PPORA News Conference Transcript
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS REMARKS:
Thank you for your work on this project, and so many coalition members who are here and have amazing view of Pikes Peak, America’s Mountain, America the Beautiful. For so long, it’s inspired so many Americans and, of course, that includes people in our own backyard here in El Paso County And it includes tourists from across the country, across the world, which is an important part of our identity here in the El Paso County region. Thank you, Becky.
We are so excited to be working with the Pike Peak Outdoor Recreational Alliance. We’re joined also by Dan Gibbs and Jackie Miller from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and DNR the Department of Natural Resources. And of course, our federal partners as well. You know, earlier this year, I was in Colorado Springs to help launch our Colorado Outdoor Strategy that we laid out our approach really in a sustainable way for the entire state.
And this project and the work here is very consistent with our values there. How do we improve recreational opportunities for residents to have fun and also for the benefit of our economy, our local stores, our local restaurants, our local hotels? Pikes Peak, America’s mountain, is an iconic symbol of what Colorado is and our hopes and aspirations as Americans to climb higher. The grant we’re celebrating today for the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreational Alliance is part of that commitment that the state has to put our money where our mouth is and with support from local leaders like we have here today, we’re doing great work for conservation, resilience, fun, adventure-filled outdoor recreation, and economic success.
These improvements directly support the Pikes Peak experience for all who visit this inspiring site. In Colorado, we know that by working together, we can really upgrade our own outdoor areas, have sustainable visitation now and in the future, and it requires partnerships. And it’s partnerships like these that can really unlock that future for the Pikes Peak region and of course across the state of Colorado as well.
I couldn’t be more excited to be here representing the State as a key partner in helping to make the Pikes Peak experience an even more amazing one. Now I’m proud to turn it back over to Becky.
(Governors Press Release)
BECKY LEINWEBER REMARKS:
Thank you so much, Governor.
We appreciate your support more than we can say, your advocacy for our outdoors here for our Pikes Peak region. And I’m so excited to be here with all of you today. You know, there have been many moments when we’ve pinched ourselves lately that we’re here.
After a lot of work, four years of taking the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative and doing planning work, listening across our three counties to the public, to stakeholders, to land managers, leaning in on those challenges and trying to put together this vision that we all have gotten behind. And in August, we released that vision plan. And here today, we’re at that point.
So give yourselves a huge round of applause for getting to this point. What’s so exciting about this is we’ve taken that planning and now we’re moving to action. Now we’re putting that intention into reality, on the ground work.
And this work that we’ve done with collaborating with our partners, it continues. So this is a step, it’s a launch pad, but it continues long into the future. The grant that we’re receiving today is a three-year grant. The overall vision for OPPI is a ten-year vision. So there’s a lot of work ahead of us. So this is our first step in that.
None of this would take place without partners. We have some tremendous partnerships across this region. And like I said, there are so many faces in here, I could point you all out, who have leaned into this, who have really put their money where their mouth is, such as the state here, and really spent a lot of time and moved this effort forward.
But we do want to take the moment to celebrate two key partners, and that is Great Outdoors Colorado and the Department of Natural Resources, and within that, Colorado Parks and Wildlife. They have made this commitment Four years ago when we started this. We were one of the first four regional partnerships, and they made a commitment to us, and they are fulfilling that commitment. So this isn’t just a planning effort. It’s really taking action and making a difference collaboratively and moving all across the state, so we are just one of those partners.
So we’re super excited and grateful to both of you and the organizations that you represent. So why is this important? We know in the Pikes Peak region, really across Colorado, we have challenges in our outdoors, just like we do in our cityscapes, right? But we all need to be proactive about that and not reactive, and that doesn’t happen without all of us coming together to make sure that the growth that we start to see is benefiting all of our communities, that it’s benefiting individuals, but it’s also benefiting the communities and the larger landscapes. I could pick out several of you in this room, and I could say, why do you go outside? Share an experience of why you’ve been outdoors, and all of them will be a little bit different, but they will come along the lines of connection. Connection to my natural place. Connection spiritually. Connection to the history that goes before me. Connection to the people I love to spend time outdoors with. All of those pieces are why investing in our outdoors is so important. It brings business here. It brings workforce here. It brings visitors here, as the governor mentioned. But it also helps all of us who live here, who work here, who play here.
So that’s why this is important. And today, we’re moving into just an amazing time, where we’re taking from the heights of Pikes Peak to the depths of the Royal Gorge, a regional approach, and investing and saying, this is exceptional. The Pikes Peak region is exceptional, and it demands exceptional investment and exceptional attention.
And today, we’re taking that step forward to do just that. So some of you might be asking, well, so what is this project? What is this going to do? So I want to lean in on that a little bit, share with you some details, but I’m going to be high level. There’s just a lot that goes into this.
Our project partners are going to be available for news media and others to speak with to learn the real details. But high level, first of all, let’s talk about trails. So a big part of this effort is focusing on Ring-to-Peak Trail, our existing trail segments, improving those, making it a better user experience, making it safer, protecting our watersheds at the same time.
So we’re leaning in on those. We also want to make sure that we’re extending that trail and we’re filling some of those gaps. So we’re working on some new trail and a new trail head as well.
And then there are parts of the trail that aren’t officially recognized, and we need to make sure we go through the right steps to make sure the environment is protected and it’s in the right place and the right alignment. So we’re doing some of that work as well. And so that it’s sustainable for the long term.
Camping is another big piece. I bet a number of you enjoy spending time outdoors where you get to stay overnight. So camping is a great opportunity.
