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Species
Up one levelCenter for Native Ecosystems works to protect and recover all of the native plants and critters, and their homes, in the Greater Southern Rockies ecosystem. We have a real soft spot for the underdogs, the obscure plants and critters that are usually ignored in the ongoing debates about conservation and land management. At the same time, the better-known and more charismatic species also play important roles in the health of our ecosystem. Read below to learn more about the many species with whom we share this magnificent place.
Black Hills Dipper
The Black Hills Dipper is a small songbird uniquely adapted to feeding under water. An isolated population of the Black Hills Dipper in the Black Hills faces a variety of threats.
Black Hills Mountainsnail
The Black Hills mountainsnail is a rare and critically imperiled land snail that is endemic to the forests of the Black Hills. Because it is dependent on high quality and healthy habitat, this snail is an excellent indicator of ecosystem health. Although the snail was once found across the Black Hills, extensive habitat destruction and degradation has led to its decline and endangerment.
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 from the Rocky Mountains eastward 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.
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
The black-tailed prairie dog, the most common of the five prairie dog species, once ranged across the shortgrass and mixed prairies of the Great Plains. It has lost more than 99% of its historic range, largely as a result of habitat destruction and the spread of an exotic disease known as plague.
Boreal Toad
The boreal toad of the southern Rocky Mountains inhabits high elevation montane forests and is Colorado's only alpine amphibian.
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. It is one of the few that live in the shortgrass prairie, and is typically found in close association with prairie dog complexes. Like prairie dogs, burrowing owls are declining across their range, mostly as a result of habitat destruction.
Canada Lynx
The Canada lynx is a remarkable native cat. Although it resides in relatively large numbers in the Northern Rockies and throughout Alaska and western Canada, its distribution once extended to other parts of the country, including the Southern Rockies. However, due to trapping and shooting pressure, habitat degradation, highway mortality, and other impacts, the lynx was driven to the brink of extinction, if not beyond, in the Southern Rockies.
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.
Colorado Butterfly Plant
The Colorado butterfly plant is a streamside gem with red fuzzy stems and delicate white flowers that change from white to red as they age. These plants are threatened by herbicide spraying, cultivation and mowing for hay, and increased development.
Cutthroat Trout
At least twelve species of native cutthroat trout inhabit the western United States, three of those within the Greater Southern Rockies. All of these native cutthroat trout require clear and cold water, naturally-fluctuating stream flows, low levels of sediment, well-distributed pools, stable streambanks, and abundant stream cover. All three of our region's surviving native cutthroat trout species are threatened with extinction.
Dakota Skipper
The Dakota skipper is a tawny orange to chocolate brown butterfly with a one-inch wingspan. The butterfly historically ranged across prairies throughout the Midwestern United States and south-central Canada. Adult butterflies sip nectar from native prairie wildflowers including coneflowers, wood lilies, harebells, smooth camas, blanketflowers, black eyed susans, and fleabane. The larvae feed on prairie grasses, particularly little bluestem. Like other skippers, they have a faster and more powerful flight than most butterflies. Dakota skipper butterflies rarely travel more than 1/2 mile in their lifetime.
DeBeque Milkvetch
DeBeque Milkvetch is one of Colorado's most endangered native wildflowers. Found only in the Roan Plateau area, it survives in only eight populations, all of which are at risk from a variety of threats including oil and gas drilling, irresponsible recreation, and poor grazing management.
DeBeque Phacelia
DeBeque phacelia lives in only a small portion of western Colorado near the town of DeBeque. Oil and gas drilling has suddenly boomed in the phacelia’s habitat and is threatening this wildflower’s survival. Since 1980 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized that the phacelia warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act, but it remains unprotected today. Almost all of the phacelia sites are on Bureau of Land Management lands already leased for oil and gas drilling.
Desert Yellowhead
The extremely rare desert yellowhead remained hidden away on a few acres of Bureau of Land Management land in central Wyoming until a botanist noticed this striking plant in 1990. A member of the sunflower or aster family, the desert yellowhead was not only an undescribed species, it was so unusual that a new genus was created in naming it. Its highly restricted distribution places it at great risk of extinction, and mining, off-road vehicle use, and livestock trampling make its status even more precarious.
Douglas County Pocket Gopher
Pocket gophers often live out their entire lives on less than an acre of land, and aside from brief encounters during the mating season, lead a solitary existence. These life history characteristics have led many populations to develop important local adaptations; consequently, pocket gophers have diversified into a stunning array of species and subspecies. Subspecies usually do not overlap, however, so the loss of just one usually results in the complete absence of pocket gophers from an area.
Dragonfly
An insect belonging to the Odonata order, the dragonfly has long had an aura of mystery. These incredible creatures are able to fly between 30 and 60 mph, they can fly in all directions (like a helicopter), and have a life span of anywhere from six months to several years.
Duchesne Milkvetch
Found only in the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, the Duchesne milkvetch (Astragalus duchensis) shows purple and white flowers in the late spring, and can survive dry periods by staying dormant in its sandy soil habitat for entire years. As oil and gas drilling and off-road vehicle riding continue to grow in the Uinta Basin, and the possibility of a second boom in oil shale mining becomes more likely, the fate of this rare species is uncertain.
Graham's Penstemon
The lovely pale lavender flowers of the Graham's penstemon, with their magenta-striped throats and fiery orange staminodes, make this little plant such a delight that it has been featured on the cover of more than one book. But this is no delicate wildflower - it is only found on oil shale barrens where most other plants could never withstand the blazing heat reflected from the surrounding white shale fragments.
Greater Sage Grouse
The greater sage grouse is a striking bird with pointed tail feathers and elaborate courting rituals. It makes its home in parts of 11 western states and two Canadian provinces. Current population is estimated significantly lower than historic numbers. Loss of habitat from oil and gas drilling, overgrazing, agriculture and increased development of sagebrush ecosystems continue to threaten this birds' habitat.
Gunnison Sage Grouse
The Gunnison sage grouse is a sage grouse subspecies 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. Although this species has been listed as an Endangered Species Act candidate species, it is currently unprotected.