Efforts to clean up Colorado Springs’ trails and help them feel safer, will get a bit of a boost likely in the fall as new city park rangers start their patrols. 

The city’s new senior park ranger, a former police officer, started last week and will head up efforts to hire three more rangers, said Eric Becker, parks maintenance and operations manager. The new hires will patrol in vehicles in teams of two with a focus on the Midland and the Pikes Peak Greenway trails, both hot spots for complaints about homelessness. 

While homelessness is a complex issue, Becker said he expected the teams would be able to provide valuable help. The rangers will help enforce park rules and write tickets to enforce the camping ban, littering rules and other smaller infractions. He also expected the rangers will work closely with the police department’s Homeless Outreach Team. The rangers will not be armed and so safety will need to be on the forefront of their minds. 

“This is a new program and we have been very diligently working and we want to do it right,” he said. 

The new ranger program received $446,000 out of the city’s general fund during 2023 to get started and cover staff and two new vehicles, according to the city budget. Sales taxes support the city’s general fund, typically used for core city services. 

Former City Councilwoman Stephannie Fortune backed the program last year after hearing complaints from people who live in the southwest side of the city.  

“The constituents of District 3 have pleaded with us to find a way to take back the trails,” Fortune said last October. 

Fortune died in June from cancer. The appointed board member decided not to run for her seat in the April election because of her illness.

The parks department expects to have “boots on the ground” during September, Becker said, about a year after Fortune made her public pitch for the service.

The rangers will patrol when parks are busiest, such as mornings and weekends, Becker said. While the Midland and Greenway trails are expected to be focal points for enforcement, the rangers can work throughout the parks system and respond to complaints. 

Justin Trudeau, vice president of the Organization of Westside Neighbors, said he has seen problems with homelessness ebb and flow along the Midland Trail with enforcement. 

“Everybody is gone for a little period of time, but they tend to come back,” said Trudeau, who has been a trail user for 20 years. 

The perception around safety concerns has led residents to underutilize the trail, he said.

Trudeau would like the city to work more closely with residents who could help with cleanups and reporting problems as volunteers. 

While the city has been a model in dealing with its homelessness problems, he said, more work remains. 

“We need to address the underlying problem, we need to get people housed,” he said. 

Citizens can report problems in parks and other city infrastructure, such as potholes, at coloradosprings.gov/gocos.