Fishers Peak State Park

Last updated

Fishers Peak State Park
Fishers Peak State Park.JPG
Fishers Peak in Fishers Peak State Park
USA Colorado location map.svg
Red pog.svg
The park's location in Colorado
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fishers Peak State Park (the United States)
Location Las Animas County, Colorado, USA
Nearest city Trinidad, Colorado
Coordinates 37°05′52″N104°27′46″W / 37.09778°N 104.46278°W / 37.09778; -104.46278 Coordinates: 37°05′52″N104°27′46″W / 37.09778°N 104.46278°W / 37.09778; -104.46278
Area19,200 acres (7,800 ha) [1]
Established2020
Governing body Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Fishers Peak State Park is a Colorado state park in Las Animas County, Colorado, just south of Trinidad. Trinidad Lake State Park is nearby. The park opened on October 30, 2020, and is still being developed. [2] [1]

Contents

History

The land for the park, formerly the privately-held Crazy French Ranch, was purchased in 2019. Funds to purchase the ranch came jointly from Great Outdoors Colorado, the funding arm of the Colorado Lottery, The Nature Conservancy, and The Trust for Public Land. [3]

Geography

The park takes its name from Fishers Peak, elevation 9,632 feet (2,936 m), [4] a prominent, flat-topped mountain and the highest point on Raton Mesa. The mesa was designated a Natural National Landmark in 1967. [5] The park is within the Raton Basin.

The park includes grasslands, foothills, and mountains. One of the main goals of the park's establishment is to conserve the area's wildlife, which includes elk, mule deer, black bear, mountain lions, and bobcats. [3]

Contiguous conservation areas

Adjoining Fishers Peak State Park on the east are two Colorado State Wildlife Areas (SWA): Lake Dorothey, 5,152 acres (2,085 ha), and James M. John, 8,339 acres (3,375 ha). Lake Dorothey also adjoins Sugarite Canyon State Park, 3,600 acres (1,500 ha), in New Mexico. The total contiguous acreage in public ownership is thus about 36,000 acres (15,000 ha). [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Las Animas County, Colorado</span> County in Colorado, United States

Las Animas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,555. The county seat is Trinidad. The county takes its name from the Mexican Spanish name of the Purgatoire River, originally called El Río de las Ánimas Perdidas en el Purgatorio, which means "River of the Lost Souls in Purgatory."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Colorado</span>

Scouting in Colorado has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malibu Creek State Park</span> Wilderness park in Santa Monica Mountains of southern California

Malibu Creek State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving the Malibu Creek canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. The 8,215-acre (3,324 ha) park was established in 1974. Opened to the public in 1976, the park is also a component of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry W. Coe State Park</span> State park in California, USA

Henry W. Coe State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving a vast tract of the Diablo Range. The park is located closest to the city of Morgan Hill, and is located in both Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties. The park contains over 87,000 acres (35,000 ha), making it the largest state park in northern California, and the second-largest in the state. Managed within its boundaries is a designated wilderness area of about 22,000 acres (8,900 ha). This is officially known as the Henry W. Coe State Wilderness, but locally as the Orestimba Wilderness. The 89,164-acre (36,083 ha) park was established in 1959.

A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. The first such facilities were all within the 30-mile (48 km) studio zone, often in the foothills of the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Simi Valley in the U.S. state of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinidad Lake State Park</span> Park in Las Animas County, Colorado

Trinidad Lake State Park is a state park 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Trinidad, Colorado, United States. The park protects Trinidad Lake, a dammed reservoir. There are hiking trails, and camping and boating opportunities. The park features historical attractions such as the coal mining ruins at Cokedale. An exposure of the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary is visible in the southern part of the park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermejo Park Ranch</span> Private ranch in New Mexico, United States

Vermejo Park Ranch, Vermejo Ranch, or Vermejo, is a 550,000-acre (220,000 ha) nature reserve and guest ranch in northeastern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Ted Turner Reserves, the luxury hospitality company founded by Ted Turner, includes conservation research and ecosystem restoration along with guest operations. The reserve, which stretches from the Great Plains at an elevation of 5,867 ft (1,788 m) to the summit of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains reaching an elevation of 12,931 ft (3,941 m). The ranch produces significant quantities of coalbed methane, a type of natural gas.

