About | Threatened Colorado

The Mission

Threatened Colorado is a free, authoritative public education resource for Colorado's listed and at-risk animal species: federally and state-listed, proposed and species of special concern. No ads, no sponsored content; independent and reader-supported. Just accurate information drawn from primary sources, written for a general audience, and presented in a way that respects both the science and the reader. The site carries no advertising and no sponsored content; we use Google Analytics only to see which pages people read (see our privacy page).

Why This Exists

Colorado is home to dozens of species on the edge of extinction — animals whose survival depends on habitat we can still protect, policy we can still influence, and public awareness we can still build. That information exists, but it's scattered across government databases, academic papers, and agency reports that weren't designed for general readership.

This site is an attempt to consolidate it — readable, accurate, and genuinely useful to anyone who wants to understand what's happening to Colorado's wildlife.

Who Built This

This site is built and maintained by two Colorado natives — with zero budget, on nights and weekends. We're not professional biologists, but we take the sourcing seriously: every species profile cites its primary data source, every photo is credited with license information, and every status claim traces back to USFWS ECOS, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, or NatureServe.

If you find an error, please let us know; see Corrections below. Getting it right matters more than getting it up fast.

Threatened Colorado will always be free and ad-free. If you'd like to help cover site costs and field trips, you can support the site.

How We Work

Four commitments shape every page. Each is short, and each is something you can check.

How we source

When sources disagree, we trust them in this order:

USFWS ECOS: federal listing status, recovery plans, critical habitat.

Colorado Parks & Wildlife: state status and Colorado population data.

NatureServe and CNHP: conservation ranks and Colorado natural heritage data.

Peer-reviewed research: for biology and findings agencies haven't published.

Reputable news: only when nothing above covers it, and always named as the outlet's reporting.

Every fact on a page has a source in that page's collapsed Sources section. If we can't point to one, the fact doesn't run.

Using the site in class? See For Teachers.

How we keep it current

Event-driven review. We keep a table of claims that depend on a coming event, such as a final listing decision, a commission vote or a construction finish. Each has a check date and the agency page to check against.

Monthly pass. Once a month we work through every item due, plus the Wolf Tracker after CPW's monthly update.

Quarterly status audit. Species whose listing is unsettled are re-checked against USFWS and CPW every quarter.

"Last reviewed" dates. Profiles and other pages show the date someone last checked them against their sources. We change it only after a real re-check, never for a wording fix.

Deadlines expire on their own. Comment periods and meetings on the Conservation page drop off after their last day, so the page doesn't point you at something already over.

News posts are dated snapshots. When something changes after we publish, we add an update note rather than quietly rewriting the post.

Corrections

Found a mistake? Email us at threatenedcolorado@gmail.com or use the contact form. Tell us the page and what looks wrong; a link to a source helps.

We check the claim against the primary source.

If you're right, we fix it promptly.

If we can't confirm it, we'll tell you what we found.

When a correction changes a fact in a meaningful way, the page carries a short note, such as "Corrected [date]: what the page said before, and what it says now." Typos and small wording fixes are made without a note.

Photo Policy

Every photograph on this site is licensed for use and credited with photographer name, license type, and source. Precise GPS coordinates of sensitive species are never published anywhere on this site — including in photo metadata, captions, or map displays.

Accessibility

This site is built to WCAG 2.1 AA standards. All images have meaningful alt text. Color contrast meets AA minimums. The site is fully navigable by keyboard and works with screen readers. If you encounter an accessibility barrier, please report it.

About This Site