The "Biophysical assessment for indemnity selection of federal lands in Colorado: Potential species of management concern" dataset summarizes the species (federally threatened or endangered species, Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sensitive species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Birds of Conservation Concern, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife big game species) that have the potential for occurrence within 89 Indemnity Units. The Indemnity Units are federal lands, currently managed by the BLM, under consideration for transfer to the State of Colorado in compensation for federal lands not available for transfer at the time of statehood. We compiled information on documented occurrences, habitat (seasonal, specialized, and general), and overall ranges for all 179 species or subspecies identified by the BLM as species of management concern in Colorado. The compiled information was used to determine the species that have the potential for occurrence on each Indemnity Unit. The results indicated that 72 species had documented occurrences or habitat within at least one Indemnity Unit. This dataset includes the data type used for each of the 72 species to determine the potential for occurrence in each Indemnity Unit. The dataset format is a comma-separated values (CSV) text file, which can be joined with the "Indemnity Unit locations" dataset (via the IU_Code) or used independently. Additional information on data sources and processing for this dataset is provided in the SupplementalMethods.pdf included with this data release.