The Palisade is a three-mile (4.8-km) long

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

Mesa County, Colorado Mesa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 155,703. The county seat is Grand Junction. The county was named for the many large mesas in the area, including Grand Mesa. Mesa County ...

, located slightly north of the town of Gateway. Its elevation is . It is the most prominent geologic feature in both the eponymously named The Palisade

Area of Critical Environmental Concern Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is a conservation ecology program in the Western United States, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ACEC program was conceived in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (F ...

and The Palisade Wilderness Study Area. The region is a diverse area spanning vertical

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...

s, deep rugged canyons and flat desert valley bottoms. The area is protected for peregrine falcon and

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...

breeding areas as well as Gunnison sage-grouse habitat. It is also managed for the preservation of sensitive plant species.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palisade Buttes of Colorado Mesa County, Colorado