The Colorado Wildlands Project is now two years old! Created in strategic partnership with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), the Wildlands Project has a unique focus on conservation opportunities for wildlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Western Colorado and works towards their protection.

The Dolores river as it cuts through the canyon on the east side of the Paradox Valley. Photo Courtesy Jon Mullen/Ecostock.

The Green River flowing through Browns Park, past the Diamond Breaks Wilderness Study Area. Photo courtesy Jon Mullen/Ecostock.

Highlights of the Wildlands Project work in 2022 include:

  • Inventoried and identified wilderness-quality public lands with substantial cultural and historic resources deserving of permanent protection in the Dolores River Canyon Country.
  • Built relationships with key stakeholders and agency staff in the Greater Dinosaur landscape – located in the far northwest corner of Colorado and centered around the existing 210,000-acre Dinosaur National Monument – and built awareness of what may be Colorado’s largest remaining conservation opportunity.
  • As part of ongoing efforts to achieve long-term administrative protections for BLM wildlands, supported a regional and national coalition urging the BLM to use its existing authority to designate new Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs).
  • Partnered with Wilderness Workshop to advocate for increased protections in the Colorado River Valley and Piceance Basin as part of a 1.5 million acre BLM planning process.
Wilderenss Study Areas: A Conservation Opportunity

In Colorado, the BLM manages over 2 million acres of wilderness-quality lands that contain important wildlife habitat and migration corridors, provide backcountry recreation experiences, and serve as climate refugia for species adapting to a changing planet. The Wildlands Project is advocating for the BLM to designate some of these deserving wildlands as Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), the agency’s most powerful and durable conservation tool.