About the Southern Rockies Conservation Alliance (SRCA)

The Greater Southern Rockies encompasses the mountains, plains, and plateau ecosystems of Colorado and southern Wyoming. Across this region lies roughly six million acres of unprotected roadless public lands and forests that sustain biologically diverse ecosystems, core habitat areas, and critical wildlife corridors. These remaining wildlands are under assault by continuing efforts to log, road, and drill into these last great places. The region's rapid population growth—with the attendant increase in unplanned development and recreational use—presents another significant concern. These threats imperil the wildness and biodiversity of the ecoregion.

To address these concerns, the Southern Rockies Conservation Alliance was formed by 26 conservation organizations from across Colorado and southern Wyoming to protect the region's wildlands, restore biodiversity, and better manage public land uses such as motorized recreation. SRCA was born in 2003 from the merger of the Southern Rockies Forest Network and Colorado Wilderness Network. Both networks consisted of overlapping coalitions of Colorado and Wyoming conservation organizations, with the former focused on protecting national forest lands, while the latter sought permanent protection as wilderness for BLM lands in Colorado. Because of the overlapping memberships and increasingly parallel agendas, the conservation community agreed to merge the two coalitions to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while continuing the good work of both entities.

SRCA's mission is to develop and implement a coordinated, comprehensive, and effective campaign for Colorado and southern Wyoming to:

• PROTECT WILDERNESS QUALITY LANDS: Achieve permanent protection—through wilderness designation or other effective mechanisms—of the ecological and wild values of wilderness-quality lands managed by the BLM, National Park Service, Forest Service, and other federal agencies in the Southern Rockies. Protect wilderness-quality lands in the interim from incompatible development activities.

• CONSERVE AND RESTORE BIODIVERSITY: Conserve and recover the full range of native biological diversity, including native species and their habitat, in the Southern Rockies.

• ENSURE RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT OF MOTORIZED RECREATION: Ensure that motorized recreation on public lands in the Southern Rockies is managed responsibly and within the limits of the land, and is barred from roadless areas and sensitive or ecologically important areas.

• PROMOTE ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION AND MANAGE USE SUSTAINABLY. Manage human use and enjoyment of our public lands and forests in a manner that is ecologically appropriate, minimizes social conflicts, and supports sustainable communities. Restore natural conditions and disturbance processes such as wildfire to the landscape.

• CREATE A SUSTAINED CONSERVATION MOVEMENT: Conduct public education, advocacy, outreach to diverse allies, and strategic media efforts to build an educated and activated public and a sustained voice for conservation across the Southern Rockies.

• BUILD ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY CAPACITY: Build the necessary capacity of the environmental community—within local grassroots groups and at the coalition level—to develop and sustain an effective advocacy effort for lasting protection of public lands and biological resources across the Southern Rockies.

SRCA is housed at The Wilderness Society's Four Corners States office and is chaired by Suzanne Jones of The Wilderness Society and Mark Pearson of the San Juan Citizen's Alliance.

Member Groups