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Updates to Colorado Natural Heritage Program Reports
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In 2005 and 2006, Dawn Barton of West Elks Consulting revisited the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) 1999 Roaring Fork Watershed Biological Inventory and 2001 Survey of Critical Biological Resources of Garfield County. These studies identified occurrences and locations of natural heritage significance called “Potential Conservation Areas” (PCAs) and ranked them according to their ecological significance and protection urgency. With funding from the Cirila Fund and Aspen Valley Land Trust, West Elks Consulting visited every PCA on private property in eastern Garfield County and the Roaring Fork Valley to assess their current condition and recommend changes to their protection urgency ranking.
These updated reports, in conjunction with the extensive research produced in the original reports, has helped AVLT identify priority areas for conservation, including important habitat linkages and habitat for endangered species that may be protected or expanded through conservation easements.
More information about individual PCAs and CNHP's mission and research, including original watershed inventory reports, is available at
www.cnhp.colostate.edu/.
Click here to view an interactive map of AVLT's conservation easements, with a Google Earth map layer devoted to PCAs. Once you have downloaded the Google Earth file, select the box in the left sidebar for "Potential Conservation Areas" and "PCA labels" in order see PCAs identified by name. When the lables are selected, you may click on the purple leaf icons at the center of each PCA to view the updated report and photos for that PCA by West Elks Consulting. Updated CNHP reports are also available below in PDF format.
2005 Inventory and Status of Potential Consevation Areas in the Roaring Fork Watershed (based on 1999 Roaring Fork Watershed Biological Inventory)
2006 Inventory and Status of Potential Conservation Areas in Eastern Garfield County (based on the 2001 Survey of Critical Biological Resources of Garfield County, Colorado: VOL I and II)
