State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)

The draft 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is due to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by September 30, 2025. CPW is working closely with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) on the development of the SWAP.

Public feedback on the draft Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) was accepted October 14, 2024 to November 12, 2024. CPW staff is working to incorporate public feedback as they finalize the list. Additional opportunities for input will be available on this page in the future.

What is the State Wildlife Action Plan?

State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP) are plans which guide the conservation of a state’s most vulnerable species and the habitats they depend on. An updated SWAP is required every 10 years for federal funding eligibility via the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants (SWG) program. These plans have eight required elements that have remained the same since the program’s inception 25 years ago.

Colorado’s 2025 SWAP Guiding Philosophy and Purpose

Colorado’s SWAP history mirrors what has happened across the country. Our first plan was produced in 2005 with the first revision published in 2015. CPW wants to improve the SWAP with each revision making it more applicable and impactful. The 2025 SWAP will continue to be the authority for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in Colorado. The SWAP will be 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.

What has happened so far to update the SWAP?

The planning process to revise the SWAP began in early 2024 with a focus on developing the philosophy and purpose highlighted above. Now months of effort has gone into developing the Species of Greatest Conservation Need list. Thank you to everyone that provided initial feedback on our process. A summary of the process and feedback can be found in the FAQs on this page.

What is happening now with the SWAP?

The draft list of Vertebrate and Plant Species of Greatest Conservation Need was open for public feedback from October 14, 2024 to November 12, 2024. CPW staff is working to incorporate public feedback as they finalize the list. Please note that updates to the list will first be made available on the Dashboard. The final lists will be posted once all the feedback is considered.

How were the Vertebrate Species of Greatest Conservation Need chosen?

CPW used previous public feedback to update Criteria and add species to the Potential SGCN list. Scoring meetings occurred July - September 2024 during which small groups of CPW staff and a few key partners with in depth expertise applied the Criteria to the Potential list by taxa (i.e., separate meetings were held for birds, fish, mammals etc.). Over 300 species were assessed using a Google Form to guide the biologists through a series of questions based on the final Criteria. An algorithm then calculated the results and populated a Dashboard to capture the decisions. Notes captured in the Dashboard are not a comprehensive summary of the conversations but highlights of critical information (ex., trend data from the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program) used to score a species.

With 10 more years of data, taxonomic changes, updated Criteria and the addition of the new SGCN subset “Species of Greatest Information Need (SGIN)” the draft SGCN list has changed since 2015.

How were the Plant Species of Greatest Conservation Need chosen?

CNHP led the development of selection criteria for Plant SGCN and a draft list. This information was reviewed by the Rare Plant Technical Committee (membership includes various state and federal agencies, universities, Denver Botanic Gardens and others working across Colorado on rare plant conservation) and presented by CNHP and CPW to the Rare Plant Symposium in September 2024. Feedback from these groups was incorporated into the drafts shared here for broader review.

What about the Invertebrate Species of Greatest Conservation Need?

CPW is currently hiring new staff and will be working with CNHP and our other partners to begin this assessment in late 2024.