Wilderness Workshop
Founded in 1967, Wilderness Workshop’s mission is to protect the wilderness, water, and wildlife of Western Colorado’s public lands. Wilderness Workshop works directly with the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other local and national groups to protect public lands from industrialization like fossil fuel development and logging, reduces carbon emissions from public lands, creates equity in public land management and access, and advocates for responsible recreation and land stewardship throughout the region. The organization focuses on the monitoring and conservation of air and water quality, wildlife species and habitat, and natural communities. Finally, they advocate for adding lands of wilderness quality to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness Workshop also advocates and organizes on national public lands issues as they relate to, or have the potential to affect, Colorado public land policy and management.
Funding from the Good Traveler Program will support work to protect water, restore wildlife habitat, enhance biodiversity in western Colorado, and ensure equitable public lands access for all through the following campaigns and programs:
Campaign to protect the Crystal River with a Wild & Scenic Designation:
A Wild and Scenic designation for the Crystal River would permanently protect the main stem of the Crystal from dams and out-of-basin diversions, ensuring current and future generations are able to benefit from the clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and scenic beauty of the Crystal Valley. It also ensures that the Crystal Valley won’t be flooded by future dams and seasonal flows won’t decrease to a trickle by out-of-basin diversions.
Habitat Restoration Programs:
Wilderness Workshop’s Habitat Restoration Program aims to get on-the-ground work done while engaging the public to actively steward their public lands. The purpose of the program is to repair ecological damage to area public lands caused by past human activities, and to inspire and engage Roaring Fork Valley residents in stewardship of their public lands. The White River National Forest, our country’s most visited forest, is known as a recreation playground and one of the most scenic places in America. However, it bears the scars of past abuse. Wilderness Workshop’s Habitat Restoration Program conducts summer volunteer projects to restore ecosystems and spur community volunteerism on National Forest Lands.
Defiende Nuestra Tierra:
Wilderness Workshop’s Defiende Nuestra Tierra (Defend our Land) program is geared towards creating equity in the environmental community by offering free bilingual recreation opportunities on our local public lands. Our programming has grown wildly popular throughout the Latino community.
