The boreal toad of the southern Rocky Mountains inhabits high elevation montane forests and is Colorado's only alpine amphibian. Breeding habitat is found in spruce-fir forests and alpine meadows, and includes lakes, marshes, ponds, and bogs. The boreal toad continues to slide toward extinction. Its major threat appears to be the chytrid fungus, a disease that is affecting amphibians across the globe, but habitat degradation, logging, and overgrazing also play a role.

Boreal toads in the Southern Rockies are isolated from other boreal toad populations. For this reason, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service treated it as a Distinct Population Segment. While boreal toad populations in the Southern Rockies have continued to drop, it languished on the Endangered Species Act "candidate" species list for more than a decade. Center for Native Ecosystems and several partner groups sued and forced the Service to commit to making a final Endangered Species Act listing decision by late in 2005. Sadly, based on a difficult-to-explain interpretation of the best available genetics research, rather than provide the boreal toad with the critical protection it needs the agency instead simply removed it from even the "candidate" list.  The Southern Rockies boreal toad now has no formal federal protection.