Announcements Early July

From June 11 to July 9, 2024, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is seeking public feedback on the draft process to select the Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) to help determine which species are a conservation priority in the 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP).  Public feedback will be accepted online via the EngageCPW website . This is the first opportunity for input on the 2025 SWAP, but there will be others throughout the planning process. The draft SWAP is due to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 2025. CPW posted an SGCN Draft Selection Criteria to gather input from the public on how CPW will identify and categorize species. Species include amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, mollusks and crustaceans, and reptiles. CPW is still developing the process to determine the SGCN for plants and Invertebrates. For more information on CPW’s mission and conservation work, visit https://cpw.state.co.us/Conservation

Sustainable Removal Of Heavy Metal Contaminants From Groundwater. Researchers at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a novel remediation process for removing heavy metal contaminants such as arsenic from groundwater. The three-step method, which is patent-pending, also ensures that the removed heavy metals are disposed of in an environment-friendly and sustainable manner, instead of sending untreated heavy metal-rich sludge to landfills from where they can potentially re-enter groundwater. Read More…

The US Forest Service's wildfire risk mapping data was updated in May. Wildfire Risk to Communities is a free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. Explore the map HERE.

The new Office of Climate Adaptation and Sustainability will support efforts to build resilience to climate change and promote sustainability in support of the agency’s mission and its partnerships. Federal agencies have been making steady progress on efforts to build adaptive capacity and resilience across federal operations. EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan is part of a coordinated effort of more than twenty federal agencies’ climate adaptation plans. These plans highlight efforts across the federal government to ensure federal facilities, employees, resources and operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts.  Find EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan on our climate adaptation website.