Affiliate of the Week: Colorado Wildlife Federation

In honor of our 80th Anniversary celebration throughout 2016, the National Wildlife Federation is recognizing each of our Affiliate Partners in a special “Affiliate of the Week” blog series that showcases the dedicated conservation efforts taking place across the country each day. This week we celebrate our affiliate, Colorado Wildlife Federation, and their commitment to wildlife.

Who We Are

Colorado Wildlife Federation, founded in 1953, is the state’s oldest and most effective wildlife conservation organization. Their mission is to advocate and educate for sound wildlife conservation and management policy throughout the state of Colorado. Their supporters are comprised of anglers, hunters, other wildlife enthusiasts, hikers and outdoor photographers.

Colorado Wildlife Federation’s primary focus is to safeguard wildlife populations and important habitats on our public lands. By way of example, CWF continues to work hard and effectively to apply the Bureau of Land Management’s master leasing planning tool in South Park, Colorado to gain a balanced future for this iconic area as it plans for future oil and gas development.

What We Do

CWF, along with NWF and a broad array of diverse stakeholders, have been creating a model landscape-level process for BLM lands in South Park to safeguard wildlife habitats, water quality, recreation, tourism, vistas and agricultural heritage, while identifying appropriate places for future energy development. Important wildlife in this area include elk, deer, pronghorn and mountain plover.

The area also features “gold medal” streams that draw anglers from around the country and internationally. Colorado’s Gold Medal waters are stretches of streams or lakes that are open to the public and must be able to produce at least 12 trout that are 14 inches or longer per acre, as well as 60 pounds of living organisms per acre.

CWF, NWF and other partners are also working to persuade BLM to apply master leasing planning in southwest Colorado, as their recently completed resource management plan fails to explore likely conflicts between oil and gas leasing and other values, including wildlife, agriculture, and recreation adjacent to national parks and monuments.

CWF continues to testify on bills before the Colorado General Assembly and is hopeful that designation of a Colorado public lands day will become law. The team is also pushing for greater sportsmen access to school trust lands managed by the State Land Board.

Additionally, CWF’s Issues Committee keeps a close watch on policy matters that come before the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission at their monthly meetings to prepare for making public comment on hunting and fishing regulations. CWF meets with Colorado’s elected representatives and senators to emphasize wildlife-related priorities and the economic impact of outdoor recreation. CWF firmly oppose bills that seek to transfer federally managed lands to the states.

CWF’s student chapter at Metropolitan State University of Denver is working with contributor Home Depot on an important project this spring to assemble recycle containers for spent fishing line. These containers will be installed at 25 popular fishing areas in the state, much to the excitement of Colorado Parks and Wildlife and several municipalities.

Making a National Impact

Along with its work to safeguard federally managed public lands and the rich array of wildlife that depend on them in Colorado, CWF is pleased to begin a partnership with the National Wildlife Federation in May to identify and create Certified Wildlife Habitats throughout Colorado.

CWF represented NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program as an exhibitor at the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants conference on March 12, encouraging residents of the Centennial State to garden for local wildlife.

The Front Range of Colorado is on the western edge of the monarch butterfly migration pathway, and there are several local Colorado suppliers of various types of milkweed. CWF is also pleased to serve as the affiliate host for this year’s NWF Annual Meeting in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado.

Get Involved

If you live in Colorado and want lists of suitable native plants for your native prairie garden, contact CWF and they will send them to you: cwfed@coloradowildlife.org

To receive CWF’s electronic newsletter, contact them at cwfed@coloradowildlife.org

Connect with CWF

Connect with Colorado Wildlife Federation to get their latest news and keep up with their conservation efforts through Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting their website.