Welcome With your help Wild Connections is protecting and restoring wildlands, native species habitat and biological diversity in the upper reaches of the Arkansas and South Platte Rivers.
Your contributions help protect wildlands and wildlife linkages in our region.
2014 BLM Wild Lands Mapping Project
You can make a difference in the future of wildlands in our region. Volunteer to map or make adonation to help cover costs.
Rugged BLM land along the Arkansas River. Photo EcoFlight.
Wild Connections volunteers and interns will continue mapping wilderness areas in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the Upper South Platte and Arkansas River basins. The goal is to identify prime BLM areas: roadless, relatively unimpacted, with significant plant and wildlife. These lands are essential to create a “wildlands” network, connecting and expanding habitat corridors for Colorado plants and animals.
In 2013, we completed major work in areas along the Arkansas Canyon between Salida and Canon City and as far south as Slide Mountain/Blanca Peak. There is a report in the November 2013 Landscapes.
Once all these lands are surveyed, Wild Connections will provide the BLM with Lands with Wilderness Characteristic (LWC) and Land Use Planning reports, prioritizing lands to be set aside for wilderness. You can participate and hike, bike, drive, or fly with our with GPS-powered iPads. Contact John Sztukowski atmapping@wildconnections.org to find out more or volunteer to collect data for wildlands inventories or apply for an internship.
Browns Canyon moving toward protection!
View of Browns Canyon rocks with Mt. Princeton across the valley in the distance.
Bennet Joins Effort to Preserve Browns Canyon as National Monument
Chaffee County, CO –Today, Senator Michael Bennet became of a cosponsor of S.1794,The Browns Canyon National Monument and Wilderness Act of 2013, to protect Browns Canyon region as an invaluable economic and natural resource for Chaffee County and the state. The bill, originally introduced by Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall in December, will designate 22,000 acres along the Arkansas River as a national monument, preserving the pristine wilderness area and ensuring recreational access for years to come.
Brown's Canyon Wilderness Hike Saturday, May 10 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
We will hike the historic Turret Trail into the heart of scenic Browns Canyon on this 7-mile moderately strenuous hike with 800 feet of elevation gain. Learn for yourself why this rugged land adjoining the Arkansas River is proposed in Congress as Colorado's newest national monument and wilderness area and about development threats to the land and river. Optional overnight camping at Ruby Mountain campground on Friday, May 9. Maximum 15 participants. For more information or to register contact John Stansfield 303-660-5849 or mailto:jorcstan@juno.com by 5:00 pm Thursday, May 8. (Times are trailhead and return hiking times.)
Hikig Turret Trail. Photo Kurt Kunkle
Wild Connections 2168 Pheasant Pl., Colorado Springs, CO 80909 info@wildconnections.org719-686-5905
