Colorado Front Range Area

A Landscape of Remarkable Diversity

Colorado’s Front Range stretches from the Continental Divide eastward to the Plains and from the Colorado–Wyoming border south to Pueblo. The region encompasses Larimer, Boulder, Broomfield, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Jefferson, Denver, Douglas, Park, Teller, El Paso, Fremont, and Pueblo counties.

Within this broad region are five major biological life zones—plains, foothills, montane, subalpine, and alpine. This remarkable range of elevations (approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) up to over 14,270 feet (4,350 meters), diverse habitats, and plant communities provides an equally remarkable variety of places for butterflies to live. The Front Range is home to a rich diversity of butterflies. Boulder County alone has verified records of more than 200 species, while approximately 226 species have been reported across the broader Front Range, based on records in Butterflies and Moths of North America.

A Growing Resource

This website currently features information on only a portion of the butterfly species found in the Front Range. Our goal is to continue expanding the site into a comprehensive, community-supported resource, with photographs and species information representing as many Front Range butterflies as possible.

We welcome contributions from lepidopterists, naturalists, photographers, butterfly watchers, and anyone curious about these remarkable insects. Observations, photographs, expertise, and encouragement all help build a resource that everyone interested in the butterflies of this region can share.

Photographers retain full copyright to their images. Photographs used on this website are credited to the photographer and are published with permission.

Join us in celebrating—and documenting—the butterflies of Colorado’s Front Range.

Copyright

For information about copyright or permission to use a specific image, please contact us.