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Colorado Natural Heritage Program
Connecting Conservation and Science
The Colorado Natural Heritage
Program (CNHP) is Colorado’s only
comprehensive source of information on the status and
location of Colorado’s rarest and most threatened species
and plant communities. We share information with a
wide range of stakeholders in partnerships that work
to ensure that Colorado’s biodiversity resources are
not diminished. CNHP has an enormous impact on
conservation in Colorado through these partnerships.
CNHP tracks and ranks Colorado’s rare and imperiled
species and habitats, and provides scientific information
and expertise to promote the conservation of Colorado’s
wealth of biological resources. Established in 1979, CNHP
is a non-profit scientific organization affiliated with the
Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State
University.
Biological
Surveys
CNHP’s biologists work
throughout Colorado
to identify and
describe locations
for Colorado’s rare
animals, plants,
wetlands, riparian
areas, and plant
communities at the
scale of a single parcel
all the way to an entire
County or watershed. This
work is critical for supporting
conservation activities statewide,
and has been instrumental in some of Colorado’s biggest
conservation successes over the past 30 years, including
the Mountains-to-Plains Project in Larimer County and
the establishment of Great Sand Dunes National Park and
Preserve in the San Luis Valley.
“Our sense of community and compassionate
intelligence must be extended to all life forms,
plants, animals, rocks, rivers, and human
beings. This is the story of our past and it will
be the story of our future.”
- Terry Tempest Williams
Monitoring
CNHP’s monitoring efforts provide information and feedback
that are critical for the management of our natural heritage
resources throughout the state.
CNHP formed a partnership with
the Colorado Division of Wildlife in
1999 to monitor known breeding sites
and to survey locations throughout
Colorado for new populations of the
state endangered Boreal Toad. Other
ongoing monitoring projects involve the
federally threatened Preble’s Meadow
Jumping Mouse and the federally threatened Pawnee Montane
Skipper, as well as noxious weeds, several rare plant species, and
responses of prairie systems to grazing management.
Research
CNHP’s scientists conduct research, and also provide
information and technical expertise to other researchers. For
example, in partnership with the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, CNHP has
developed rigorous bio-assessment tools to gauge wetland
condition across the state of Colorado and throughout the
Rocky Mountains. These assessments will provide the first
statistically defensible, landscape-scale estimate of wetland
condition in major river basins in Colorado. CNHP also
supports research on taxonomy, classification, ecology,
conservation genetics, and restoration ecology through
collaborations with scientists and agencies throughout Colorado
and beyond.
Southeastern Colorado
is home to the largest
intact shortgrass prairie
landscape in the United
States, largely maintained
by generations of
ranching families. More
than 100 rare species
thrive here. Nearly 40
Photo: Michael Menefee
private landowners have
joined forces with CNHP scientists to identify and safeguard
the region’s wildlife. Pictured here, a rare tiger moth lays
eggs on dwarf milkweed, itself an imperiled plant native to
shortgrass prairie.
“Biodiversity is the greatest treasure we have...
Its diminishment is to be prevented at all cost.”
- Thomas Eisner
For more information about our products and services, to request data, download reports, or donate to
CNHP, visit us online at: cnhp.colostate.edu, and check out our blog at: cnhpblog.blogspot.com
Conservation Planning/Spatial
Analysis
CNHP collaborates with many partners to put
our resources to work in conserving Colorado’s
biodiversity. With The Nature Conservancy, we
have developed Colorado’s Biodiversity Scorecard,
giving a comprehensive overview of the status
of our biological wealth for the first time ever.
CNHP is using species distribution modeling
to refine and economize efforts to search for previously
unknown populations. We support regional planning needs
by analyzing data and writing science-based management
plans. As one of five pilot states in establishing Landscope
America (www.landscope.org), CNHP has helped to develop
this conservation guide to America’s natural places. We are
a founding partner in Colorado’s Rare Plant Conservation
Initiative to save Colorado’s wildflowers.
Vegetation Classification and
Ecological Systems
CNHP ecologists are helping to identify, define, and map
Colorado’s natural communities and ecological systems
statewide. CNHP has also pioneered techniques for
assessing the biodiversity status of ecological system patches.
