The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has determined that road construction and maintenance should avoid fen wetlands whenever practicable. Efficient implementation of this policy, however, has been hindered by a lack of comprehensive information on fens surrounding the Colorado highway network. To aid transportation planning, CDOT identified a need to better understand the distribution and extent of fens near Colorado highways. To this end, CDOT contracted Colorado State University and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program to map all potential fens near Colorado highways.
The Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) is a wide-ranging species that is found throughout most of Colorado in mountainous and plains habitat with a range of elevation from 3,500 feet to 11,000 feet. Adults are commonly found along banks and shallows of beaver ponds, marshes, lakes, reservoirs and streams. Although the expanse and severity of these declines are not well known, various agencies have expressed interest in the conservation status of the Northern Leopard Frog. In Colorado the Northern Leopard Frog is listed as a species of special concern by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Many amphibian declines and extinctions have been associated worldwide with introduced chytrid fungus disease.
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.
The Dixie National Forest contains a rich resource of fen wetlands. This report and associated dataset provides the RGNF with a critical tool for conservation planning at both a local and Forest-wide scale. These data will be useful for the ongoing RGNF biological assessment required by the 2012 Forest Planning Rule, but can also be used for individual management actions, such as planning for timber sales, grazing allotments, and trail maintenance. Wherever possible, the Forest should avoid direct disturbance to the fens mapped through this project, and should also strive to protect the watersheds surrounding high concentrations of fens, thereby protecting their water sources.
The Bridger-Teton National Forest contains a rich resource of fen wetlands. This report and associated dataset provides the BTNF with a critical tool for conservation planning at both a local and Forest-wide scale. These data will be useful for the ongoing BTNF biological assessment required by the 2012 Forest Planning Rule, but can also be used for individual management actions, such as planning for timber sales, grazing allotments, and trail maintenance. Wherever possible, the Forest should avoid direct disturbance to the fens mapped through this project, and should also strive to protect the watersheds surrounding high concentrations of fens, thereby protecting their water sources.
This report includes a summary of the results of the past ten years of population monitoring of targeted noxious weeds at the U.S. Air force Academy, emphasizing changes that were observed between 2012 and 2015.