The Santa Fe Trail Scenic and Historic Byway is a 188-mile (303 km) National Scenic Byway and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Prowers, Bent, Otero, and Las Animas counties, Colorado, USA. The byway follows the Santa Fe National Historic Trail through southeastern Colorado and connects to the 381-mile (613 km) Santa Fe Trail Scenic Byway in New Mexico at Raton Pass, a National Historic Landmark at elevation 7,834 feet (2,388 m). The byway visits Amache National Historic Site and Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, both National Historic Landmarks, and winds between the Spanish Peaks and Raton Mesa, both National Natural Landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugarite Canyon State Park</span> State park in New Mexico, United States

Sugarite Canyon State Park is a state park of New Mexico, United States, featuring a historic early-20th century coal-mining camp and natural scenery at the border of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. The park is located on the Colorado–New Mexico state line 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Raton, New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bend Ranch State Park</span> State park in Texas, United States

Big Bend Ranch State Park is a 311,000-acre (126,000 ha) state park located on the Rio Grande in Brewster and Presidio counties, Texas. It is the largest state park in Texas. The closest major town is Presidio, Texas, where the state park's head office is located. It includes Colorado Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staunton State Park</span> State park In Colorado, United States

Staunton State Park is a Colorado state park in Park and Jefferson counties, located 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Conifer, Colorado. The 3,908-acre (1,582 ha) park, which opened on May 18, 2013, includes dramatic rock outcroppings, several streams and a waterfall. On December 4, 2012, the property was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Staunton Ranch-Rural Historic Landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks</span> Collection of protected areas in Orange County, California

The Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks are a collection of protected areas in Orange County, California in and around Irvine. They encompass almost 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of land which was once a part of the Irvine Ranch owned by the Irvine Company. Almost 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) of the landmarks were designated a National Natural Landmark in 2006 and a California Natural Landmark in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishers Peak</span>

Fishers Peak is a spur of the Ratón Mesa, which reaches the highest elevation of the collective mesas of the Ratón formation commencing at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a subset of the Rocky Mountains, from the west, 90 miles eastward to the Oklahoma border. Ratón Mesas include Black Mesa, Johnson Mesa, and Mesa de Maya. The prominent 9,633-foot (2,936 m) mesa is located 5.5 miles (8.8 km) south by east of the Town of Trinidad in Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. Fishers Peak is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raton Mesa</span> Collective name of mesas in New Mexico and Colorado

Raton Mesa is the collective name of several mesas on the eastern side of Raton Pass in New Mexico and Colorado. The name Raton Mesa or Mesas has sometimes been applied to all the mesas that extend east for 90 miles (140 km) along the Colorado-New Mexico border from Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado to the Oklahoma panhandle. These include Johnson Mesa, Mesa de Maya, and Black Mesa.

The Mesa de Maya is a prominent volcanic tableland rising 500 feet (150 m) to 1,200 feet (370 m) above the Great Plains in southeastern Colorado. A narrow finger of the mesa extends eastward through the northeastern corner of New Mexico and a few miles into Oklahoma where it is known as Black Mesa. The elevation of the Mesa de Maya ranges from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) at its easternmost extension to 6,902 feet (2,104 m) in the west.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fishers Peak". Colorado Parks & Wildlife. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. Argueta, Brenda (October 30, 2020). "Gov. Jared Polis officially opens Fishers Peak State Park in Trinidad". KOAA News 5. Pueblo, Colorado. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Agreement Reached on Fisher's Peak / Crazy French Ranch". Great Outdoors Colorado. January 4, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  4. "Fishers Peak". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  5. "Raton Mesa". National Natural Landmarks. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  6. "Map". Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  7. "Sugarite Canyon State Park Management and Development Plan" (PDF). Retrieved January 2, 2010.