Salt Creek runs along the base of Sewemup Mesa, one of the remote BLM Wilderness Study Areas in the Colorado Wildlands Project. This is a detail of the mineral deposits where a small spring seeps in near the headwaters.

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.