1
match
Live
$708 raised by 5 donors
5% complete
$15,000 Goal
Why Wild Connections
Our work is crucial for environmental health, wildlife and community well-being in Central Colorado. Protecting these lands ensures species survival, clean water, and ecological balance. Conserving wildlands safeguards resources for future generations. We restore damaged wetlands, high-biodiversity areas, and wildlife habitats, focusing on connecting fragmented landscapes.
Our volunteers close illegal motorized routes and improve habitat so wildlife can thrive. Citizens participate in decision-making leading to conservation-oriented change on Bureau of Land Management and U S Forest Service lands. Backcountry hikes and restoration workdays provide first-hand experiences of the value of wild lands.
Your donation can make a real difference in: • Protecting critical habitats from development • Creating wildlife corridors that allow animals to roam freely • Advocating for policies that protect our wilderness • Inspiring the next generation to love and care for our natural world
Our 2025 Goals:
Restore Critical Habitats: Your donation funds on-the-ground restoration work, from removing old fencing to improve wildlife movement to reseeding roadless areas
Lead Educational Experiences: Help us share the wonder of our wildlands through guided backcountry hikes that create new conservation advocates
Climate Resilience: Identify and protect "climate refuges" – nature's lifeboats in a warming world.
Amplify Our Voice: Support our vital advocacy work with land management agencies, ensuring our wild places have a strong defender
Maintain Daily Operations: Keep our dedicated team working effectively to protect the landscapes we all cherish
Organizational Growth: Strengthening leadership by recruiting diverse board members and increasing support through volunteer opportunities.
" I love Colorado and, like many other residents, being outdoors – there's nothing like discovering a pristine valley or spotting wildlife in their natural habitat. That's why I volunteer with Wild Connections. They're working hard to keep these wild places safe and beautiful, so we can enjoy them now and the future generations can enjoy them later, and the animals living there can keep their homes. "- Tori K., restoration project volunteer
"We spent the day filling and digging holes, collecting rocks, putting in metal poles, and mixing and pouring concrete. I enjoyed the work I was doing and the nature that was surrounding me. I loved that I could look for miles in every direction and see nothing except for trees and nature. I was truly reminded of how important it is to take care of the world we live in; otherwise it will not be as beautiful as it once was."
- Katie H., restoration project volunteer
We protect and restore wild nature on public lands in the Arkansas and South Platte river basins, from I-70 to the Spanish Peaks between the Continental Divide and the Front Range. By connecting protected wildlands across the Central Rockies, our work improves landscape resilience as the climate changes and benefits wildlife and human communities.
Wild Connections promotes conserving habitat for native plants and animals, fostering clean streams and rivers, wildlands protection, and enjoying backcountry recreation in central Colorado.
Since 1995. volunteers have documented hundreds of thousands of acres of roadless lands, and as a result the Forest Service added 103,600 acres to its Colorado Roadless inventory and the BLM increased their Lands with Wilderness Characteristics inventory from 78,000 acres to 183,000 acres. Wild Connections leads campaigns for public participation in the BLM’s resource planning process and the Forest Service's travel management planning.
Habitat restoration projects demonstrate collaboration among organizations, volunteers, and the Forest Service to reclaim degraded wildlife areas. Projects are in Trout Creek, Green Mountain, Geneva Basin, Farnum Peak, Selkirk Gulch, Packer Gulch, Badger Flats, Rock Creek, LaSalle Pass, Beaver Creek, N Tarryall Creek, and Sheep Creek. We are working with the Forest Service on a multi-year restoration project in Wildcat Canyon.
Guided hikes bring citizens into some of the wildest areas for a firsthand experience of solitude, wilderness values and wildlife encounters. The hikes encourage people to take action to protect these areas.
We envision a wildlands network of protected core areas that are connected by high quality wildlife habitat. The Wild Connections Conservation Plan (WCCP), a science-based conservation scenario, was created by citizens and incorporates roadless area inventory and biological data and input from regional workshops. The WCCP will be augmented by including climate refugia for wildlife and biodiversity as climatic conditions change.
Organization name
Wild Connections
other names
Wild Connections, Upper Arkansas and South Platte Project
2002
Tax id (EIN)
14-1899876
Category
Environment, Science & Technology
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
2168 Pheasant PlPark County, CO, US
Fremont County, CO, US
Teller County, CO, US
Jefferson County, CO, US
Chaffee County, CO, US