Colorado Plateau Ecoregion

The Colorado Plateau Ecoregion has long attracted seekers of wild beauty to some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Sheer-walled canyons, buttes, mesas, badlands, extensive plains, and isolated mountain ranges expose the forces of Earth's geology. Elevations range dramatically, from 1,200 feet at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to more than 12,700 feet in the La Sal Mountains. The Colorado Plateau also holds several Native American Nations.

Marble Canyon © Peter Warren/TNC

Ecological Importance:
The isolation of the Colorado Plateau, its complex geologic features, and significant climate change in the recent geological past have led to a high degree of species endemism, or plants and animals that are unique to the ecoregion—more than three hundred plant species in the Colorado Plateau are found nowhere else in the world.

Conservation Concerns:
In spite of its remote location and low population density, the Colorado Plateau has been severely threatened by damming of rivers and streams, drying of wetlands, invasion of exotic plants such as tamarisk, improper grazing, mining, and human impacts on natural fire patterns. Several wide-ranging species—such as the grizzly bear, gray wolf, lynx, wolverine, and river otter—disappeared long ago from the ecoregion.

Most of the ecoregion is under public or tribal land management, but ecological protection does not always drive land-use decisions. Even in national parks and monuments, adequate protection may not be achieved. Multiple threats in one landscape—such as invasive species, dams and diversions, and improper grazing—may compound the detrimental effects and lead to irreversible consequences. A tidal wave of campers, hikers, mountain-bikers and off-road vehicle enthusiasts has descended upon the Plateau, inadvertently trampling areas that had been spared the abusive overgrazing of the early 1900s. Residential development is on the rise, particularly 30- to 40-acre ranchettes that break up wildlife habitat and impact the wide-ranging species that remain.

Top: Bighorn Sheep © TNC Bottom left: Deer Creek © Peter Warren/TNC Bottom right: Oenothera dunes at Hance Rapids © Peter Warren/TNC

Places to Visit:
Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

© The Nature Conservancy

Ecoregion Facts

• Size: 48.5 million acres
• Location: Four corner states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado
• Animals: Desert bighorn sheep forage on canyon slopes while the massive California condor soars overhead. Kaibab squirrels jump between the Ponderosa pines in the uplands, while banner-tailed kangaroo rats and prairie dogs work the grassland soils. Native fish like the Colorado pikeminnow and the humpback chub struggle to survive in the now-frigid waters of the Colorado River below Glen Canyon dam.
• Plants: Blackbrush, shadscale, and sagebrush dot the canyons and desert, while ricegrass and galleta populate grasslands. Pinyon and juniper woodlands cover the mesas, with ponderosa pine dominant on higher plateaus and mountains, and aspen, spruce and fir in the highest mountains.

Strategies and Actions:
Over 49 percent of the lands in the ecoregion are publicly owned, with another 36 percent under tribal control. To carry out effective conservation measures, cooperative approaches with federal and tribal governments will be key. Private land protection can stem the tide of residential development and the fragmentation of critical wildlife habitat.

• Drawing on our state and national expertise, the Conservancy will provide technical assistance and training to federal, state and tribal governments in such areas as prescribed fire planning, ecological burning, and invasive species management. Development of multi-agency groups to manage threats to biological diversity, such as the establishment of weed management areas or councils on invasive aquatic species, will accelerate conservation.
• While private lands make up a small percentage of the ecoregion, these lands are often located along vulnerable streams and rivers or across vast expanses of grass and shrublands. It is estimated that by the year 2020 nearly 25 percent of the private land in the ecoregion will be replaced by urban and suburban landscapes. The Conservancy will help link interested landowners with funding mechanisms and tax policies that allow them to sell or donate conservation easements to keep their lands intact. Our 34,000-acre easement on the Cataract Ranch, south of the Grand Canyon, is an impressive example of conservation on private lands.
• Purchase of grazing allotments and partnerships with conservation-minded ranchers will help to reduce detrimental impacts by improper grazing.
• Management of recreation will become an increasingly important task for Conservancy involvement, as outdoor enthusiasts tend to congregate in wetlands, riparian areas, and scenic canyons.