The Upper Purgatoire River Project Measures of Conservation Success
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The Upper Purgatoire River Conservation Area is one of the few places in Colorado with large areas of privately held, unfragmented forest, grassland, shrubland and riparian systems. Pressured by a range of threats, predominantly fire suppression, wildlife disease, and management of wide-ranging mammals, the Upper Purgatoire River has been identified by The Nature Conservancy as a priority landscape for its conservation efforts. This document describes the work the Conservancy in partnership with private landowners and public agencies is doing to conserve this important region. What We Want to Conserve The Upper Purgatoire River Conservation Area supports rare or imperiled animal species, plant communities, and intact ecological systems. Conservation Vision The long-term vision for the Upper Purgatoire River area is to maintain an intact landscape mosaic, composed of high quality native shrublands, high elevation forests, ponderosa pine woodlands, montane grasslands and riparian communities. These systems will support shrubland birds, Gunnison’s prairie dogs and wide-ranging mammals. In addition, the fire regime will be restored especially in the ponderosa pine woodlands. The vision also includes increasing the awareness, appreciation and support for conservation.