Biodiversity Conservation
in the Southern Rockies

The wild inhabitants of the Southern Rockies—including lynx, cutthroat trout, and goshawk—are struggling for survival in the face of rapid human population growth, rampant urban sprawl, and unchecked resource extraction. As a result of these impacts, biodiversity in the Southern Rockies continues to decline. In fact, The Nature Conservancy states that one-fifth of Colorado's species and subspecies are at risk of extirpation or extinction. Wyoming lists over 100 species as potentially imperiled.

In the face of these threats, SRCA's Biodiversity Conservation Campaign seeks to conserve and recover the full range of native biological diversity in the Greater Southern Rockies. SRCA member groups use science and advocacy to secure lasting protection for the plants, animals, and habitats that comprise the Southern Rockies ecoregion. The Committee also provides critical tools and resources to SRCA groups to enhance their ability to effectively advocate on behalf of roadless areas and special places across the region.

Current Issues

Lynx Campaign
The Lynx Conservation Campaign aims to ensure the restoration of Canada lynx throughout the Southern Rockies. In part because of an aggressive campaign mounted by Center for Native Ecosystems, Sinapu, San Juan Citizen's Alliance, and other SRCA groups, the Colorado Wildlife Commission voted to approve significant new lynx releases over the next several years, an important step in providing for a healthy population of lynx in the Southern Rockies. Our efforts began to pay off in earnest in spring of 2003 when we witnessed the first known wild lynx reproduction in the Southern Rockies in decades. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has discovered at least 55 lynx kittens born in the wild, the first documented wild lynx reproduction in the Southern Rockies in decades! The Division of Wildlife also reports that at least 80 adult lynx now roam across Colorado, northern New Mexico, and southern Wyoming. SRCA member groups continue to press the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado Division of Wildlife, and other agencies for adequate lynx and lynx habitat protection.

Graham's Penstemon (Sue Martin) and Canada Lynx (Sinapu)

Habitat Connectivity Campaign
Our Habitat Connectivity Campaign targets protection of critical wildlife linkages and movement corridors across the Southern Rockies. The Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project (SREP), in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), developed a wildlife linkage map that prioritized key areas for wildlife movement in the state of Colorado. SREP is now conducting in-depth field assessments in each priority linkage to determine wildlife movement patterns and the level of highway permeability determined by the existence of crossing structures that wildlife are utilizing. SRCA groups will then work to protect these linkages, for example, by encouraging CDOT to build highway underpasses or overpasses to allow wildlife crossings and prevent traffic fatalities when appropriate.

Additional Biodiversity Conservation Committee efforts include:

• Securing Endangered Species Act protection for imperiled species in the Southern Rockies and ensuring that the legally required conservation benefits of listing accrue to these species and their habitat, such as the Porter feathergrass, an imperiled plant found only in Colorado's South Park region, the mountain plover, and the white-tailed prairie dog.
• Compelling federal land management agencies to monitor adequately the impacts of land use activities on habitat and at-risk species in order to make informed management decisions. These efforts include challenges to efforts by the Forest Service to evade its wildlife monitoring duties on the White River and Rio Grande National Forests.

For a closer look at some of the work happening under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Conservation Committee, please visit the following websites:

• Center for Native Ecosystems
• Sinapu
• Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project