US Forest Service - Pike National Forest (CO)

The Pike National Forest encompasses approximately 1.2 million acres spread across Park, Jefferson, Douglas, Teller, and El Paso Counties in central Colorado. Because of its close proximity to both Denver and Colorado Springs, the Pike National Forest is one of the busiest forests in the region, boasting an annual visitation average of nearly 2.5 million people. The South Platte Ranger District is responsible for 450,000 acres of the Pike National Forest, covering the entirety of southern Jefferson County, western Park County, and western Douglas County. Two other Ranger Districts manage the forest, Pikes Peak to the south, covering the portions of the forest in Teller and El Paso Counties, and the South Park Ranger District, covering the remaining portions of the forest which ring Park County. The Pike National Forest is managed jointly with the San Isabel National Forest and the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands.

Radio Frequencies

The Pike National Forest is managed jointly with the San Isabel National Forest and the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Unlike the unified Arapahoe, Roosevelt, Pawnee radio system to the north, geographic disparities keep the operations of the PSICC radio systems separate, with each management unit operating their own net.

• Information for the San Isabel National Forest Radio Network can be found here: San Isabel National Forest

• Information for the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands Radio Network can be found here: Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands

Dispatching and resource tracking on the Pike National Forest is handled by the Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center.

• WildCAD CO-PBC Local Incident and Resource Status Tracking
• Federal Dispatch Boundary Maps for Colorado
• Pike, San Isabel, Comanche, and Cimmarron Response Area Maps

Pike National Forest Repeater Network (Pike Net)

• Frequencies changed in July 2016 to comply with NTIA directive to move repeater outputs to frequencies between 169.5125 and 173.9875.
• "Tone #" refers to the National Standard Tone Numbering System used by the USFS, BLM, and other land management agencies and is only applicable to TX tones.

CH	TONE #	RX FREQ	RX TONE	TX FREQ	TX TONE	Description	Ranger District	County	Confirmation
"Local" (Direct)	1	171.1375	110.9	171.1375	110.9	Forest-wide Simplex/Direct	(All)	(All)	2022.07
North Twin Cone	2	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	123.0	North Twin Cone Peak Repeater	S Platte / S Park	Park
Russell Ridge	3	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	131.8	Russell Ridge (Indian Creek) Repeater	S Platte	Jefferson	2022.07
Mount Evans	4	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	136.5	Mount Evans Repeater	S Platte	Clear Creek	2022.07
Longwater Gulch	5	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	146.2	Longwater Gulch (Green Mountain) Repeater	S Platte / S Park / Pikes Peak	Douglas	2022.07
Devils Head	6	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	156.7	Devil's Head Repeater	S Platte	Douglas	2022.07
Almagre	7	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	167.9	Almagre Mountain Repeater	Pikes Peak	Teller	2022.07
Stanley	8	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	103.5	Stanley Canyon Repeater	Pikes Peak	El Paso
Cheyenne Creek	9	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	100.0	Cheyenne Creek (Mount Rosa) Repeater	Pikes Peak	El Paso
Lake George	10	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	107.2	Lake George Repeater	S Park	Park	2021.09
Topaz	11	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	114.8	Topaz Mountain Repeater	S Platte / S Park	Park	2022.07
Dicks Peak	12	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	127.3	Dicks Peak Repeater	S Park	Park
Sheep Ridge	13	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	141.3	Sheep Ridge (Sacramento Gulch) Repeater	S Park	Park
Bailey	14	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	151.4	Mount Bailey Repeater	S Platte / S Park	Park	2022.01
Badger	15	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	162.2	Badger Mountain Repeater	S Park	Park	2022.06
	16	171.1375	110.9	164.9875	192.8	Portable Repeater	(Incident specific)	(Incident specific)
(UHF Link)		406.3250	(Varies)	415.3250	(Varies)	UHF Remote Link to Pike Repeater Net (Tones vary depending upon repeater selected)

Intra-Crew, Work, & Tactical Frequencies

• Pike NF has no (known) exclusive frequency assignments for either work or tactical use. All of Pike's work and tactical channels are shared use, either within the USFS or across the entire Federal Government. Beware that communications from other Federal agencies or forest units may be received on any/all of these frequencies depending on your location, as their use is not specific to Pike NF.
• Work Channels/frequencies are generally restricted to low power use in handhelds for the purpose of intra-crew communications. These frequencies are part of a shared NTIA Itinerant/Common Use pool (see: Federal Government Itinerant) and not reserved for use by any one specific user/agency.
• The three known Pike Tactical channels are shared use within USFS as nationwide NIFC Tacs and not specifically assigned to Pike NF. See National Incident Radio Support Cache for additional.
• On extended attack incidents, frequencies from the National Incident Radio Support Cache pool are likely to be assigned.
• Local/initial attack incidents may be assigned frequencies from the VHF portion of the NIFOG Interoperability pool (see: Common Public Safety#VHF High Band) to allow for direct coordination with local resources.

