“I am excited to sign this Executive Order that, building upon the work that’s already been done in our state, will take an eyes-wide-open and locally rooted approach to ensuring we remain a world-class outdoor destination while preserving our land, water, wildlife, and quality of life … this Executive Order will help create a long-term statewide vision and plan to provide all Coloradans with sustainable and equitable access to outdoor recreation, while accounting for the many factors that impact our landscapes, water and wildlife, including climate change.”
— Governor Jared Polis
PURPOSE
The Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI) is a network of regionally based coalitions known as “Regional Partnerships” bringing together broad interests to advance conservation and outdoor recreation priorities for their area. Collectively, Regional Partnerships learn from and elevate community-level perspectives, values, and priorities to inform planning and projects across the state. As of early 2024, 18 Regional Partnerships cover about 70% of Colorado's geographic area. With future grant cycles, this Intiative hopes to grow membership with coalitions covering the entire state.
Each Regional Partnership convenes broad outdoor interests with consideration for including tourism, recreation, wildlife, equitable access to outdoor recreation and nature, water quality, habitat health, cultural resources, and more. Many of the Regional Partnerships provide much-needed data and landscape-level perspectives for communities to use in short-term and long-term planning processes. The Colorado Outdoor Partnership (CO-OP) follows the Colorado Outdoor Principles and serves as the statewide advisory body for the Regional Partnerships Initiative. Established in October 2020 by Governor’s Executive Order B 2020 008, the goals of the Regional Partnerships Initiative are outlined in the Executive Order as follows:
● Ensure that Colorado's land, water, and wildlife thrive while also providing equitable and safe access to quality outdoor recreation experiences;
● Convene voices from different outdoor interests, races, cultures, ages, and sectors through Regional Partnerships to identify regional priorities and strategies;
● Collaborate to develop a State-level vision and plan for conservation and recreation that will inform future investments to conserve Colorado's landscapes, rivers, wildlife, sensitive habitats, and recreational opportunities.
GOALS
Participating Regional Partnerships and updates
Check out the StoryMap for the full RPI background.
Review the 2023 Annual Report on the Regional Partnerships Initiative to see grant recipients from past grant cycles, project updates, and progress, and overall information about the implementation of this initiative.
Review an in-depth landscape analysis and program evaluation of the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative as well as a summative review of the initiative.
Regional Partnership Map
● Central Colorado Recreation Partnership
● Gunnison Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation
● Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable
● Eastern Grasslands Coalition
● Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance (PPORA)
● Roaring Fork Outdoor Coalition
On January 16th, 2024, Governor Polis, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) announced grant recipients for the Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative establishing two new partnerships in south-central Colorado and the eastern plains. Read more about these announcements and find out more about future funding cycles here!