Threatened Colorado

Rivers, Streams & Wetlands

Statewide, along water

By Threatened Colorado , Two Colorado natives , About us

Last reviewed , Checked against USFWS, CPW, NPS sources , Sources (8)

The wetland at South Twin Lake in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, with the dunes and mountains beyond
Photo: NPS / Patrick Myers, Public domain

All elevations

Wetlands make up less than 2% of Colorado's landscape, yet over 75% of the state's species benefit from them. Plains cottonwood forests line rivers on the eastern plains, and montane riparian forests begin around 6,000 to 7,500 feet.

Why it matters

Two kinds of streamside forest. On the plains, plains cottonwood grows with several kinds of willow; in the foothills and mountains, montane riparian forests "tend to be dominated by alder and blue spruce," the Colorado State Forest Service says. Montane riparian forest covers about 1 million acres, plains riparian forest about 250,000.

Small in area, large in use. "The vast majority of species that occupy montane habitats rely on riparian forests at some point in their life cycle," according to the Forest Service, from amphibians to beaver, river otter, elk and moose.

Plants

  • plains cottonwood

Who lives here and why

For some animals the streamside strip is the whole habitat. The endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse needs tall, dense sedges and forbs on soil kept wet by flowing water, and nests in drier ground beside it, USFWS says. One of its two known Colorado populations lives in the Sambrito Wetlands of Navajo State Park, according to the 2016 critical habitat rule.

Old cottonwoods are nest trees. In 1969, along the Arkansas River in Crowley and Otero counties, red-headed and Lewis's woodpeckers were found nesting side by side in dead or partly decayed plains cottonwoods, the red-headed mostly in the river bottom and Lewis's mostly in farmland trees.

Under pressure

  • Less water in the channel. The Colorado State Forest Service lists pollution, surface water diversions and groundwater depletions among the threats to plains riparian forests, and CPW says Colorado has lost half of its wetlands. Water Diversion & Dewatering
  • Invasive trees and weeds. Plains riparian forests face "invasion by non-native grasses, forbs and shrubs. Tamarisk and Russian olive are particularly prominent." Invasive Plants

Where to see it

Species in this habitat (34)

See rivers, streams & wetlands in the explorer

Sources (8)

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