CH	RX FREQ	RX TONE	TX FREQ	TX TONE	Description	Notes	Confirmation
TAC 1	168.050	CSQ	168.050	CSQ	Pike TAC 1 (NIFC TAC 1)	In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 1, in use by PSF as an IA (Initial Attack) tactical frequency. Limited to mobile/handheld simplex use only. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 1" by Pike NF personnel.	2022.06 (In use on Gove Creek incident.)
TAC 2	168.200		168.200		Pike TAC 2 (NIFC TAC 2)	In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 2, in use by PSF as an IA (Initial Attack) tactical frequency. Limited to mobile/handheld simplex use only. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 2" by Pike NF personnel.	2022.06 (In use on Gove Creek incident.)
TAC 3	168.600		168.600		Pike TAC 3 (NIFC TAC 3)	In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 3, in use by PSF as an IA (Initial Attack) tactical frequency. Limited to mobile/handheld simplex use only. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 3" by Pike NF personnel.
"Pike Work"	163.7125		163.7125	(Varies)	Pike Work Ch 1	Gov't Common 1, handheld or mobile use only. National Travel Net, IHC, and Intra-Crew frequency. Tones 192.8 and 110.9 have been reported in use by Pike on this frequency.	2022.07 (Briefly heard maintenance or recreation personnel calling on "Work 1." Unknown if ARF or PSF personnel).
"Work-2"	168.6125		168.6125	(Varies)	Pike Work Ch 2	Gov't Common 3, handheld or mobile use only. Secondary IHC and Intra-Crew frequency. Tones 103.5 and 110.9 have been reported in use by Pike on this frequency.	2022.07 (In use by REC units performing trail work using "Tone 8" (103.5).
"Gov Work"	168.350		168.350		"Government Work" Inter-agency Work Ch	Gov't Common/Nationwide Itinerant. Can be used as an input to 163.100 for portable or temporary repeaters. Old National Travel Net and R-2 TAC. In common use by BLM as a Local Work Channel.
	163.100		163.100		General Use Work/TAC Ch	Gov't Common/Nationwide Itinerant. Output to 168.350 when configured for use as a temporary/portable repeater. Old National Logistics Channel. In common use by many Federal agencies as a travel channel.

Law Enforcement

• The Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center (Pueblo Dispatch) does not handle any LE dispatching functions. USFS LEO's in Colorado generally use either the State (CSP) communications center, or the local County Sheriff's dispatch center which covers the area they are working in for dispatch.
• USFS LEO's working in the Rampart Range area of the South Platte Ranger District appear to be using DCSO for dispatch.

CH	RX FREQ	RX TONE	TX FREQ	TX TONE	Description	Notes	Confirmation
"Devil's Head LEO"	172.5125	110.9	Unknown		Devil's Head Law Enforcement Repeater	Rampart Range Area Law Enforcement Operations Repeater. Very informal tactical use among USFS, DCSO, and CPW LEO's. Appears to be a standalone repeater, not monitored by Pueblo Dispatch. Douglas County dispatch does have access to this repeater and may use it in extremely rare instances to contact DCSO deputies working on calls in the forest.	2022.07
"FS Law"	168.025	CSQ	168.025	CSQ	USFS Nationwide Law Enforcement Simplex Common	Used occasionally for car-to-car comms between LE units on Pike NF. Often used by units when traveling on area highways.	2022.06

In addition to the conventional VHF frequencies shown above, the USFS has been assigned a handful of talkgroups on the State of Colorado DTRS. "USFS SE" has been used in the past by Pike NF LE units for car-to-car traffic, although traffic is more common on the VHF frequencies. Capturing traffic on these talkgroups is extremely difficult, due to the low saturation of USFS units with DTRS radios affiliating to the system.

Name	TGID	Description	Notes
USFS STW	1230	US Forest Service Statewide	Statewide common/travel channel for USFS units in Colorado.
USFS NE	1231	US Forest Service Northeast Operations	Reserved for Arapaho, Roosevelt, and Pawnee operations.
USFS SE	1232	US Forest Service Southeast Operations	Reserved for Pike, San Isabel, and Cimmaron/Comanche operations. Has been referred to on-air as "Southeast."
USFS NW	8375	US Forest Service Northwest Operations	Reserved for Routt-Medicine Bow and White River operations.
USFS SW	8376	US Forest Service Southwest Operations	Reserved for Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison (GMUG), Rio Grande, and San Juan operations.

Air Operations

• Additional information available here: National Incident Radio Support Cache #Air VHF FM ("Foxtrot Mike") Frequencies
• The VHF High Band NIFOG frequencies are often used to coordinate air operations with local agencies. V-FIRE21 in particular is often used for Air-Ground operations with local fire departments in the front range. Please see Common Public Safety#VHF High Band for more information.

