We at the Colorado Environmental Coalition (CEC) began brainstorming ways to celebrate the recent designation of the 210,000 acre Dominguez Escalante National Conservation Area (NCA) which includes the 66,000 acre enclosed Dominguez Canyons Wilderness, and we immediately thought, 'we need pictures, beautiful pictures. We needed to convey the magnitude of this protective designation, and our thoughts turned to EcoFlight.

The stunning overhead shots we captured that day provide a visual record of what makes this wild place so unique.  Specifically, the wilderness area's elevation range, from 4,800 feet along the Gunnison River to 9,000 feet on the Uncompahgre Plateau, results in great topographic and biologic diversity.
 
The ecosystems are as disparate as upper Sonoran desert along the Gunnison River and Douglas fir-aspen forests higher on the plateau, resulting in an equally diverse array of wildlife. From, mule deer, elk, black bear, pronghorn, and numerous upland game birds inhabiting the upper reaches of the area, to concentrations of bald eagles wintering along the Gunnison River.
 
The physical diversity of this landscape is rivaled only by the diversity of recreational opportunities found there.  The winding canyon bottoms offer over 30 miles of exploration for hikers, photographers, and horse-back riders; and the mesa tops provide magnificent vistas which include the San Juans, Grand Mesa, the West Elk Mountains, the canyon bottoms, and soaring sandstone cliffs. For the more scientifically minded visitor, the canyons and mesas are full of biological, archaeological, paleontological and geological points of interest. The area is rich in fossilized bones from the Jurassic Period - previous nearby finds include portions of Ultrasaurus, the largest dinosaur ever discovered.

In helping us put photographers in the air above this landscape, EcoFlight made it possible for us to capture the wonder of this scenic canyon and wildlife refuge.
               

 

Hydraulic fracturing, or 'fraccing', is a process that helps stimulate natural gas production in gasfields particularly for 'tight sands' and coalbed methane development and is used in many of the gasfields around the West.  Millions of gallons of fluid-a mixture of sand, water, and a 'proprietary' mix of chemicals-are injected into the ground at high pressure to fracture, or split, the sandstone and other gas-bearing formations  and allow higher quantities of gas to flow to the well and thus off to market. 

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