Initially, the riparian vegetation information delineated by James F. Ware & Associates was hand digitized using a sensitized digitizing table and mouse.  This process was cumbersome and each quad took from 2-4 weeks of effort to process digitally.  Beginning in 1993, the Division of Wildlife, in cooperation with the Geography Department at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS), experimented with mechanical scanning and digital editing and attributing of the riparian quads.  This proved to be a success with comparative spatial accuracy and decreased processing time.  This process has been further refined and automated over the years and processing a single quad can now be accomplished in less than one day.  As a result of increased efficiencies, funding is now the only limiting factor regarding the production of additional riparian habitat data.

     Over the years, funding has been tenuous at best.  Once the effort with the Pike-San Isabel National Forest was complete, the Division of Wildlife partnered with the Bureau of Land Management BLM) to complete the riparian delineation on numerous USGS quads in the Upper Arkansas River Basin.  This effort, which took place in 1995, resulted in a comprehensive set of riparian vegetation maps for the Arkansas River from its headwaters to Pueblo Reservoir located just west of Pueblo, Colorado.  On USGS quads where the riparian vegetation had already been mapped on the U.S. Forest Service lands, the delineation was extended to the non-USFS lands below the USFS administrative boundary.  Additionally, the classification scheme was refined and USFS and the non-USFS data merged to produce a seamless product for use by all three agencies.

     In 1996 the San Isabel Foundation, a private land trust organization, entered into agreement with the Colorado Division of Wildlife to map riparian vegetation in Custer County, Colorado.  This project was located in the Wet Mountain Valley southwest of Pueblo, Colorado and is sandwiched between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the west and the Wet Mountains in the east.  Again, the USFS had already mapped riparian vegetation on USFS administrative lands as part of the USFS/CDOW cooperative project.  This project involved continuing that delineation below the USFS boundary onto non-USFS lands and completing a comprehensive riparian vegetation data layer for use in lad use and open space planning.  The San Isabel Foundation successfully applied to Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) for funding and the Division of Wildlife provided technical and GIS expertise.

     In 1996, the Division of Wildlife also submitted a comprehensive funding proposal to Great Outdoors Colorado to support critical wildlife data acquisition and to create a web site to consolidate the data and make it more readily available to the general public.  As a result, the Natural Diversity Information Source (NDIS) was created.  The GOCO funding provided support necessary to create and administer the web site and support for the acquisition of data that the Division of Wildlife felt was important for more efficient and effective management of Colorado's wildlife resource.  GOCO provided the funding necessary to hire staff and acquire information regarding species distributions in Colorado, funding to develop landscape level vegetation information using satellite imagery (Basinwide Vegetation Mapping Project), and funding to map riparian vegetation in support of the Division of Wildlife's effort that began in 1990.  GOCO continues to fund the Colorado Riparian Vegetation Mapping Project that has resulted in the production of approximately 652 quads of data (approximately one third of the state) by the end of 2003 and the project is still progressing.

     Currently, the Division of Wildlife continues in its overall goal of comprehensively mapping riparian vegetation in Colorado.  Several cooperative efforts with the U.S. Geologic Survey, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation resulted in the production of over 50 quads of riparian data along the Front Range from the Wyoming border south to Colorado Springs.  Coincidental to that mapping effort, the Division of Wildlife developed a Potentially Suitable Habitat map using logistic regression techniques in combination with the riparian vegetation maps and Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse Occurrence Database. These data are being used in the Preble's recovery and Habitat Conservation Planning Effort currently underway in numerous locales along the Front Range.   Additionally, a prototype project is underway in South Park (Park County, Colorado) to comprehensively map riparian vegetation using the methodologies developed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and merge that data with site specific information gathered and developed by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP).  This cooperative effort between CDOW and CNHP was funded by an EPA wetlands grant and should be completed in the Summer of 2000.  Finally, recent interest has been expressed by Ducks Unlimited and they have funded the mapping of several Quads along the South Platte River between Fort Morgan and Greeley.  Cooperatively funded efforts such as these have enhanced the Division's ability to map areas that might otherwise be delayed or not mapped at all.

     The development of this worldwide web and associated FTP site is the culmination of over ten years effort on the part of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.  It reflects a true interagency, multi-jurisdictional cooperative effort that recognizes the importance of mapping, protecting, and managing these unique riparian habitats so important to the State's wildlife resource.  The construction of the FTP site is meant to make the data more readily available to resource managers, consultants, scientists, and members of the general public who have access to a Geographic Information System.  We hope this site is "user friendly" and we welcome any suggestions and comments that might contribute to its improvement.

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