Welcome to the Sierra Club's Wilderness Page

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(Sunset on the Rio Grande, San Luis Valley)                                                (Juniper tree, Dolores River, Paradox Valley)

Colorado lies at the confluence of three great ecoregions - the Great Plains to the east, the Colorado Plateau to the west, and the central spine of the Southern Rocky Mountains.  There is an incredible diversity of geology, land forms, vegetation types and plant and animal species.  More than 3.3 million acres of designated wilderness gives permanent protection for biodiversity and provides a wide range of primitive recreation activities.  The  "Colorado Wilderness Bill of 1999" proposes almost 1.4 million acres of canyonlands and forest for wilderness.  In addition, Spanish Peaks,  Rocky Mountain National Park and Northern Colorado Headwaters wilderness bills have been introduced in Congress.

Our wildernesses comprise about 14% of Colorado lands administered on behalf of the American people by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, and about 5% of the total area of the state.  They are rich in high elevation ecosystems -- alpine tundra and spruce-fir forests -- because most of the protected lands are above 9,000 feet.  They are beautiful, but cold, rocky and less diverse in their mix of plants and animals.

Conservation groups across the state, including Sierra Club, are mounting campaigns to protect additional important wildlands, especially the lower elevation canyonlands in the western part of the state.  Explore the many facets of Wilderness through this page's links to other sites and watch here for items of special interest to Sierra Club.

Chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter's Wilderness Committee John Zwierzycki