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Oak Creek

As you travel south on Highway 131, meandering through the Oak Creek canyon filled with brush oak and Sarvis berry bush, 20 miles from Steamboat Springs is the authentic and original town of Oak Creek, Colorado. Founded over a hundred years ago on December 26, 1907, Oak Creek was incorporated as a mining town and named after the scrub oak that grew along the creek banks. The population of Oak Creek is 3,336, with a town boundary of 369.1 miles. Most locals have called Oak Creek home since the turn of the century and the town is filled with young families as well as teachers and other service industry members. Being relatively close to Steamboat Springs and the Steamboat Ski Resort allows for a quick commute time of about 20 minutes on dry roads. Oak Creek, Colorado homes for sale and property located in the towns further south on Highway 131, Phippsburg, Yampa, and Toponas, all have one thing in common: unfettered access to National Forest. The Flat Tops Wilderness Area is located just outside Yampa and offers over 235,000 acres of mother nature’s finest. In fact, Trappers Lake, the best-known destination for hikers in this wilderness area, was the lake that inspired Arthur Carhart, a US Forest Service official surveying the road to the lake, to submit a memorandum to his superior, Aldo Leopold, in 1919, advocating for the protection of such wilderness areas from human development.

“There are great values of this type to be found in the several forests of the Nation, which in order to return to the greatest total value to the people, not only of the Nation but of the world should be preserved and protected from the marring features of man-made constructions. These areas can never be restored to the original condition after man has invaded them, and the great value lying as it does in natural scenic beauty should be available, not for the small group, but for the greatest population. Time will come when these scenic spots, where nature has been allowed to remain unmarred, will be some of the most highly prized scenic features of the country.”

— Arthur Carhart, “Memorandum For Mr. Leopold, District 3, December 10, 1919”

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