The Colorado Environmental Coalition is an active member of the Dolores River Coalition out of our Grand Junction office in Western Colorado.  In this capacity, our efforts are primarily focused on gaining long term protections for the lands in the northern portion of the basin, in and around the town of Gateway, CO. Our work brings together local, state and national organizations with business, recreation and conservation interests to protect the diverse and beautiful Dolores Basin for the long term benefit of residents and visitors. In the north, local stakeholders who want to protect the cultural and ecological integrity of this public landscape are working together towards these goals as the Friends of Northern Dolores, more aptly known as FOND.  

 Click here for a map of the Basin. 

The Dolores River runs north up valley and through the town of Gateway, CO photo © Jeff Widen

In recent years this ranching community, a veritable mosaic of public lands (portions of the basin fall within Bureau of Land Management's Grand Junction, Uncompahgre, and Moab Field Offices in addition to the Uncompahgre and Manti-La Sal National Forests has seen its fair share of planned development. For example, Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, has built Gateway Canyons Resort, an adobe laden high end destination which offers clients lodging, dining, outfitting, and educational programs. Additionally, the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trails Assoc. (COPMOBA), in cooperation with the Resort, the GJ BLM, and the Volunteers of Outdoor Colorado (VOC), has recently completed a set of 2 and 4 mile single track loops which carve their way through Lumsden Canyon and provide bikers with stunning views of the area's untouched wilderness. On the lush mesas atop Maverick Canyon, the Museum of Western Colorado is hard at work transitioning the old Calamity Camp into an historic interpretive site. 

Quietly surrounding this development is some of western Colorado's most undiscovered backcountry! In fact the Northern Dolores is home to six Citizen Wilderness Proposals (CWPs), including 2 BLM identified Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs). Specifically these areas are known as Granite Creek (26,278 acres), Sagebrush Pillows (5,100 acres), The Palisade (26,836 acres), Unaweep (39,039 acres), Maverick Canyon (21,000), and Sewemup Mesa (65,314 acres). These pristine parcels are wrought with outstanding opportunities for hikers and photographers, botanists and equestrians, bird watchers, archeologists, anglers, river runners and the like.

Click here to join FOND and check out their photo albums on Facebook!

A View of The Palisade from the Lumsden Canyon mountain bike trails photo © CEC

With the GJ and Uncompahgre BLM Offices in the midst of revising their Resource Management Plans (RMPs), the time is ripe for us to collectively consider the long term implications of our development and how we might pro-actively establish parameters on growth to ensure that Gateway doesn’t become an Aspen or a Moab. For there is no doubt that this area, its rugged history and remote untrammeled landscapes – two key components universally heralded by focus group participants in a 2008 BLM commissioned stakeholder survey -will continue to increase in popularity. The good news - the endless opportunities for both front and backcountry recreational pursuits mean unparalleled opportunities for collaboration amongst public and private users alike.

To this end, FOND members are working collaboratively towards two key goals. The first - long term protections, as wilderness, for the region’s culturally rich and ecologically diverse backcountry. The second - the creation and long-term protection of enjoyable and ecologically sustainable recreation opportunities for motorized and mechanized enthusiasts who are passionate about exploring and preserving the area’s uniquely rural front country.