The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Our Vision

The Conservancy in Colorado is working to transform conservation by building on what we do best—on-the-ground results, science and collaboration. We aim to significantly accelerate the pace of conservation to safeguard Colorado's forests, grasslands, western rangelands and the rivers that weave them together. We'll accomplish more in the next five years than we have in the past 45 years. Tangible results along with the development of innovative tools and methodologies are putting us on a path to a sustainable future.

Priority Landscapes

Forests
From spruce-fir forests to aspen groves, Colorado’s forests provide us with clean drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational experiences and economic opportunities. Unfortunately, years of fire exclusion, drought and climate change have increased the risk of catastrophic wildfire, threatening the ability of our forests to sustain the many benefits on which we depend. 

Colorado’s high-risk forests need timely action at a large scale to return them to good health. The Conservancy is working with a wide variety of agencies and partners to promote ecologically-based forest management that crosses ownership boundaries and benefits entire landscapes. Our strategies include working collaboratively with others to influence funding and policy decisions, and using fire as a management tool to restore Colorado’s forests to their historic cycles of disturbance and rejuvenation.  

Grasslands
Colorado is one of the last places to still have broad areas of grasslands—the most endangered habitat worldwide. Pronghorn antelope, birds, fossils, rare ecologies, Native American history—they’re all part of this spectacular landscape. So, too, are the ranchers, farmers and communities that depend on the landscape for their way of life.
But, our prairie lands are dwindling rapidly due to such threats as development and climate change. The Conservancy has been developing innovative partnerships and leveraging private dollars to preserve a vast network of healthy grasslands, working ranches and farms—a goal of 500,000 acres in all.

Rivers
More people come to Colorado every year, but not more water. The great challenge is to keep water flowing to our cities, farms and ranches while sustaining the sparkling rivers that are a hallmark of our state.

Restoring and preserving river ecosystems depends on deep collaboration with water managers, landowners, conservation groups and government at every level. Using science and building on past successes, the Conservancy will accelerate river restoration and preservation to keep our waters flowing and provide for the needs of people and nature. 

Western Range
Across the Western Range, sage grouse, elk, pronghorn and ranchers all share one thing in common: Their lives depend upon large, unbroken tracts of land to survive. The explosion of development in the region is dividing this landscape of sagebrush and sandstone into pieces. Habitats for our birds, wildlife and our rarest plants are being lost, and water supplies are stretched thin.

The Conservancy has forged partnerships with the energy industry, government agencies, conservation buyers and others to develop a regional approach to conservation—one that will protect 65,000 acres of private Western Range land, knitting together vast protected landscapes under public and private ownership and benefit our efforts to address the impacts of climate change.