The Colorado Wildlands Project, in partnership with Conservation Science Partners, released an analysis report this week that showed that the land within Western Colorado’s Dolores River Canyon Country is the “largest, most biodiverse unprotected publicly owned lands in Colorado.”

Biodiversity measures the variety of life in a place, looking into the number and species plants and animals present.

“A primary goal of this analysis is to offer decision-makers a road map, backed by the best-available science, to prioritize critical lands and waters most-deserving of conservation policy action in Colorado,” said report co-author Tina Mozelewski, Ph.D., lead scientist at Conservation Science Partners and the report’s co-author. “Our assessment isolated 71 areas on unprotected federal public lands in Colorado containing particularly high biodiversity. The public lands in Dolores River Canyon Country stood out for their unique combination of size, intactness and biological richness.”

The Dolores River Canyon Country covers parts of five counties on the Western Slope area: Montezuma, Dolores, San Miguel, Montrose and Mesa.

“The Dolores River Canyon Country is one of Western Colorado’s most outstanding natural treasures, which most people have never heard of,” said Scott Braden, director of the Colorado Wildlands Project said. “For five decades, Coloradans have strived to protect these dramatic canyons, wildlife-rich mesas and verdant river bottoms throughout the Dolores canyons. It’s past due for this incredible place to receive the protections it deserves.”

Currently, there is legislation under consideration by Congress, and is sponsored by Colorado Democrats Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper, and Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert.

If passed, this legislation will work to protect a portion of the Dolores River Canyon Country, making the areas in Dolores, Montezuma and San Miguel counties national conservation areas.

“The new analysis underscores the immediate need for comprehensive, landscape-scale conservation to protect the irreplaceable values and public lands surrounding the Dolores River,” the news release said.

While areas in Dolores, Montezuma and San Miguel counties would be protected, the proposed legislation would not protect public lands in Montrose and Mesa counties, which the news release says are home to the majority of the most highly biodiverse lands in the Dolores River Canyon Country.

“A locally driven coalition of organizations and businesses have proposed working with Colorado congressional leaders, Governor Jared Polis and President Joe Biden to protect critical public lands in Montrose and Mesa counties as the Dolores Canyons National Monument,” they said.

The full analysis, “Colorado’s Most Important Unprotected Biodiversity Hotspot,” is available here.