State Wildlife Action Plan

The State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is an expansive resource on the status of some wildlife populations in Colorado, with an emphasis on individual species and their habitats. The insights found in the SWAP will help CPW forge new partnerships, strengthen old ones and inform policy, keeping Colorado a hotbed of biodiversity.

State Wildlife Action Plan

About the Plan

The State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) was developed by experts at Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP), with input from many other partners. All U.S. states and territories update and publish a SWAP every 10 years. Regular revision allows states to revisit the priorities from the previous decade. SWAP revisions are required every 10 years to maintain eligibility for federal State and Tribal Wildlife Grants. CPW is fortunate to also receive funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), the Species Conservation Trust Fund and other sources that support SWAP implementation. The DRAFT 2025 SWAP was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in September 2025. It will be considered final after review and signature from the USFWS Director.

Learn more about the planning process and major findings.

Species of Greatest Conservation Need Rankings Dashboard

The Vertebrate, Plants and Invertebrate SGCN lists and relevant information (e.g. distribution and abundance) can be found using the Species Ranking Dashboard which allows for downloading of information. All species assessed for the SWAP are included in this interactive dashboard.

Find out more

Species of Greatest Conservation Need & Habitats Data Hub

As the central part of our "digital SWAP” the Data Hub contains information about Tier 1 and Tier 2 Vertebrate and Plant SGCN and their habitats. You can explore species and habitat profiles, threats affecting these resources, existing plans and monitoring efforts and conservation actions.

Find out more

Species of Greatest Conservation Need

The Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) list is the centerpiece of the SWAP. During revisions, species can be removed, added or moved into a different ranking. The SWAP is a work plan for SGCN and addresses that specific suite of species. However, this will not limit CPW or our partners from continuing existing programs or developing new efforts to address other species. The SWAP does not provide any direct regulatory protections for SGCN. The SGCN list includes the species of animals and plants that most urgently need conservation action. The list was compiled and reviewed by mammologists, ornithologists, botanists, entomologists and other scientists at CPW and its partner organizations.

Each species’ ranking is based on how healthy its populations are, how critical Colorado populations are to the entire species' survival, how susceptible it is to existing and potential specific threats, and how much it would benefit from plausible conservation actions. Each SGCN is ranked in one of three tiers:

Species Tiers

Tier 1

This tier lists the species that require conservation interventions most urgently.

Tier 2

Species that are in less danger, but still in need of active conservation.

Species of Greatest Information Need (SGIN):

This new subset of SGCN includes species for which more research is needed before we can fully assess its conservation need.

Snapshot of Species

152

tier 1 species

253

tier 2 species

207

species of greatest information need

1408

species evaluated

Explore Species

Amphibians

Amphibians of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

Tier 2

Western narrow-mouthed toad

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Canyon treefrog
Great Basin spadefoot
Wood frog

BorealToad(S. RM Pop), Brad Lambert, CHMP

Amphibian Rankings

CPW staff and key partners with in-depth expertise evaluated over 1400 vertebrates, plants and invertebrates using established criteria to “score” each species. Anyone can now see responses and associated results including those for species that are not SGCN. The SGCN lists and relevant information can be viewed and downloaded using the Species Ranking Dashboard.

Learn More

Birds

Success Stories

Bald Eagle

In the 1970s, there were only TWO active bald eagle nests in Colorado. Data collected in 2020 showed more than 300 nesting pairs of eagles in our state, triple the number of pairs in 2015. Through decades of dedicated conservation work, such as minimizing disturbances near eagles’ nests and winter habitats, and the efforts of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and various other organizations, eagle populations have grown significantly! Bald Eagles are no longer a SGCN — a success to celebrate as we continue to study this species.