Wetland condition assessment tools in development by
CNHP, including Floristic Quality Assessment, Vegetation
Index of Biotic Integrity, and Ecological Integrity
Assessment, are helping to identify conservation priorities
and opportunities throughout Colorado.
Data Sharing and Distribution
As Colorado’s only comprehensive source of information
on Colorado’s rare species and their habitats, CNHP
supports conservation efforts by maintaining and
providing data. In this way, we work closely with
stakeholders in the federal, state, local, and private
sectors, as well as with academic researchers, to
support conservation management, research,
acquisition, and policy. We use advanced database
tools such as the Biodiversity Tracking and
Conservation System (BIOTICS) Statewide Database to
maintain and share these data.
Environmental Review
CNHP’s environmental review services provide information
for evaluating development and planning projects for
potential impacts to rare species and their habitats. Our
environmental review clientele includes landowners,
consulting firms, local planning departments, nonprofits,
and industry. Guidance from CNHP data and expertise
are needed to support proactive development and planning
activities such as wind energy, pipelines, roads, growth
management, easement purchase, and numerous other
activities that seek to avoid and minimize adverse impacts to
sensitive or imperiled species and habitats.
Why Conserve Biodiversity?
We are learning more every day about the answers to this question, which has moved closer to the forefront of our collective psyche as
new environmental challenges emerge. Biodiversity is the incredible, dizzying variety of life that surrounds us, including all of the earth’s
plants, animals, their habitats, and the natural processes that they are a part of. It has become clear that biodiversity is the cornerstone of
our existence on Earth. It is also important to conserve biodiversity for the sake of our own curiosity and aesthetic appreciation. Colorado’s
mountains are spectacular, but what would they be without our splendid variety of wildlife and wildflowers? Colorado is full of biodiversity
wonders, many of which are unique to our state.
Medicines originating from wild species, including penicillin, aspirin, taxol, and quinine, save millions of lives and alleviate tremendous
suffering. 40% of all prescriptions are for medicines that originate from plants and animals. No one knows how many more cures await
discovery, hidden in Earth’s poorly studied species. There are 80,000 species of edible plants known on Earth, but 90% of the world’s food
comes from a mere 20 species. Edible plant species, both those we know of and those we don’t, offer a tremendous resource of possibilities
that greatly adds to the security of our food. How many of these have high potential for commercial exploitation and for feeding the hungry?
Certainly a great many. Breeding cultivars with their wild counterparts can also confer resistance to diseases and increase crop yield.
Biodiversity is the life support system of our planet- we depend on it for the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.
Wetlands filter pollutants from water, trees and plants reduce global warming by absorbing carbon, and bacteria and fungi break down
organic material and fertilize the soil. It has been empirically shown that native species richness is linked to the health of ecosystems, as is the
quality of life for humans.
The connections between biodiversity and our sustainable future appear closer and closer the more we look. We literally need to conserve
biodiversity as if our lives depend on it!
Colorado’s Potential Conservation Areas
Potential Conservation Areas (PCAs) provide a valuable planning tool
for citizens and land managers to identify areas critical for biodiversity
in Colorado. PCAs are delineated by CNHP based on a scientific
methodology focused on identifying the land area that provides habitat
and ecological processes upon which a particular species, suite of species,
or natural community depends. The best available knowledge about
each species’ life history is used for site design in conjunction with
information about topography, hydrology, and other landscape features.
PCA Biodiversity Significance Ranks
B1: Outstanding Biodiversity Significance
B3: High Biodiversity Significance
B2: Very High Biodiversity Significance
B4: Moderate Biodiversity Significance
B5: General Biodiversity Interest
Table Mountain Hogbacks
PCA: An amazing,
unfragmented natural
landscape near major
metropolitan areas.
Photo: Michael Menefee
N
Mill Creek at Pagosa
Springs PCA: Contains the
known global range of the
Pagosa skyrocket (G1S1).
Photo: David Anderson
Great Sand Dunes PCA:
Includes the global range of
the Great Sand Dunes Tiger
Beetle (G1S1) and supports
numerous rare plants and
communities. Photo: CNHP
Picketwire Canyon PCA:
Vast tracts of high quality
habitat for plains species
including the Swift Fox
(G3S3). Photo: Jim Gionnfrido