CH	RX FREQ	RX TONE	TX FREQ	TX TONE	Description	Notes	Confirmation
"National" (NTL FLTF)	168.650	110.9	168.650	110.9	National Flight Following Frequency	Nationwide Flight Following Frequency. Used for dispatch, flight following, and/or redirection of aircraft or other air-to-ground administrative traffic. Not for incident or ground operations use. Appears in most radios as "NTL FLTF." Generally referred to on air as "National." Previously known as "Airnet."	2022.07 (in use daily with both PBC and FTC dispatch)
"AIRGUARD"	168.625	110.9	168.625	110.9	National Aircraft Emergency Frequency	Continuous monitoring of this frequency is required of all tactical aircraft and dispatch offices. Restricted to emergency air-to-air or air-to-ground communications only. May be used for initial call, recall, and redirection of aircraft only if no other frequencies are available. Appears in all radios as "AIRGUARD" and generally as Channel 16 in portable radios to allow crews to quickly switch to it.	2021.12 (Used briefly as a contact frequency during the Oak Fire.)
"Air-Ground 35"	167.225	CSQ	167.225	CSQ	Colorado Zone 07 Primary Air-Ground	Primary Air-Ground frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). National Air-Ground System Channel 35. Has been seen programmed as "CO07AG35" or "A/G 35" in some radios.	2022.07 (In use on Snow Creek Fire.)
"Air-Ground 10"	166.9375	CSQ	166.9375	CSQ	Colorado Zone 07 Secondary Air-Ground	Secondary Air-Ground frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). National Air-Ground System Channel 10. Has been seen programmed as "CO07AG10" or "A/G 10" in some radios.	2022.05 (In use during operations on High Peak Fire.)
"Victor 121.075"	121.075	AM	121.075	AM	Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 1	Primary Air-Air frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). Referred to on-air as "Victor" or "Victor 121.075."	2022.07 (In use during operations on the Snow Creek Fire).
	119.575	AM	119.575	AM	Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 2	Secondary Air-Air frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07).	2022.07 (Inadvertently used during the Snow Creek Fire).
	126.350	AM	126.350	AM	Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 3	Tertiary Air-Air frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). Authorized for use during 2020 season, unknown if still in use.
(UHF Link)	408.9875	136.5	417.9875	110.9	UHF Remote Link to National Flight Following (168.650)

Operations

Station Locations / Ranger Districts

The Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center has elected to assign station numbers to the work centers and district offices in their service area. These aliases are used when communicating with Pueblo Dispatch to describe the locations where personnel and apparatus are quartered. For Forest Service "stations," the station numbers correspond directly to the assigned district number for that particular Ranger District. Some stations may encompass several physical locations spread out across a given district. In these instances the station number is generally used to describe the resources of that particular Ranger District, and not necessarily a specific location. For stations arranged in this manner, the specific name of the work center or facility is usually given when communicating a unit status with Pueblo Dispatch. Forest Service Ranger Districts generally follow the watershed boundaries of their given territories, often causing them to cross county lines and other political boundaries. Please note that, due to the consolidation of several Ranger Districts over the years, there are some numbers which have been skipped.

Station No.	Forest Unit	Ranger District	Location(s)
Station 1	San Isabel	Leadville Ranger District	810 Front St., Leadville, CO 80461
Station 2	San Isabel	Salida Ranger District	5575 Cleora Rd., Salida, CO 81201
Station 3	San Isabel	San Carlos Ranger District	3028 East Main St., Canon City, CO 81212
Station 4	Bureau of Land Management	Rocky Mountain District	Royal Gorge Field Office: 3028 E. Main St., Canon City, CO 81212 [1] San Luis Valley Field Office: 1313 E HWY 160, Monte Vista, CO 81144
Station 6	Comanche	Springfield Ranger District	Carrizo Unit: 27204 US HWY 287, Springfield, CO 81073 Timpas Unit: 1420 E. 3rd St., La Junta, CO 81050
Station 7	Cimarron	Elkhart Ranger District	242 E HWY 56, Elkhart, KS 67950
Station 9	Pike	Pike's Peak Ranger District	Woodland Park Work Center: 1408 Rampart Ranger Rd., Woodland Park, CO 80863 Monument Fire Center: 3751 Mt. Herman Rd., Monument, CO 80132 [2]
Station 10	Pike	South Park Ranger District	District Office: 320 HWY 285, Fairplay, CO 80440 Lake George Work Center: 140 Trail Creek Rd., Lake George, CO 80827
Station 11	Pike	South Platte Ranger District	Buffalo Creek Work Center: 18046 CR 126, Pine, CO 80425

[1]: The BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office is co-located with the San Carlos Ranger District Office.