Birds of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

Tier 2

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

American Dipper
American Tree Sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Boreal Owl
Canyon Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Clark's Grebe
Cliff Swallow
Dusky Grouse
Ferruginous Hawk
Flammulated Owl
Gray Vireo
Juniper Titmouse
Killdeer
Lewis's Woodpecker
Long-eared Owl
Marsh Wren
Northern Bobwhite
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Red-naped Sapsucker
Savannah Sparrow
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Sprague's Pipit
Vesper Sparrow
Violet-green Swallow
Western Grebe
Western Kingbird
Western Purple Martin
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Warbler

Bird Rankings

Learn More

Fish

Success Stories

Rio Grande Chub and Sucker

In June 2024, the USFWS announced that it would not list the Rio Grande chub or Rio Grande sucker under the ESA. For several decades, CPW and multiple partners including federal agencies, states, Tribes, municipalities, non-government organizations and private landowners have worked to conserve the two species and implement long-term management actions to ensure their persistence. Following the 2014 petition to list these species under the ESA, CPW joined with multiple state and federal agencies, Tribal entities and other stakeholders throughout the species’ range to form the Rio Grande Chub and Sucker Conservation Team.

Fish of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

Tier 2

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Bigmouth Buffalo
Hornyhead Chub
Mountain Sucker
Peppered Chub
Quillback
River Carpsucker
River Shiner
Shorthead Redhorse

A pair of hands holding a Greenback Cutthroat Trout.

Fish Rankings

Learn More

Habitats

State Forest State Park. Photo by Delli Veneri.

Habitats

The location and relative condition of key habitats and community types essential to the conservation of each State's species of greatest conservation need. CPW and CNHP experts created maps that identify critical SGCN habitats. These maps reflect the distribution of each habitat, and include grasslands, forests and woodlands, wetlands and aquatic habitats, just to name a few.

Many habitats in Colorado benefit from high topoclimatic variability, with complex topography providing vegetation and species with microclimates that can enhance their ability to adapt to changing conditions. However, Colorado’s eastern plains and western desert areas are much flatter, potentially reducing their adaptive capacity. Colorado is highly exposed to the warming climate overall, and other habitat disturbances, departure from historic fire regimes, and invasive annual grasses all contribute to habitat-specific climate change vulnerability. Interacting climatic stressors also threaten resilience: in many of Colorado’s forest types, if catastrophic wildfires are followed by drought conditions, forest may not reestablish and type conversions to grassland or shrubland can occur. Most SWAP habitat types are considered moderately vulnerable to climate change.

Habitats of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a habitat to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Aquatic Habitats

Streams, rivers and natural lakes all fall into the aquatic habitat type. Their specific characteristics often vary based on location, creating different habitat communities within Colorado. Learn more about threats and actions for conserving aquatic habitats.

Forest and Woodland Habitats

Forest ecosystems are complex habitats defined by their trees: a continuous strand of trees, with a closed or open canopy, is classified as a forest. The wildlife within forests depends on these trees for food and shelter. Over 60 species of greatest conservation need are known to use just the Pinyon-Juniper forest of Colorado.

Grassland Habitats

Grasslands are made up of grasses and broad-leaved, herbaceous plants. They usually have very few or no woody plants and see warm growing seasons. Examples of grasslands are mixed and tallgrass prairie and shortgrass prairie.

Riparian and Wetlands Habitats

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines wetlands as “areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season.” Riparian zones are the areas alongside a river or stream. These conditions support a unique set of wildlife species.

Shrubland Habitats

Shrubland, also called scrub, bushland or thicket, generally sees more rainfall than grassland or desert but less than forest. Short trees, or shrubs, constitute shrubland, and the habitat type often occurs on ridges and cliffs. Examples of shrubland include sandsage shrublands on Colorado’s eastern plains, saltbrush shrublands and sagebrush shrublands. Desert shrubland are grass-dominated areas with an open shrub layer.

Other Habitats

A few habitat communities in Colorado do not fit neatly within any established habitat types. These communities fall into a miscellaneous “other” category. These include hot springs, sand dunes, agriculture, reservoirs, shorelines, mountains and canyons. Many of these habitats are smaller geographic scale, but are critically important to rare plants and other SGCN.

