Moffat County and the Little Snake Field Office of the BLM recognize the growing interest and need to develop a "community based stewardship" model for managing federal lands in Moffat County, Colorado. Moffat County and the BLM are developing the NORTHWEST COLORADO STEWARDSHIP PARTNERSHIP. This partnership encourages the participation of a wide range of stakeholders and empowers them to identify federal land stewardship priorities and methods to implement identified priorities. This partnership developed from the need to reduce political posturing and legal arguments that have prevented the accomplishment of many meaningful on-the-ground projects. This Stewardship project focuses on collaboration of all interested stakeholders with a net accomplishment of responsible land management.

Documents have been published by Moffat County throughout the maturation of the Northwest Colorado Stewardship Partnership. The NORTHWEST COLORADO WORKING LANDSCAPE PILOT PROJECT, was a proposal in September of 2002, by the Moffat County Commissioners and the Moffat County Land Use Board regarding alternative methods for federal land management that emphasized the need for community participation in federal land management decisions. The Northwest Colorado Working Landscape Pilot Project developed from an initial proposal by the Moffat County Commissioners and Moffat County Land Use Board called the NORTHWEST COLORADO WORKING LANDSCAPE TRUST. The Northwest Colorado Working Landscape Trust was published December, 2001. This Trust was the result of a request by Colorado Counties Incorporated to have all counties in Colorado, that had wilderness area proposals within their boundaries, to hold public meetings and develop a recommendation regarding those proposed wilderness areas.