[2]: The Monument Fire Center is the Headquarters for the Pike Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC).

Response Areas

The Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center has sub-divided the individual Ranger Districts of the Pike National Forest into geographic "Response Areas." These areas are identified by a numeric code, usually (but not always) beginning with the ranger district/station number. Units in the field will often provide Pueblo Dispatch with these numeric location codes when updating their statuses or locations throughout the day.

Station 9 - Pikes Peak Ranger District

Response Area	Area Name	Forest Unit	Ranger District	County	Local Fire District

Station 10 - South Park Ranger District

Response Area	Area Name	Forest Unit	Ranger District	County	Local Fire District
10	Lake George	Pike	South Park	Park	Lake George / Hartsel
10A	Stoll Mountain	Pike	South Park	Park	Lake George / Hartsel
10N	Hackett Gulch	Pike	South Park	Park	Lake George / Mountain Communities / Florissant
10P	Florissant Fossil Beds-NPS	CO-FFP / NPS-FLFO	South Park	Teller	Florissant / Divide
10S	Four Mile	Pike	South Park	Park / Teller	Southern Park County / Four Mile
11	Thirtynine Mile Mountain	Pike	South Park	Park	Southern Park County / Hartsel
12	Dicks Peak	Pike	South Park	Park	Southern Park County / Hartsel
13	Badger Flats	Pike	South Park	Park	Lake George
13A	Puma Hills	Pike	South Park	Park	Lake George / Hartsel
14	Northern Tarryall	Pike	South Park	Park	Jefferson-Como
14A	Farnum Peak	Pike	South Park	Park	Jefferson-Como / Hartsel / Lake George
15	Topaz Mountain	Pike	South Park	Park	Jefferson-Como
16	Lost Creek Wilderness West	Pike	South Park	Park	Jefferson-Como / Lake George
17	Georgia Pass	Pike	South Park	Park	Northwest / Jefferson-Como
18	Sacramento	Pike	South Park	Park	Northwest / Hartsel
19	Jones Hill	Pike	South Park	Park	Hartsel / Northwest
19N	Reinecker Ridge	Pike	South Park	Park	Northwest / Jefferson-Como / Hartsel
19S	S Highway 9	Pike	South Park	Park	Hartsel
19E	Spinney	Pike	South Park	Park	Hartsel
19SW	Antero	Pike	South Park	Park	Hartsel
19W	Buffalo Peaks Wilderness	Pike	South Park	Park	Northwest

Station 11 - South Platte Ranger District

Response Area	Area Name	Forest Unit	Ranger District	County	Local Fire District
1101	Sawmill Gulch	Pike	South Platte	Park	Platte Canyon
1102	Mt. Evans Wilderness	Pike	South Platte	Park	Platte Canyon
1102A	Mt. Evans Wilderness-ARF	Arapaho	Clear Creek	Park	Platte Canyon
1103	Harris Park	Pike	South Platte	Park	Platte Canyon / Elk Creek
1103A	Cub Creek-ARF	Arapaho	Clear Creek	Park/Jefferson	Elk Creek / Evergreen
1104	Buffalo Creek	Pike	South Platte	Jefferson	North Fork
1105	Indian Creek	Pike	South Platte	Jefferson	West Douglas / Forest Service
1106	Lost Creek Wilderness	Pike	South Platte	Park / Jefferson	Platte Canyon / Jefferson-Como
1106E	N. Terryall / Kenosha	Pike	South Platte	Park	Platte Canyon / North Fork
1107	Cheeseman Lake	Pike	South Platte	Jefferson / Douglas / Teller	North Fork / Mountain Communities / Lake George
1108	Polhemus Gulch	Pike	South Platte	Jefferson	North Fork / Mountain Communities / Forest Service

Unit Identifiers

Unit identifiers for personnel and apparatus operating on the Pike National Forest generally follows the "Function-District-Position" format in use nationally. In this format, units will identify themselves first by their function (such as "Engine" or "Module") followed by the ranger district number (see Stations list) and then followed by a position number (example: "Engine 11-1" would correspond to the first engine assigned to the South Platte District). Resources from other agencies or from other forest units will generally identify themselves using their own callsigns prefaced by the agency name or forest unit's name (example: "North Fork 1201," or "Minnesota Engine 621"). Visiting units may sometimes use the older style numeric identifiers which follow the Forest-District-Function format. These identifiers lead off with the numeric code for the forest unit, followed by the district number, and then by the individual units function code (resources, fire management, ect). These callsigns are still in use by other Forest Service Regions, but only rarely encountered in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Apparatus markings for the Pike National Forest are compliant with NWCG PMS 931 Standards for Unit Identifiers and are easily distinguishable by their unique Unit Identifier Code when operating in the field or on an incident (CO-PSF).