Invertebrates

Conservation Spotlight

Invertebrates

In 2024, Colorado House Bill 24-1117 gave CPW the authority to study invertebrates. Adding invertebrates to our scope has brought an exciting new opportunity to the agency to study the over 1,000 bee species, 300 butterflies and thousands of other invertebrates found in Colorado.

Invertebrates of Greatest Conservation Need

See below for information on overall threats and actions for invertebrates. Individual species assessments are underway and will be included here in the future.

Tier 1

Alberta Arctic
American Bumble Bee
Colorado Large Marble
Dusted Skipper
Iowa Skipper
Monarch
Morrison's Bumble Bee
Mottled Duskywing
Nokomis Fritillary
Orange-headed Roadside-Skipper
Ottoe Skipper
Pawnee Montane Skipper
Regal Fritillary
Rhena Skipper
Rocky Mountain Jutta Artic
Smoky-eyed Brown
Soapberry Hairstreak
Southern Plains Bumble Bee
Suckley's Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Susan's Purse-making Caddisfly
Two-spotted Skipper
Uncompahgre Fritillary
Variable Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Western Bumble Bee

Tier 2

Alaskan Saddle-case Caddisfly
Alberta Arctic
Alkaline Tiger Beetle
Alpine Shasta Blue
Autumn Springfly
Band-bellied Small Minnow Mayfly
Beavertail Fairy Shrimp
Black-and-gold Bumble Bee
Black-tailed Bumble Bee
Bristletail Clam Shrimp
California Bumble Bee/Golden Northern Bumble Bee
Centerhump Clam Shrimp
Central Flat-headed Mayfly
Circumpolar Fairy Shrimp
Coffee Pot Snowfly
Colorado Alpine
Colorado Fairy Shrimp
Colorado Spiny Tailed Fairy Shrimp
Colorado Stygobromid
Colorado Tundra Blue
Coral Hairstreak
Crimson-ringed Whiteface
Dark Blue
Delaware Skipper
Demmia Alpine
Desert Elfin
Desert Green Hairstreak
Eastern Alkali Fairy Shrimp
Edwards' Skipperling
Ellis’ Blue
Emmel’s Blue
Etowah Small Minnow Mayfly
Fernald Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Forest Bumble Bee
Frigid Bumble Bee
Frivolous Small Minnow Mayfly
Garita Skipperling
Giant Fairy Shrimp
Giant Salmonfly
Giant Sand Treader Cricket
Gibson's Big Sand Tiger Beetle
Golden-belted Bumble Bee
Great Plains Clam Shrimp
Great Sand Dunes Anthicid Beetle (A. triplehorni)
Great Sand Dunes Anthicid Beetle (A. werneri)
Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle
Greater Plains Fairy Shrimp
Hairy Sallfly
Hoary Skimmer
Hobomok Skipper
Holarctic Springfly
Hops Azure
Horned Clubtail
Hudsonian Emerald
Immovable Long-horned Caddisfly
Interstitial Amphipod
Knobbedlip Fairy Shrimp
Kohler's Fritillary
Kondratieff’s Hump-backed Caddisfly
Larimide Sallfly
Lyrate Mountainsnail
Melissa Arctic
Mexican Clam Shrimp
Minnehaha Blue
Mohave Sootywing
Morrison's Skipper
Mountain Checkered-Skipper
Obscure Elfin
Oslar's Roadside-Skipper
Pine White
Plains Emerald
Plains Snowfly
Pocket Pouch Fairy Shrimp
Polixenes Arctic
Prickly Pear Bee
Prudent Small Square-gilled Mayfly
Pueblo Sandstone-digger Bee
Red-belted Bumble Bee
Rhesus Skipper
Rita Dotted-Blue
Rock Pool Fairy Shrimp
Rocky Mountain Capshell
Sandhill Skipper
Sandia Hairstreak
Sandy Tiger Beetle
Schryver's Elfin
Short-tailed Skipper
Silvery Blue
Simius Roadside-Skipper
Snow's Skipper
Spinose Amphipod
Spring Amphipod
Stanford's Blue
Tawny-edged Skipper
Thicket Hairstreak
Two-banded Checkered-Skipper
Vedder Snowfly
Versatile Fairy Shrimp
Ward's Amphipod
Western Branded Skipper
White Sand-river Mayfly
White-cloaked Tiger Beetle
White-Shouldered Bumble Bee
White-veined Arctic
Wiest's Sphinx Moth
Yampa Tiger Beetle
Yellow Dotted Alpine
Yuma Skipper
Zerene Fritallary
a bushtailed caddisfly (Gumaga griseola)
a caddisfly (Clistoronia maculata)
a caddisfly (Psychoronia costalis)
a caddisfly (Wormaldia arcopa)
a cave obligate amphipod (Stygobromus holsingeri)
a cave obligate amphipod (Stygobromus pennaki)
a cave obligate millipede (Blancosoma scaturgo)
a cave obligate millipede (Speodesmus aquiliensis)
a cave obligate springtail (Entomobrya troglodytes)
a cave obligate springtail (Oncopodura subhoffi)
a circus beetle (Eleodes hirtipennis)
a clam shrimp (Eulimnadia follisimilis)
a cossid miller (Comadia henrici)
a digger bee (Anthophora albata)
a hydropsychid caddisfly (Cheumatopsyche wabasha)
a lampshade weaver (Hypochilus bonneti)
a limnephilid caddisfly (Limnephilus acnestus)
a long-legged cave spider (Usofila flava)
a mayfly (Neochoroterpes oklahoma)
a microcaddisfly (Neotrichia downsi)
a net-spinning caddisfly (Hydropsyche vanaca)
a noctuid moth (Admetovis icarus)
a noctuid moth (Doa ampla)
a polycentropodid caddisfly (Polycentropus gertschi)
a prongill mayfly (Paraleptophlebia packii)
a sand-dwelling mayfly (Homoeoneuria alleni)
a small square-gilled mayfly (Susperatus tuberculatus)
a snow scorpionfly (Boreus coloradensis)
a wool-carder bee (Anthidium rodecki)
an ant (Pheidole elecebra)
an ant (Pheidole inquilina)
an ant (Temnothorax furunculus)

