Nestled amidst the San Juan Mountains in western Colorado is the magnificent Dolores River.  Running more than 170 miles, the Dolores is one of the longest and most ecologically diverse river basins in America, containing a wide range of native wildlife, plants, and habitat.  Its red-rock river canyon is home to river otters, native fish like the at-risk bluehead sucker and roundtail chub, canyon tree-frog and long-nosed leopard lizard, and hanging garden communities where rare wildflowers thrive.  The uplands surrounding the canyon are home to the critically imperiled Gunnison sage-grouse and Gunnison’s prairie dog, as well as unique plants found only in Western Colorado like the gypsum valley cateye.

The Dolores River Basin is a bastion for biodiversity in Colorado, but it is increasingly coming under threat from the explosion of oil and gas drilling on public lands.  Oil and gas drilling on lands across the Rocky Mountain West is projected to increase by more than 160 percent over the next two decades due to pro-industry regulations enacted by the Bush administration.  More than 126,000 new oil and gas wells have been approved or are under review in the West, according to a recent Wilderness Society report.  Over the past several years, the Bureau of Land Management has approved drilling in some of the West’s most environmentally sensitive areas with little or no environmental review and without requiring adequate protection for imperiled wildlife and plants.  A large proportion of the Dolores Watershed, including important habitat for Gunnison sage-grouse and other wildlife and plants, is targeted for drilling.

There is also an emerging threat from destructive uranium mining.  Mining operations that failed after the last uranium boom in the 1980s are being reinvigorated by renewed interest in nuclear power plants, which require uranium.  As a result, we are witnessing what many believe to be the leading edge of a massive new uranium boom. A recent Environmental Working Group study found that the number of active uranium mining claims in the twelve western states has increased by 80 percent in the past five years.  More than 50,000 claims have been filed in the past nine months.  The uranium rich Dolores River Basin is a hotspot for this latest boom.

Center for Native Ecosystems has joined other conservation groups, outfitters and guides, recreation groups, and local citizens, to ensure the future health of this special place.  The coalition is working toward long-term conservation of the Dolores River corridor through various protective designations including Wild and Scenic River and Wilderness designations.  We are also working to ensure that the long-term management plans currently being developed for public lands in the Dolores Watershed put less emphasis on commodity production and more emphasis on providing for the whole spectrum of human uses while maintaining healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants.  Staff biologist Megan Corrigan, who lends biological expertise to the coalition, is identifying areas that provide particularly important habitat for rare and imperiled wildlife and plants, and advocating for designation of these important habitats as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.  Megan is also identifying and reviewing the status of wildlife and plant species in the area that may need Endangered Species Act protection, including the highly imperiled kachina daisy, which grows only in Colorado and Utah.  We are also monitoring proposed oil and gas drilling and uranium projects and challenging them when necessary.  We have a long track record of successfully challenging such projects in other special places, and we are confident that our efforts will secure protection for important habitat across lands in the Dolores targeted for oil and gas drilling.      

The future of this amazing Colorado treasure will depend upon responsible management by the Bureau of Land Management (not placing mining or drilling concerns above those of the imperiled native wildlife), and the dedication of local and regional coalition partners.  With commitment and foresight, these wild places will be around for future generations of Coloradoans.