Designated a Colorado Natural Area in 2002, the Dakota Hogback/Dinosaur Ridge Natural Area in Jefferson County is a site of statewide, national, and international importance. It includes an array of dinosaur tracks, bones, and fossils that open a window into a lost world, as well as raptor migratory pathways with often more than 10 raptors per hour during migration, rare plants, rare tallgrass communities, and exposures of Colorado’s diverse geologic history. The Colorado Natural Areas Program, started in 1979 to identify and protect the state’s best natural areas, recognizes and conserves unique biologic, geologic, and paleontologic sites and assists state, federal, and private landowners through cooperative agreements and stewardship support. In 2007, the program obtained Colorado Lottery funding to assist the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge in protecting the site. Since the tracks were first exposed during road excavation in 1937, rock slabs had been slowly sliding and nearing collapse or degradation, so a stabilization project inserted rebar pins 12 inches deep to anchor the leading edge of the slabs and create a support structure that holds the tracks in place for the future.