Challenges to Colorado’s Lands

• Overcrowded Recreation: For Coloradans, outdoor recreation is a way of life, but the popularity of hiking, climbing, paddling, and mountain biking threatens to overwhelm the public lands that residents love.
• Urban Growth: Population growth and infrastructure development are disrupting wildlife corridors and encroaching on open space, especially along the Front Range.
• Dwindling Headwaters: Limited winter snowpack and increased consumption have pushed Colorado communities, species, and agricultural producers to the brink.

Our Strategic Conservation Initiatives

From the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains, The Conservation Fund works to save irreplaceable landscapes, preserve wildlife habitat, and protect the public lands that define the state’s way of life.

• Expanding Outdoor Access – We conserve lands that expand public access to Colorado’s extraordinary outdoors, creating more places for people to hike, fish, hunt, paddle, and explore while protecting the landscapes that make these experiences possible.
• Protecting Wildlife Habitat – We conserve large, connected landscapes that provide wildlife with the space they need to roam, migrate, and thrive — protecting the healthy ecosystems that keep Colorado wild.
• Front Range Conservation – Colorado’s Front Range is home to more than 80% of the state’s population — and some of its most threatened landscapes. Our experts work diligently to protect everything from urban parks to the iconic open spaces that define life on the Colorado Front Range.