It's difficult for me to express the sense of wonder felt when traveling through the canyon. If you have been to the red-rock desert surrounding Moab, you will be familiar with the landscape. Grand vistas, towering stone monoliths, shadowed canyons, and hidden springs. 

What is different about the Dolores Canyon system is that it is here, in Colorado. The high desert itself knows no borders and stretches for thousands of miles. But tucked away, where few people would think to look, is a place unlike any other on the Colorado Plateau. The same Granite that shapes the Black Canyon of the Gunnison melds with red Navajo Sandstone. 

The work for this project takes place in the heart of the Canyon system. As the beavers make their way down the canyon, they are both working to restore the historic riparian system and are a threat to it. Poor management of the landscape resulted in cottonwoods being nearly extirpated from the riverside of the Dolores. Thanks to collaborative work done by Rivers Edge West, the BLM, SWCC, and local ranchers, cottonwoods have a chance to return. By caging some cottonwood, we preserve a future parent stock that can continue to trace its way back down and up the banks. 

Dolores Canyon, tucked away and protected by its rural location, is unassuming when looked at from a map. But when standing in the river, shaded by an alcove streaked with desert varnish, you realize its natural beauty is anything but modest.

Register to volunteer at our upcoming Cottonwood Caging project in Dolores Canyon and be part of restoring a rare and resilient desert ecosystem.