In western Colorado, wind and water have eroded what was once part of the Cretaceous North American Inland Sea to produce one of the most subtly arresting landscapes in the country. The Adobes are home to ancient marine fossil beds as well as deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, badgers, coyotes, bobcats, red-tailed hawks and golden eagles. The area is currently under Wilderness Study Area designation, but lacks any kind of durable protection.

About a third of Colorado’s public lands are administered by the Bureau of Land Management, an organization with the mission to “to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.” Yet only 8 percent of Colorado’s BLM lands have permanent conservation protections. Areas at risk include a half million acres of Wilderness Study Areas and over two million acres of additional wilderness quality lands which are critical for climate adaptation and ecosystem resilience.

The Colorado Wildlands Project aims to address this disparity by advocating for the preservation of Western Colorado’s wild places including the Dolores River canyon country, the sagebrush steppe of the Dinosaur region, and Grand Junction’s iconic Book Cliffs.