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Apache Skipper
Ashy Bizarre Caddisfly
Attenborough's Cuckoo Nomad Bee
Bowman's Tiger Moth
Brimstone Clubtail
Bruce's Tiger Moth
Cimarron Tiger Beetle
Cloaked Physa
Colorado Burrowing Mayfly
Coloured Giant Caddisfly
Cylindrical Papershell
Dark-gray Comma
Diffracted Tiger Beetle
Digitate Long-horned Caddisfly
Dotted Checkerspot
Grande Stripetail
Hydaspe Fritillary
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Interrupted Xeromelecta Bee
Johnson's Tiger Beetle
Long-range Firefly Beetle
Mexican Sootywing
Minor's Swallowtail
Missus Cave Springtail
Morning Glory Bee
Northern Oak Hairstreak
Pallid Mountainsnail
Pygmy Small Minnow Mayfly
Rocky Mountain Pink Glowworm
Rustic Flat-headed Mayfly
Santa Clara Grassland Tiger Beetle
Simple Amphipod
Stevens' Tortricid Moth
Streaked Miner Bee
Utah Physa
White-haired Miner Bee
a cork-lid trapdoor spider (Ummidia paulacushingae)
a dart moth (Euxoa montana)
a diurnal firefly (Eunota togata globicollis)
A folding-door spider (Antrodiaetus apachecus)
a jumping bristletail (Petrobius calcaratus)
a leafcutter bee (Megachile mucorosa)
a leafhopper (Driotura robusta)
a looper moth (Autographa flavida)
a mayfly (Macdunnoa persimplex)
a mayfly (Rhithrogena flavianula)
a miner bee (Andrena berkeleyi)
a miner bee (Perdita florissantella)
a miner bee (Perdita snowii)
a noctuid moth (Fishia dispar)
a noctuid moth (Lasionycta dolosa)
a noctuid moth (Schinia hardwickorum)
a noctuid moth (Sympistis babi)
a noctuid moth (Sympistis hapi)
a noctuid moth (Sympistis minor)
a prominent moth (Furcula vargoi)
a prominent moth (Furcula wileyi)
a pseudoscorpion (Larca boulderica)
a pursemaker caddisfly (Ochrotrichia trapoiza)
a rock bristletail (Machilinus aurantiacus)
a tiger moth (Apantesis cervinoides)
a tortricid moth (Eucosma insignata)
a triangle weaver (Hyptiotes puebla)
an andrenid bee (Andrena anograe)
an andrenid bee (Andrena ardis)
an andrenid bee (Andrena mentzeliae)
an andrenid bee (Andrena xanthigera)
an evening bee (Hesperapis carinata)
an evening bee (Hesperapis woodgatei)

