The Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action (WCA) is an environmentalist activist group promoting left-of-center social and governmental policies in the Western Slope areas of Colorado.  ¹ It focuses largely on environmental and land use issues, and generally opposes development of Western lands. ¹

It was formerly known as the “Western Colorado Congress,” changing its name in 2017.  ¹

Background

The Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action is a left-of-center environmentalist activism and advocacy organization based in Grand Junction, Colorado. ² It was formerly known as the “Western Colorado Congress,” changing its name in 2017.  ^{1 3}

WCA’s board of directors was largely made up of community activists as of 2025. ⁴

Advocacy and Activism

While it is active in a variety of left-of-center policy areas, the Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action is primarily focused on advancing left-of-center environmental and land-use policies in Colorado and the Mountain West.  ¹ It is opposed to mining, oil and gas exploration and production, the sale of surplus federal lands, nuclear power, and logging, among other practices. ¹ It supports increased federal protection of lands against development, solar- and wind-energy subsidies, and increased regulation of water usage.  ¹

WCA opposes efforts by the second Trump administration to reverse a Biden administration change to the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands management priorities that puts conservation on an equal footing with productive uses such as energy production, agriculture, forestry, and recreation. ^{5  6}

In 2019, WCA members protested against the decision to move the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado. ⁷ The first Trump administration’s decision to move the BLM closer to the lands it regulates in Western states was supported by Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D), who had co-sponsored legislation to move BLM offices while in Congress.  ⁷

In 2017, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission updated natural-gas drilling regulations to loosen exploration and production rules near the site of a 1969 underground nuclear weapons test near Rulison, Colorado.  ⁸ The commission based its decision on decades of research and sampling data near the site, which showed no increased radioactivity.  ⁸ WCA opposed the updated rules, claiming that even an unidentified potential risk should be enough to impose significant regulatory burdens on natural gas producers in the area. ⁸

In 2016, WCA was part of a large labor union-backed coalition to pass Amendment 70, which increased the state’s minimum wage to $12 per hour. ⁹

In June 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee requested information from more than 200 nonprofit organizations that had received federal funding as part of its investigation into whether federal grants to these organizations had ended up encouraging or enabling illegal immigration. ¹⁰ The Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action was one of more than 600 organizations to sign a letter opposing the House committee’s request for information, labeling it as Congress “using unchecked power to chill constitutionally protected activity.” ¹¹

Funders

Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action has received funding from a number of high-profile left-of-center grantmakers, including Tides Foundation, Bluegreen Allliance, Western Organization of Resource Councils Education Project, Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable, Civil Society Institute, Earth Island Institute, Wilderness Society, Farm Aid, Western Conservation Foundation, New World Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, New Venture Fund, The Energy Foundation, Network for Good, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ¹²

1. “Who We Are.” Western Colorado Alliance. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://westerncoloradoalliance.org/who-we-are/.
2. Western Colorado Alliance. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://westerncoloradoalliance.org/.
3. “Western Colorado Congress (WCC).” Western Colorado Congress. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://www.wccongress.org/.
4. “Staff & Board.” Western Colorado Alliance, 2025. https://westerncoloradoalliance.org/who-we-are/staff-board/.
5. Blevins, Jason. “BLM Counts on Pent-up Demand, Offers More than 130,000 Acres of Public Land in Colorado for Oil and Gas Drilling.” The Colorado Sun, September 12, 2025. https://coloradosun.com/2025/09/12/blm-oil-and-gas-leases/.
6. Ross, Tracy. “White House to Reverse Biden-Era Rule Promoting Conservation on BLM Land. Here’s How That May Affect Colorado.” The Colorado Sun, April 22, 2025. https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/21/trump-public-lands-rule-colorado-bureau-of-land-management/.
7. Goodland, Marianne. “Bernhardt, Polis, Gardner, Tipton Cheer BLM Headquarters Move to Grand Junction.” Colorado Springs Gazette, September 21, 2019. https://gazette.com/2019/09/21/bernhardt-polis-gardner-tipton-cheer-blm-headquarters-move-to-grand-junction-c864ac03-9404-54ca-b241-d9c99be9c41c/.
8. London, Nell. “Drilling near the Site of an Underground Nuclear Blast Just Got a Little Easier.” Colorado Public Radio, November 7, 2017. https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/drilling-near-the-site-of-an-underground-nuclear-blast-just-got-a-little-easier/.
9. “Raised Colorado Minimum Wage.” Western Colorado Alliance. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://westerncoloradoalliance.org/timeline/raised-colorado-minimum-wage/.
10. Christenson, Josh. “Exclusive: House Panel Demands Records of More than 200 Ngos That Nabbed Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to ‘fuel’ Border Crisis.” New York Post, June 11, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/06/10/us-news/house-panel-demands-records-of-over-200-ngos-that-nabbed-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars-to-fuel-border-crisis/.
11. “Letter from NGOs.” House Committee on Homeland Security, July 16, 2025. https://democrats-homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_ngos.pdf.
12. Results of IRS Form 990 Schedule I Search for EIN 84-0837218 using ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?sort=best&form%5B%5D=IRS990ScheduleI&q=84-0837218&submit=Apply.