Dardanelles and Freel Roadless Areas

Dardanelles and Freel Roadless Areas
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Near Showers Lake in the Dardanelles Roadless Area
USDA map of inventoried roadless areas in southern Lake Tahoe.
Location	South of Lake Tahoe, Eldorado County, northern California.
Nearest city	South Lake Tahoe, California
Governing body	Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit / USDA

The Dardanelles and Freel Roadless Areas are located 7 miles (11 km) and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Lake Tahoe, California respectively, and both are managed by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the US Forest Service.These areas are contiguous, separated only by the corridor of highway 89. The historic Hawley Grade, an immigrant wagon road, now a hiking trail, is within the Dardanelles Roadless Area, as well as the watershed of Lake Tahoe's largest inflow, the Upper Truckee River.
The Freel Roadless Area is named for Freel Peak, the highest point in both the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Carson Range. Freel Peak supports one of the few areas of alpine cushion plants this far north in the Sierra Nevada /Carson Range. Both the Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail pass through these roadless areas.

A "roadless area" is the designation for backcountry, undeveloped lands having wilderness attributes as specified in the Wilderness Act of 1964 and that could be considered for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. These lands were formally inventoried in the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation process (RARE II) and managed under the land management plans of the US Forest Service. On Jan. 12, 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established. This rule set national guidelines limiting backcountry timber harvest and road construction and reconstruction with a goal of upholding the roadless characteristics found on millions of acres of inventoried roadless areas. It allowed reasonable exceptions for management activities like fire suppression and other public health safety measures, and permitted projects, such as mining, with valid existing rights to proceed. At the same time, the national roadless rule attempted to conserve fish and wildlife habitat while not closing any existing access to these lands.