In a recent announcement by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), an innovative stride has been made with the launch of a statewide initiative aimed at engaging with Tribes and Native communities to discuss their priorities concerning state parks in Colorado, a move supported with a $50,000 grant awarded by the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board, as documented by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. This funding will specifically enable CPW to host a series of listening sessions to foster a deeper, more inclusive conversation on these publicly accessible lands, which are rich in ancestral significance to these communities.
Encapsulating the sentiments shared during GOCO's June commission meeting, Stacy Coleman, the Assistant Director for Tribal Affairs at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, emphasized the reciprocity inherent in land stewardship, stating, "If we take care of the land, the land takes care of us, and what better way to do that than through the relationship lens of community partnerships," Coleman told Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Emphasizing the grant's potential for community engagement, Dan Zimmerer of GOCO highlighted the alignment of the initiative with the state's outdoor strategy and GOCO's strategic planning efforts; “GOCO is pleased to provide funding to CPW for this statewide initiative," he added, "Not only does it support the goal of the Director's Innovation Fund by backing a first-of-its-kind effort, but it also advances priorities identified in Colorado's Outdoors Strategy and GOCO's new strategic plan."
Apart from the tribal engagement endeavor, the GOCO board doled out funds to five other projects which include a protective structure for a prehistoric fossil bed, a groundbreaking surveillance program for the endangered black-footed ferret in partnership with the Smithsonian and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, also a fresh drone-based method for controlling invasive flora species, an OHV stakeholder engagement project, and a pilot for monitoring gray wolf movements with drones to manage livestock conflicts, as CPW Deputy Director Heather Disney Dugan expressed these projects epitomize the very essence of CPW's mission for innovative conservation efforts.