Regal Fritillary. Photo by Christian Nunes.

Invertebrate Rankings

Learn More

Threats to Colorado’s Invertebrates

One of the biggest challenges to the conservation of Colorado’s invertebrates is their sheer diversity. With 1,000 species of bees alone, the number of invertebrate species is immense, and giving each individual species a thorough treatment would be impractical. Invertebrates face many of the same threats as vertebrates and rare plants, including habitat loss and climate change. However, there are also a diversity of threats unique to invertebrates, some of which are poorly understood. Many of the invertebrate SGCN are threatened by a combination of local, regional and global factors. Any one species can be affected by different threats at different scales.

Examples of Threats

Bumble bees

Bumble bees, while generalist pollinators, may be threatened locally by competition and disease spillover from domestic honeybees, but are declining regionally and globally in response to climate change and the increased use of insecticides.

Butterflies

Some species may face different threats at different life stages. Many butterflies, for instance, may rely locally on a specific plant to attach themselves to when developing inside a cocoon, making them vulnerable to any threats that that plant faces. But in adulthood, they depend on different aspects of their environment than they did as larvae, such as nectar sources, migratory routes and overwintering habitats.

Aquatic Invertebrates

Many aquatic invertebrates have extremely limited distributions; some occur in only a handful of locations. These small populations can face local
threats like cattle activity, pollution and invasive species, but also global threats like climate change.

Actions to Conserve Colorado’s Invertebrates

Given that the threats invertebrates face are so diverse, the actions needed to address them are equally diverse. For most invertebrates, threats to habitats shared by a diversity of species are likely a good way to address habitat-driven declines.

Protecting or restoring ponderosa pine savanna, for instance, can benefit the grasses on which many listed butterfly caterpillars depend, as well as flowering forbs which support adult butterflies and many species of bees.
Protections for sensitive or rare environments, like caves, vernal pools, or other uncommon habitats are likely more species-specific, but necessary to protect those species that rely on them.
For some groups of species, like bumble bees, actions that mitigate shared threats could be valuable, for instance, creating policies around managed bees on state conservation lands could alleviate competitive and health impacts on any bumble bee species there.
For our SGCN species, increasing knowledge of their abundances, distributions, and life histories remains a primary action needed to better understand their conservation. For many, focusing on immediate needs, e.g., habitat protections, restoring host plant communities, or supporting monitoring efforts, also will likely have the biggest impacts. However, acknowledgement of the larger or systemic threats, like climate change or increased prophylactic use of insecticides, is still needed to contextualize the value and impact of local action. For our SGIN species, many of these risks remain unknown and represent an area in need of further study.

