Join us in fighting a proposed dam and reservoir in the Homestake Valley.

In 2021, the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs completed a first round of test drilling for a new dam proposal that could inundate the valley floor and the Holy Cross Wilderness with yet another reservoir sending water to the Front Range. Constructing a new dam and reservoir in the Homestake Valley will have catastrophic effects on one of the most ecologically productive landscapes in the high country, forever impacting the valley's rare fen wetlands, wilderness, wildlife, roadless forest, and abundant recreation opportunities.  

Together with our conservation partners, Wilderness Workshop is working to fight this proposed dam and will oppose this project every step of the way. Saving the Holy Cross Wilderness will take a broad coalition of supporters, legal expertise, and grassroots organizing - it's going to be a long fight, but this is the kind of fight we take on. We're uniting the local community and Coloradans near and far to protect this special place in Colorado's spectacular Sawatch Range.  

Please sign our petition today - in the weeks and months ahead, we will provide more information about how individuals can help us stop this misguided proposal. Thank you!

I stand with Wilderness Workshop, its coalition of partners, and the local community in deep opposition to the proposed dam and reservoir in Colorado's Homestake Valley. It's crystal clear: the whole dam thing is a bad idea.

Protecting nature is a critical piece of addressing climate change, and decision-makers at every level of government should be doing everything in their power to protect wilderness, wildlife, and public lands. It's appalling that riparian and wetland communities - which sustain a high diversity of plant and wildlife species and are the most ecologically productive landscapes in the Colorado high country - are threatened so that Western Slope water can be sent across the Continental Divide.

Bestowing the designation of “Wilderness” upon public land takes an act of Congress and is done for the “permanent good of the whole people.” Inundating the Holy Cross Wilderness, as this proposed dam and reservoir would do, is unacceptable. Responsible outdoor recreation, a resilient pillar of Colorado's economy, is abundant in the Valley and would be directly impacted by this misguided proposal.

The Homestake Valley is an extraordinary place that generations of activists have fought to protect. Thousands of local residents, other Coloradans, and supporters from across the country have benefitted from their foresight and are united again to protect this special place. No New Dams in the Homestake Valley!