Start with the Letter from our Board President & Executive Director (below) and then read these selected digital stories from our 2022 Annual Report. Learn more about ways to support Wilderness Workshop by reaching out to Philanthropy Director Emily Kay.
- President Biden designates the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument
- 20 years of protection in the works for the Thompson Divide
- Defiende Nuestra Tierra Connects community to conservation
- Colorado Wildlands Project: Dolores to Dinosaur and BLM wildlands in between
- Years of hard work culminating in cancellation of the East Willow Leases
- Protecting the North Fork Valley & Gunnison National Forest
- New planning efforts underway for the Colorado River Valley and the Piceance Basin
- Donor Spotlight: Chelsea Congdon
- Business Spotlight: Marble Distilling Co.
Letter from Our Board President & Executive Director
Protecting public lands requires a commitment to the long haul. Designating new wilderness, saving wild rivers, and galvanizing community support is most accurately measured in years, not days or months. Moments of celebration and tangible progress can be few and far between, but 2022 was one for the record books!
Most notably, in October President Biden designated the 53,800-acre Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument and announced the start of a process to protect a quarter million acres of the Thompson Divide from oil and gas leasing and development. These actions cap off more than a decade of work by Wilderness Workshop to secure lasting protections for ecologically rich lands, highly valued by local communities.
Our policy and legal advocacy also achieved tangible conservation results across Western Colorado. We eliminated yet more leases from the spectacular East Willow Roadless Area on the edge of the Thompson Divide; in the North Fork Valley, our legal settlement stopped new oil and gas leasing across nearly a million acres in areas critical for both agriculture and wildlife. And in the Colorado River Valley we forced the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to re-prioritize conservation on almost 1.5 million acres of wildlands stretching from Grand Junction into the Eagle and Roaring Fork Valleys.
Our 2022 annual report is an opportunity to reflect on this brief moment in the long arc of our work to ensure an ecologically intact and biologically rich world. We’re thrilled to share highlights from a year in which the dedication and commitment of Wilderness Workshop, its staff, and supporters resulted in substantial protections for wild places. Thank you for being a donor to Wilderness Workshop and helping make these successes possible!
With Deep Appreciation,
Allyn Harvey, Board President & Will Roush, Executive Director
