The main environmental concerns in the SR region are related to animal conservation, mining/pollution, and increasing population spread.

For example, examine these two photos. The top picture was taken in the landscape's original form. The bottom picture was taken after off-roaders had desecreated the area.

However, off-roading is simply an offshoot of the ever-increasing road systems through the Southern Rockies that continue to encroach on animal habitats.

The map below details the road systems throughout the SR, but is far from complete.

For the next thirty years, SVM was mined solely for gold underground. The mine was then abandoned until the 1980's (like many mines), when new technology allowed companies to extract the gold with advanced techniques. At SVM, cyanide heap leach techniques were used, in which ore from the pits were crushed and placed on a heap leach pad overlying a protective liner. Cyanide solutions were sprinkled onto the heap and trickled down through the crushed ore, dissolving the gold. The processing solutions were then collected from the base of the heap leach pile, and the gold was chemically extracted from the solutions.

However, the new practice to extract the gold began to backfire. The cyanide solutions used to dissolve the gold began to leak from underneath the leach pad into the Wightman Fork of the Alamosa River. Dumps on the site also contributed to groundwater pollution. In addition, cyanide solutions leaked directly into the Wightman Fork several times out of transfer pipes.

Active mining eventually ceased, and while the Summitville Consolidated Mining Company, Inc. (SCMCI) initially attempted to help fix the damage, it declared bankruptcy in December 1992 and abandoned the mine site.

At the request of the State of Colorado, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) immediately took over the site under EPA Superfund Emergency Response authority and increased treatment of the heap leach solutions, thereby averting a catastrophic release of cyanide solutions from the heap. Summitville was added to the EPA National Priorities List in late May 1994. The total cost of the cleanup has been estimated to be from US $100 million to $120 million.

The environmental problems at Summitville have been of particular concern due to the extensive downstream use of Alamosa River water for livestock, agricultural irrigation, and wildlife habitat. Increased acid and metal loadings from Summitville are suspected to have caused the 1990 disappearance of stocked fish from Terrace Reservoir and farm holding ponds along the Alamosa River. The Alamosa River is used extensively to irrigate crops in the southwestern San Luis Valley. Important crops include alfalfa (used for livestock feed), barley (used in beer production), wheat, and potatoes; there has been concern about potential adverse effects of the increased acid and metal loadings from Summitville on the metal content and viability of these crops. The Alamosa River also feeds wetlands that are habitat for aquatic life and migratory water fowl such as ducks and the endangered whooping crane; there are concerns about Summitville's effects on these wetlands and their associated wildlife.

There are also government-sponsored programs that help rectify the effects of mining on Colorado. One such program is the Mine Subsidence Protection Program.

As stated on the site: "The Mine Subsidence Protection Program was established to pay for damage to Colorado homes that results from coal mine subsidence. The federal government, which shares reclamation fees levied on current coal production with the states, has given Colorado a $3 million grant to establish the Program. The money, invested in a trust fund, is designed to provide a self-sustaining fund to cover claims and help offset administrative costs. A private company is contracted to handle enrollment and program details. Over 1,000 participants are currently enrolled in the program."

Ecoterrorism is a new response occurring in Colorado due to the environmental harm industry and urban sprawl have been wreaking upon natural habitats:

One ecoterrorist stated the following:
"The legal process isn't working. There's a lot of money against the environmental movement and there's a lot of propaganda that the average environmentalist is a bleeding heart. As more conventional and legal methods of saving planet Earth are failing, it becomes necessary to force the issue."

November 27, 2000 – Longmont, CO, USA: Fire hits one of the first luxury homes going up in a new subdivision. The Earth Liberation Front later sends a note, made of letters clipped from magazines, to the Boulder Weekly newspaper: "Viva la revolution! The Boulder ELF burned the Legend Ridge mansion on Nov. 27th."

October 1998 – The Earth Liberation Front set fire to a ski facility in Aspen, Colorado, causing $12 million in damage. Text of an e-mail sent from ELF to the Vail, Colorado sheriff's department and various media outlets:
"ATTN: News Director, On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, October 18th. The 12 miles of roads and 885 acres of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas. For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansions. Earth Liberation Front."