Wetlands are an essential component of Colorado's landscape that greatly benefit the people of Colorado by performing a number of vital functions, including water quality improvement, flood attenuation, and wildlife habitat. As resource managers, planners, and restoration practitioners attempt to mitigate for impacts to aquatic ecosystems, there is a growing need for conservation planning tools that help bridge the gap between ecological data collection and applied restoration and water resource management. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program has worked to meet this need by developing the Watershed Planning Toolbox--an online mapping interface intended to help users visualize wetland and stream distribution, landscape-scale ecological functions, hydrologic modification, stressors and prioritization for conservation and restoration at the HUC8 subbasin scale.
