Gov. Jared Polis, alongside state and local outdoor leaders, has announced a new state outdoors strategy focused on improving conservation efforts, recreational activities and regional collaboration.

Standing on a terrace overlooking Cheyenne Mountain, Polis applauded the release of the Colorado Outdoors Strategy, which will serve as a framework for the state’s recreation and sustainability goals. Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Executive Director Jackie Miller also announced a five-year, $50 million grant program between GOCO and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to implement the new outdoor strategy.

“Our future, really, as we all know depends on the health of our natural environment,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis. “Colorado’s strategy isn’t just a vision. It’s a practical framework for action that unites conservation, recreation and climate resilience that benefit both people and nature.”

As part of the project, the state has launched a resource hub with data relevant to the state’s outdoors industry. It will feature an interactive dashboard with information on conservation and recreation, as well as climate resiliency plans.

A major goal of the strategy is to make collaboration between state, regional and local partners more accessible with ample funding. Referred to as the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative, the plan hopes to inspire new approaches to preservation, encouraging inventive partnerships.

“The strategy, again, was built from the ground up, informed by these regional perspectives, and provides shared goals, tools and data to help the regions go even further,” Davis said. “They have shown us what is possible when local leaders, communities and stakeholders can work together.”

Another mission is to ensure equitable access to Colorado’s natural beauty for generations to come, especially in the face of climate change and population growth.

“It’s only as good as we make it good,” Polis said. “We look forward to continuing the work to make sure that we can protect Colorado’s amazing outdoors — a key part of our identity, our way of life and our economy, and we now have a strategy to do it.”