildlife habitat, and healthy watersheds.

THE BUSHER CLAIM

The property sits on the slopes above the popular hiking destination of Cumberland Basin, below Pearl Mountain and Castle Peak south of Aspen.

“Its fragile high alpine ecosystem provides important wildlife habitat as well as pristine viewsheds for recreationists,” a spokesperson with the Wilderness Land Trust said in the release. “Because it is located near the Pearl Pass Road, an OHV route from Aspen to Crested Butte, the property was at a higher risk of development. It has now been protected from development thanks to the generous support of Kim Kanas of Longmont, Colorado. With the acquisition complete, the Trust will now work to transfer the property to public ownership.”

THE GREAT WESTERN LODE

The Trust acquired this property in 2022 and was recently transferred to public ownership in the Weminuche Wilderness.

“The popular Whitehead Trail runs through the property, which is also dominated by fragile alpine tundra habitat,” the Wilderness Land Trust spokesperson said. “The Whitehead Trail connects the Continental Divide Trail, a National Scenic Trail running from Mexico to Canada, to the Highland Mary and Deer Park trails, which are easily accessible from the town of Silverton, Colorado, a year-round recreation destination.”

All but six acres of Great Western Lode have been added to the wilderness area, with the remaining six acres, which extends outside of the established wilderness boundary, added to San Juan National Forest to be managed as wilderness.

Earlier in 2025, the successful addition of the 30-acre Needle Creek property to the Weminuche Wilderness helps build onto the recent Great Western Lode transfer. 

Needle Creek is located five miles south of Great Western Lode. The Needle Creek project protected public access on the Needle Creek Trail, which is used by hikers and climbers to access the very popular Chicago Basin and its surrounding 14,000+ peaks.

The Wilderness Land Trust said these properties will be protected as designated wilderness, which enjoys the highest level of protection available to public lands that can only be altered by an act of Congress, not executive orders or other administration directives.

To date, The Wilderness Land Trust has protected 198 properties in Colorado, totaling more than 7,300 acres. The Trust’s work to protect Colorado’s most wild landscapes can be supported during Colorado Gives Day on Dec. 9. Learn more Wildernesslandtrust.com to donate.

In the organization’s 33-year history, The Wilderness Land Trust has worked to keep the promise of wilderness by acquiring private land in and around wilderness from willing landowners and transferring them to public ownership.

In this time, the Trust has purchased and transferred 616 properties totaling over 59,000 acres from Arizona to Alaska, completing 18 wilderness areas by removing their last remaining private inholdings, according to the Trust.