"Western Rivers Conservancy, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service have now completed conservation of a historic property at the confluence of the Yampa River and Sarvis Creek.
The project conserves outstanding fish and wildlife habitat and opens new public access to a prime stretch of trophy trout water and elk hunting grounds only 13 miles from Steamboat Springs.
The property, which WRC calls Hubbard’s Summer Place, lies three miles downstream from Stagecoach Reservoir on the banks of a classic tailwater fishery. According to local anglers, this stretch of the Yampa River is coveted for its large rainbow and brown trout and native mountain whitefish. Until now, Hubbard’s Summer Place was closed to the public.
The 45-acre property was both an inholding and an edgeholding in the Routt National Forest. The parcel is also adjacent to the USFS Sarvis Creek Wilderness Area, BLM lands and the Sarvis Creek State Wildlife Area.
“This property is extremely important, both from a conservation perspective and as a place where people can fish, hunt and hike,” says Tim Wilson, associate field manager for the BLM’s Little Snake Field Office. “Now that it is publicly owned, we can manage it for its valuable fish and wildlife habitat and to open access to experience exceptional angling in Colorado.”
Early efforts to conserve the Hubbard property date back to 1995 with the completion of the Routt County Sarvis Creek Area Plan. Conservation efforts gained momentum in 2011, when the Yampa River Legacy Partnership sought inclusion of this parcel in the America’s Great Outdoors initiative."
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This story appeared in the December 30, 2014 edition of the Herald Times
