Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) has allocated $500,000 to Colorado Parks & Wildlife to engage conservation corps on projects beginning July 1 (hey, that’s today!). The funding is part of an annual GOCO commitment totaling $1 million, of which half goes toward Local Government & Open Space corps projects. CYCA is excited to leverage this funding for a total of 43 projects in state wildlife areas and state parks across Colorado!
How do projects get selected?
CPW selects projects representing the greatest need and with potential for the greatest impact. Here is just a glimpse of the scheduled projects:
- Southwest Conservation Corps – Los Valles
- 2 weeks at Paddock State Wildlife Area: Timber removal and thinning
- 2 weeks at Creede State Wildlife Area: Hatchery building rehabilitation
- Mile High Youth Corps – Southern Front Range
- 1 week at Turks Pond State Wildlife Area: Turks Pond tree project
- 2 weeks at Mueller State Park: Cheesman aspen release and fire mitigation
- Mile
High Youth Corps
- 1 week at Roxborough State Park: Dakota Ridge Overlook Trail – vegetation removal and fence installation
- Southwest Conservation Corps – Four Corners
- 1 week at Ridgway State Park: Raised walkway and bear box installation
Project Accomplishments
Through the same grant last year, corps accomplished great results!
- Corps provided 17,770 hours of labor to complete 45 projects over 53 weeks
- More than 200 young adults worked on a state park project
- Participants serving on park or wildlife area projects were on-track to collectively earn more than $250,000 in AmeriCorps Education Awards
- Corps…
- constructed or maintained 20 miles of trail
- constructed or removed 19 miles of fence
- removed 8,596 trees
- removed 20.5 acres of invasive species
- completed 57 acres of fire mitigation
Look for updates like these next year!
In the meantime, we look forward to working with newly promoted CPW Director Dan Prenzlow and to continuing this partnership that is changing lives and landscapes across our great state of Colorado.
