Colorado voters this November will decide whether to direct a share of sales tax revenue from sporting goods — including bicycles and skiing equipment — toward land and water conservation, wildfire prevention and expanding outdoor recreation.

Supporters say the measure is needed to protect Colorado’s natural resources before further damage occurs.

If passed, Proposition 137 is projected to generate $175 million a year from sales taxes on equipment for activities like hunting, fishing, camping, cycling, boating and recreational sports.

Of that $175 million, $83 million will be allocated to wildfire prevention and water protection, $83 million will go toward water and land conservation, $4.3 million will go toward promoting economic development and workforce training for the outdoor recreation industry and $4.3 million will go toward increasing access to the outdoors for kids and families.

The coalition Vote Yes on Prop 137 backs the measure and includes environmental groups, outdoor recreation businesses, and prominent Colorado figures such as former Interior Secretary and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, former Gov. Bill Ritter, and former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.

Curtis Hubbard, the group’s spokesperson, said the state desperately needs more funding to protect its outdoors, especially after the recent droughts and wildfires.

“Colorado just recorded its lowest snowpack ever; our land is drier than ever before, and now we have a year-round wildfire risk,” he said. “We’ve had 300,000 acres of forests that burned this year in Colorado and that could cost taxpayers $250 million.”

Hubbard referenced a 2018 report by the National Institute of Building Sciences that found that every $1 invested in disaster mitigation saves communities $6 in recuperation costs.

“There’s a huge need and a need to act now, because everything gets more expensive over time,” he said.

In 1992, voters approved Great Outdoors Colorado or GoCo, which uses revenue from lottery ticket sales to fund grants and awards for outdoor conservation. To date, the program has invested $1.7 billion in projects across all 64 counties. However, according to Hubbard, GoCo just doesn’t have enough money to support all of the state’s needs.

“Colorado did a great thing 30 years ago when it established Great Outdoors Colorado and started protecting land across the state, but there’s a huge unmet need,” he said. “There’s just more need than we have revenue for.”

Hubbard said he’s spoken with outdoors enthusiasts statewide who support the measure.

“People, particularly people that live and recreate across Colorado, they need this and they’re happy to be supporting it and the good news is that it’s something we can do without raising taxes,” he said.

While no organized opposition to Proposition 137 has emerged to date, the League of Women Voters of Colorado told Denver7 last month that although the measure doesn’t raise taxes, it would divert money from other priorities.

The organization agrees the state needs more funding for conservation and wildfire prevention but argues that pulling dollars from areas such as education and healthcare is the wrong approach.