Mammals

Conservation Spotlight

Wolverine

The Wolverine was extirpated in Colorado in the early 1900s due to unregulated harvest and broad-scale carnivore poisoning. Wolverines, which number in the thousands in Canada and Alaska, have since reestablished populations in Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, but have not repopulated Colorado. In 2024, the passage of SB24-171 gave CPW the authority to reintroduce the North American wolverine to Colorado. The species and this restoration effort will be a very high priority for CPW. Colorado’s high snowy mountains are the species’ largest unoccupied territory in the lower 48 states, and will only become more important as a warming climate shrinks the snow and cold wolverines need. Colorado’s mountains, which are at high elevation, are predicted to retain their snowpack as well, if not better than, the lower-elevation mountains in the Northern Rockies and Cascades.

Learn more about wolverine

Mammals of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

Tier 2

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Abert's Squirrel
Allen's Big-eared Bat
American Hog-nosed Skunk
Arizona Myotis
Big Free-tailed Bat
Black-tailed Jackrabbit
Botta's Pocket Gopher
Common Gray Fox
Desert Woodrat
Great Basin Pocket Mouse
Mexican Vole
North American Porcupine
Northern Pocket Gopher
Olive-backed Pocket Mouse
Preble's Shrew
Pygmy Rabbit
Ringtail
Sagebrush Vole
Spotted Bat
Western Pygmy Shrew
Western Spotted Skunk
White-tailed Jackrabbit

Black-Footed Ferret - Walker Ranch. Photo by Delli Veneri

Mammal Rankings

Learn More

Plants

Monkeyflower growing in the wild. Photo by Raquel Wertsbaugh.

Conservation Spotlight

The Rocky Mountain Monkeyflower

In 2024, Colorado House Bill 24-1117 gave CPW the authority to study plants.

The Rocky Mountain monkeyflower is a rare plant endemic to Colorado, meaning it’s found here and nowhere else on Earth. Individual plants reproduce by growing identical, bud-like clones on their leaf stems; these tiny buds then fall off and grow into new plants. Clonal reproduction results in very low genetic diversity in this species, making it slow to adapt to changes in its environment.

CPW’s conservation efforts are designed with these vulnerabilities in mind. CPW-funded studies have increased monkeyflower populations, making the species more resilient to small, but destructive, events. In these studies, conducted in the 2010s, researchers introduced bulbils from greenhouse-grown monkeyflowers into promising new habitats. Many of these patches have persisted — sprouting up plants that produce a new, successful generation of bulbils, year after year — for nearly a decade.

Learn more

Plants of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

Tier 2

SGIN

Please reference the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Abajo Daisy
Altai Starwort
Bessey Locoweed
Bleakly Penstemon
Capulin Goldenrod
Clay Hill Buckwheat
Colorado Larkspur
Colorado Twinpod
Comb Wash Buckwheat
Coral Ipomopsis
Crandall's Beardtongue
Cronquist's Milkvetch
Culebra Thistle
Dinosaur Buckwheat
Dolores River Skeletonplant
Dorn's Rockcress
Engelmann Goldenweed
Fineleaf Woolly-white
Four Corners Rockcress
Front Range Bluebells
Gunnison's Rockcress
Hall's Monkeyflower
Heil's Tansy Mustard
House's Sandwort
Huber's Pepperweed
Intermountain Bitterweed
Juniper Tumble Mustard
King's Campion
La Sal Mountains' Groundsel
Malpighiaceous Draba
Mancos Saltbush
Missouri Milkvetch
N/A (Eriogonum arcuatum var. xanthum)
Narrowleaf Grapefern
New Mexico Butterfly Weed
Northwestern Thelypody
One-sided Bluebell
Paradox Blazingstar
Parasol Bladderpod
Parish's Alkali Grass
Park Rockcress
Payson's Pepperwort
Pikes Peak Spring Parsley
Pointed Gumweed
Pygmy Bladderpod
Raton Gumweed
Rocky Mountain Bluebells
Snow Gooseberry
Starveling Milkvetch
Stonecrop Gilia
Trinidad Milkvetch
Utah Spurge
Variable-color Beardtongue
Vernal Narrow-leaf Penstemon
Violet Milkvetch
Virgate Halimolobos
Wahatoya Creek Larkspur
Weber's Cat's-eye
West Silver Bladderpod
Whip-root Clover
Wilken Fleabane
Zion Shootingstar

SWAP Image - Penstemon Harringtonii. Photo by Phil Krening.

