Wild Connections Conservation Plan

The Wild Connections Conservation Plan (WCCP) was created by people who share a deep concern for the well-being of public lands spread across the Arkansas and South Platte headwaters. From hunters and hikers to biologists and volunteer mappers, they worked together to map the boundaries of 100 roadless areas, explore some of central Colorado’s wildest lands, and apply the science of conservation biology. Over a decade, they developed and refined a landscape wide vision of a network of protected core areas and wildlife linkages. The Wild Connections Conservation Plan describes how this vision can be a reality where it counts – in the everyday policies and management of the Pike-San Isabel National Forests, BLM and state lands. The WCCP, published in 2006, will be reviewed prior to the next revision of the PSI Forest Plan which is unlikely to occur until 2022 or later. While the original data is accurate to the best of our knowledge, conditions on the ground have changed. Please contact us if you have new information.
WCCP complex map Jean Smith, Wild Connections
Click here to dowNload the  COMPLEX map
  • The WCCP is organized around major geographic features into 11 complexes Arkansas Canyons, Mosquito Range, Mt. Evans (Mount Blue Sky*) High Peaks, Pikes Peak Massif, Rampart Range, Sangre de Cristo, Sawatch Range, South Paak, South Platte Canyons, Spanish Peaks and Wet Mountains. They encompass the Pike-San Isabel National Forest (PSI), but are spread across the entire geography which includes BLM, National Park Service, State, County and privately owned lands. Management recommendations are intended only for the PSI and BLM lands. WCCP outline
  • Introduction and description of the Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Comanche National Grasslands and general threats to public lands.
  • Wild Connections methodology includes the components of the core reserve system and the three-track approach to network design.
  • Forest-wide management recommendations for broad categories such as grazing, fire management, invasive species, etc.
  • Thematic planning framework for management emphases on specific parcels of land across the forest, for example Wilderness, quiet use areas, motorized recreation, etc.
  • Geographic complexes descriptions with ecology, natural values and a summary of management.
Download the complete WCCP  (4 mb pdf)
*Mount Blue Sky Mt. Evans is one step closer to being renamed Mount Blue Sky to honor Colorado's indigenous peoples. Clear Creek County Commissioners aproved the name change in March 2022 at the request of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal represenativies. The Arapaho were known as the Blue Sky People, and the Cheyenne hold an annual renewal of life ceremony called Blue Sky Wild Connections sent a letter of support to the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board, copied to Gov. Jared Polis and the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. The U.S. Board makes the final decision. John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor, resigned after the 1864 U.S. cavalry massacre of more than 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people, most of them women, children and the elderly, at Sand Creek in what is now southeastern Colorado. Today Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is a place of commemoration and healing. Source: The Colorado Sun
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our mission
Wild Connections' mission is to identify, protect, and restore wildlands, native species, and biological diversity in the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds. We acknowledge these as the ancestral lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, Jicarilla Apache, Arapaho and other indigenous peoples.
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Info@wildconnections.org www.wildconnections.org (817) 939-4293 (Salida) Administrative office 2168 Pheasant Pl Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Salida office By appointment, call 817-969-4293