From the heights of its 14,000-foot peaks to the 2,000-foot-depths of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado is known for rocky beauty and a lavish array of recreational opportunities. With a million new residents in the past decade, pressures on Colorado's public lands are enormous and growing.
Colorado Voices
Colorado’s public lands are the state's greatest treasure. The Colorado Voices project talked with local ranchers, sportsmen, business owners, young adventurers and elected officials share their stories about their connections to the land.
Take a minute to hear what they had to say about enjoying and protecting some of Colorado's wildest places.
Little Snake
Check out our profile of northwest Colorado's Little Snake area - a region of rivers, petroglyphs, canyons, sage brush habitat and 260,000 acres of citizen-proposed wilderness.
Too Wild to Drill
In October 2006, The Wilderness Society released its “Too Wild To Drill” report highlighting 17 areas across the West - including five in Colorado -that are being threatened by the recent surge of oil and gas development. These special places provide wildlife migration corridors, habitat for rare and endangered species, and opportunities for solitude and recreation, and are quite simply “Too Wild to Drill.”
Wilderness
Colorado's grandeur stems from rugged mountains to sweeping vistas and canyons. Yet much of Colorado's wildest landscapes and irreplaceable habitat is not protected. Through legislation and grassroots efforts, The Wilderness Society and its partners are working to protect Colorado lands deserving wilderness designation.
Roadless Area Protection
According to the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado's national forests contain over 4.1 million acres of roadless areas. Roadless areas support backcountry recreational opportunities, habitat for big game and imperiled species, and clean drinking water for towns and cities. Increasing pressure from extractive industries such as oil, gas and timber is placing tremendous pressure on these wild places.
Energy Development
Even though more than 90 percent of the lands in Colorado managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are already open to oil and gas leasing, industry wants more. Drilling permits are being issued at a frenetic, record-setting pace. Roadless areas in the San Juan National Forest area also under threat of coal-bed methane development.
