Today's designated wilderness contains mostly high peaks and fails to protect adequate habitat at lower elevations. Habitat is increasingly fragmented into smaller patches by roads, timber sales and housing development. Public land management agencies continue to focus on their own jurisdictions rather than on the interconnected landscape which forms the whole ecosystem. The Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project is working to implement a wildlands recovery proposal which will reverse the decline of wildlife and wilderness and will recover whole ecosystems and landscapes. SREP goes beyond piecemeal defense strategies by defining what it means to save biodiversity over the long-term on a large scale.
Core areas protect ecological processes and species needing vast natural landscapes.
Corridors provide for the dispersal of wide ranging species, genetic exchange, and plant and animal adaptations to climate change. Buffer zones protect core areas and corridors from disruptive human activities while allowing for compatible uses. The Plan Implementing an ecosystem protection plan for the Southern Rockies is a major effort which will require decades. In cooperation with conservation groups and management agencies, SREP is identifying unique natural areas and elements of biodiversity which will provide the foundation for a scientifically defensible reserve design. Components of the plan are being developed in conjunction with local affiliates.