State Wildlife Action Plan
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Learn About our Guiding Principles and Influencing Factors
State Wildlife Action Plan Overview
The State Wildlife Action Plan’s (SWAP) purpose is to outline and prioritize each of Colorado’s conservation needs. This process allows us to stay consistent in our conservation efforts and in coordinating with other members of Colorado’s wildlife conservation community and stakeholders. While it is not a regulatory document, we are required to revisit and reformulate it every ten years in order to continue receiving federal
State Wildlife Grants, which significantly support several conservation projects What Is The State Wildlife Action Plan?
In the SWAP, we outline which species and habitats are the most vulnerable. From there, we can determine which conservation actions we and other Colorado organizations can take to address the primary threats.
The guiding principles of this strategy:
Encourage and support conservation actions that address Colorado’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need.
Manage for healthy habitats and ecosystems so that all species will benefit.
Create a plan that will be flexible enough to incorporate new research findings and successful management innovations into conservation actions.
Acknowledge the pivotal role that private landowners and local stakeholders play in conservation.
Enhance, not replace, other planning efforts.
Maintain an atmosphere of cooperation, participation, and commitment among wildlife managers, landowners, private and public land managers, and other stakeholders in development and implementation of conservation actions.
To qualify for the State Wildlife Grants, our SWAP needed to include elements such as distributions of wildlife species, descriptions of issues facing our wildlife, conservation actions and monitoring plans. The document breaks down each Colorado species and habitat one at a time and discusses its threats, information needs and conservation actions.
Learn more about the challenges and opportunities and
habitats involved.
Who Is Involved?
CPW formulated Colorado’s SWAP in cooperation with partners throughout the state. The plan is not only for the agency but for Colorado as a whole. This coordination is vital to the success of our efforts. Why Is The State Wildlife Action Plan Important?
In the years since writing and implementing our first SWAP in 2005, CPW has been able to adopt a much more proactive approach to wildlife conservation. By outlining our species of concern and lining them up with their respective habitats and threats, we brought our plan of action into focus through the 2015 SWAP revision.
For everything from prioritizing and coordinating to legislation and funding, the SWAP is one of our major go-to documents. Read the entire SWAP document or check out our condensed SWAP version. Additional breakdowns listed below for convenience.
SWAP Documentation
Documentation by Chapter
