Center for Native Ecosystems has recently become an active partner in two coalitions that are working to achieve long-term protection for two outstanding places in Colorado’s canyon country, the Dolores River Basin  and the Greater Dominguez Canyons Landscape  (see also a map of the Greater Dominquez Canyons). These places both have outstanding wilderness values and support a diversity of native plant and animal species.  We will be working with our coalition partners to secure long-term protection for these special places.

On a recent field trip to the Dolores River Basin, I had the opportunity explore a small portion of the spectacular Dolores River Canyon with our coalition partners and BLM staff.  Though I grew up hiking in Colorado’s wild places with my family, this was my first trip to the Dolores River Canyon.  I was awed by the beauty of the river as it flowed past sheer sandstone canyon walls and lovely stands of old growth ponderosa pine.  River otters were reintroduced to Colorado starting in 1976, and there is now a population along the Dolores River.  We were pleased to see a set of river otter tracks during our hike along the river corridor.  The Colorado Natural Heritage Program has documented a wide variety of at-risk species and natural communities in the Dolores River Basin.  The Dolores River Canyon contains a globally imperiled New Mexico privet riparian shrub community that is found only along major rivers in the four corners area.  The canyon walls are home to nesting peregrine falcons and hanging gardens where sensitive plant species such as the kachina daisy grow.  The river is inhabited by at-risk fish species, including the bluehead sucker and roundtail chub.  The San Miguel Basin supports populations of the critically imperiled Gunnison sage grouse.  The Big Gypsum Valley is occupied by the critically imperiled Gypsum valley cat-eye, a newly discovered plant species that is endemic to western Colorado.  These are just a few examples of the variety of at-risk natural communities and species that occur in the Dolores River Basin.  Stay tuned for more information about threats to this special place, and our efforts to protect it.