Colorado River Cutthroat Trout
Once prevalent in headwater streams throughout the Colorado River system, the Colorado River cutthroat trout now inhabits only a few upper reaches in northwestern Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. All three of our region’s surviving native cutthroat trout species are threatened with extinction.
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Canyon Tree Frog
The canyon tree frog inhabits the Colorado Plateau’s river corridors, where uranium mining tailings threaten water quality, oil and gas drilling activity disturbs sensitive habitat, and dams and other water projects divert the flows that species depend on for survival.
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Uncompahgre Fritillary
The Uncompahgre fritillary is the last butterfly species to be discovered in the United States. Intensive collecting, overgrazing by domestic livestock, periods of prolonged drought conditions, mining activity, and an increase in alpine recreation have coincided with a dramatic population decline of the butterfly.
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Graham’s Penstemon
As well adapted as Graham’s penstemon is to its harsh environment, it doesn’t stand a chance against oil and gas drilling and exploration activities, off-road vehicles, or livestock trampling. This species is found only within a small stretch of northwestern Colorado and Utah’s Uinta Basin.
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Uinta Basin Hookless Cactus
Only recently did biologists acknowledge that this tiny gem was actually a separate species and warrants protection in its own right. Rampant oil and gas drilling and proposed oil shale projects in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin, the plant’s only home, threaten its remaining populations.
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Clay-Loving Wild Buckwheat
Clay-loving wild buckwheat is a higly endangered plant found only on the Adobe Hills east of Delta and Montrose in western Colorado. Its habitat is increasingly threatened by off-road vehicles, suburban sprawl, and new highway building.
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Utah Prairie Dog
The critically imperiled Utah prairie dog is only found in small populations in the southwestern part of Utah. Utah prairie dogs have been reduced from their historic acreage of 448,000 to a mere 7,000 acres today - a decline of over 98%.
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Pygmy Rabbit
The Pygmy rabbit is the smallest known rabbit in the world and the only rabbit to dig its own burrows. Its current range is constrained to sagebrush steppe areas in Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho.
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Kit Fox
Kit fox are one of our region’s most endangered animals, reduced to only about 100 individuals in Colorado.
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Gunnison Sage-Grouse
The Gunnison sage-grouse is found only in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. It is distinct from the greater sage-grouse, and survives in only eight populations, all isolated from each other by mountain ranges and other geographic features. This species currently has no federal protection.
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Canada Lynx
Our campaign to protect and recover the Canada lynx represents an effort to bring back a native cat we had all but wiped out in the Southern Rockies.
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Burrowing Owl
The burrowing owl is a remarkable and unusual little prairie owl. It is the only owl to inhabit underground burrows, living in the abandoned homes of prairie dogs, badgers, and foxes. Like prairie dogs, burrowing owls are declining across their range, mostly as a result of habitat loss and degradation.
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Black-footed Ferret
The black-footed ferret, a member of the weasel family, is one of the most endangered mammals in North America. It once ranged throughout the Great Plains, but dramatic declines of prairie dog populations have taken a brutal toll on the ferret, which is dependent on prairie dogs for both food and habitat.
Full Story »Blog Entries
The Paycheck from God, by T. A. Barron 7/1
T.A. Barron is a New York Times best-selling author and the creator of the beloved Lost Years of Merlin and Great Tree of Avalon books. To explore his books or to write him, you are welcome to visit www.tabarron.com.
Conservation as the highest priority, by Commissioner Joan May 6/25
Joan May began her first term as San Miguel County Commissioner in January 2007. Prior to public office, Joan worked in non-profit managment, first for community radio station KOTO in Telluride and most recently as Executive Director of the environmental activist organization Sheep Mountain Alliance.
Providing Congress with Objective Scientific Analysis, by Congressman David Skaggs 6/19
David Skaggs served twelve years in Congress as U.S. Representative from the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado. He is now the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.