Plant Rankings

Learn More

Reptiles

Reptiles of Greatest Conservation Need

Choose a species to learn more about threats, climate change vulnerability and actions and monitoring.

Tier 1

None at this time.

Tier 2

SGIN

Refer to the species rankings dashboard below for more information on the following species:

Black-necked Gartersnake
Common Checkered Whiptail
Common Garter Snake
Lesser Earless Lizard
Mesa Verde Nightsnake
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Smith's Black-headed Snake
Smooth Softshell Turtle
Texas Horned Lizard
Texas Threadsnake
Yellow Mud Turtle

Reptile Rankings

Learn More

All Species Rankings

Threats

The term “threat” relates broadly to factors that negatively impact species or habitats. In the SWAP, the intent is to discuss stressors or problems that are directly or indirectly posing risks with consideration that these impacts are dependent on the species, habitat, timing, intensity and more. What is considered a threat to one species or habitat may help another. What is a management tool to provide habitat for one species could be detrimental to another. Some threats to species and habitats may benefit humans. Threats are also variable by specific location and generally can’t be defined at a statewide scale.

Explore Threats to Species and Habitats

Use of land and waters

The use of land and water may threaten species and habitats:

Residential, commercial and recreation areas
Agriculture & aquaculture
Energy production & mining
Transportation, service and security corridors

Use/Management of Species and Ecosystems

The use/management of species

Biological resource use & control
Human intrusions and disturbances
Natural system management and modifications

Additional sources of stress

Invasive/other problematic species, genes and pathogens
Pollution
Natural disasters
Climate change

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments

By considering exposure to projected environmental changes (e.g., warmer temperatures), sensitivity to those changes and a given entity’s adaptive capacity to handle changes, climate change vulnerability assessments identify which species or habitats are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Actions

The robust planning process for the 2025 SWAP set Colorado up for implementation of a thorough statewide plan for SGCN and their habitats. But, this is just the beginning. The intent is to begin a decade of collective action with opportunities to increase awareness of the SWAP and engage in more specific efforts. How can conservation practitioners reduce “random acts of conservation” to best leverage scarce resources? SWAP should drive work and provide guidance on what is needed to impact conservation. In the coming years, CPW will develop ways to track progress on conservation efforts for SGCN and their habitats. We hope you will be a part of this important work.

Explore Actions for Species and Habitats

Target Restoration/Stress Reduction Actions

Land/water management
Species management

Behavioral Change/Threat Reduction Actions

Raising awareness
Law enforcement & prosecution
Livelihood, economic and moral incentives

Enabling Condition Actions

Conservation designation & planning
Legal & policy frameworks
Research & monitoring
Education & training
Institutional development

SGCN & Habitats Data Hub

Resources

SWAP Planning Process & Major Findings

This document provides detailed information on the development of the 2025 draft State Wildlife Action Plan.

Find out more

StoryMap

Check out our StoryMap to learn more about success stories and what has changed since 2015!

Find out more

How to Use the Data Hub

The State Wildlife Action Plan Data Hub lists the active, prospective and recommended conservation strategies for each species. Watch a video to learn how to use the hub.

Watch the Video

Data Hub Download

Interested in the data? Download a copy of the Data Hub for yourself!

Download

CODEX

Want to see where SGCN & Habitats are? Or see what SGCN and Habitats are in your area?

Find out more

Request Digital Accessibility Assistance

The State of Colorado is committed to providing equitable access to our services to all. Please contact our Colorado Parks and Wildlife Accessibility Specialist ([email protected] or 303-297-1192) for personalized accessibility assistance with the SWAP. We will contact you directly within two business days. Visit our accessibility webpage for more information and services, including AIRA, our free service for blind and low-vision users.

Find out more