Preview - Hermosa Creek Watershed

Efforts to protect Colorado's Hermosa Creek watershed have brought together unlikely allies, a potential model to protect other wild places. http://www.pewenvironment.org/wilderness. 

Located just 10 miles from Durango, Hermosa Creek is a haven for hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, and anglers. A grassroots collaboration between these outdoor recreationists, small business owners, sportsmen and women, and others, kick-started legislation in Congress to protect this southwestern Colorado watershed. The bill calls for preserving historic uses in most areas, while designating 38,000 acres of wilderness and a 43,000-acre roadless area.

The 108,000-acre Hermosa Creek Watershed includes 17 distinct ecosystems, and is home to wildlife, such as native Colorado River cutthroat trout, deer, elk, and Canada lynx. Its pristine, old-growth ponderosa pine forest is one of the largest in the San Juan Mountains. 

Get to know this special place, and the people working to protect it, in this 2 minute preview episode of "This American Land," produced in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts.

http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/other-resources/spotlight-on-this-american-land-85899532561.