And on Pikes Peak, we do have a lot of camping opportunities, but it’s dispersed. So one of the things that we’re really focusing in on is expanding that camping all the way down across our Gold Belt Byway, too, down to Canyon City. So we’re working on camping management, we’re expanding campgrounds, and we’re scoping out other places where camping should be developed and provide opportunities for people to stay overnight.
Habitat is another core component. We’ll be investing in habitat improvements for bighorn sheep. It also benefits elk in the Dome Rock State Wildlife Area. You know, whenever you build a trail and people are coming to recreate, it does impact wildlife. So we’re trying to get ahead of that and make sure that they have good sight lines for predation. And we’re protecting them from disease as well by being able to spread out. It also has the added benefits of wildfire prevention when you’re thinning the forest. So lots of benefits for our habitat. And finally, there’s management, which really ties everything together.
And two key parts of that are a part of this effort. The first, and I’m so excited about this, is we are launching a year-round multi-jurisdictional outdoor ambassador program. This will be a three-year pilot, and this will put boots on the ground across the landscape and really help our land managers where they need it most and help users understand, get good information, so that they can steward and enjoy their experiences with information that they need, so that they’re in great places enjoying all that we have to offer.
So our ambassador program is going to be a great next step, expanding those boots on the ground for our land managers. But a second part of management you’ve probably already heard about, if you’re paying attention, and that is ongoing work around collaborative land management along the Ring to Peak corridor, including exploring a potential recreation area and how Colorado Parks and Wildlife can support partners across jurisdictions. The eight Pikes Peak land managers are meeting regularly and diligently working toward an agreement that could happen this year.
So stay tuned to see what happens with that effort. All of this is about taking an exceptional regional approach to caring for both the people and the places that make the Pikes Peak region so special. This investment represents a real turning point for the Pikes Peak region, as I’ve said, from planning to action, from vision to implementation.
We wouldn’t be here without our incredible partners, who I mentioned earlier, but they believed in this region, and they’ve been willing to invest in its future. So it’s my honor to invite up to the podium two people who have been instrumental in making that possible. Jackie Miller is Executive Director of Great Outdoors Colorado, and Dan Gibbs is our Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
They’re both going to come up and say a few words before we move to the ceremonial – I heard that’s the right term – presentation of the check representing the award. And I want you all to stay tuned, though. So don’t leave after that.
We’ll have a couple of photos. But then we have our founder of PPORA who’s going to come up, and that is David Lineweber, who is also a city councilman for Colorado Springs, and he’s also my husband. You might have heard him shush you earlier. So he’s going to come up, and then I’ll have some closing remarks. All right, Dan and Jackie.
JACKIE MILLER REMARKS:
So great to be here with you all today to celebrate this incredible milestone, not just for the region but for Colorado.
So for folks who might need a reminder, GOCO invests up to 50% of Colorado lottery revenue every year into statewide conservation, outdoor recreation, and stewardship projects. Together with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, GOCO is honored to have awarded $2.5 million for the Peak Exceptionalism Project and nearly $10 million to across the statewide regional partnership network to help advance projects that advance Colorado’s diverse outdoor recreation and resource needs. Investments like these are core to GOCO’s mission, protecting, caring for, and enhancing the outdoors in ways that deliver lasting benefits for our people, our places, and our wildlife.
PPORA has leveraged their passion, their local knowledge, their trusted relationships to create a vision for what’s possible in this region, and today marks an incredible leap forward in putting your ambitious plan into action. While enriching the Pikes Peak region, their efforts will also have statewide significance. Along with fellow regional partnerships, their work is moving us closer to a shared vision and shared goals identified in Colorado’s Outdoor Strategy, which we launched together right here in the Pikes Peak region in April of 2025.
Developed with stakeholders across the state, this strategy includes shared objectives, guidance, and tools to help us move forward together to ensure Colorado’s outdoors, people, community character, and ways of life endure for generations to come. Thanks to PQRA and the Pikes Peak community for their vision and their partnership in sustaining what makes this region and Colorado so special. We’re excited to celebrate all that you’ve already achieved and to continue our work together in the future. So, congratulations.
DAN GIBBS REMARKS:
Governor, Mayor, Colorado Spring’s Council members, county commissioners, key business leaders around here, thank you so much for your leadership and for being here. Jackie Miller, thank you so much for your amazing leadership.
It’s always a pleasure to serve on your board, and it’s just amazing to look at the amazing work that you do around the state of Colorado. Frank McGee, Southeast Regional Director for Parks and Wildlife, thank you so much for all of your leadership and working from day one, working with everyone in this community. I see Jody Kennedy.
Thank you, Jody, for your amazing leadership as well. Jonathan Asher, thank you in the governor’s office for your amazing partnership and working on this. I want to recognize the Pikes Peak Outdoor Regional Alliance and Executive Director Becky Lineweber.
Over the last few years, you’ve put a tremendous amount of work in collaborating locally with a wide range of groups. You’ve been the ones identifying the specific ways that the state can actually show up and work alongside federal and state and local, all the land managers that are involved. It’s because of that local grassroots leadership that we’re able to be here to announce this investment.
Through the Regional Partnership Program, we’re putting money towards the things that people care about, like more collaboration with recreational management and better facilities. We’re also making sure that wildlife habitat restoration and state lands are a priority and not an afterthought. To back that up with a GoCo investment, the governor’s budget this year, even with a really challenging budget this year, includes hiring a minimum of three full-time folks from Parks and Wildlife.
They’re going to be the boots on the ground to help work with Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Area and help manage the growing demand we’re seeing out there and continuing to build the already great relationship that we have with U.S. Forest Service, the City of Colorado Springs, and the counties that are here as well. These investments, combined with the thousands of hours that the Pikes Peak Outdoor Alliance partners have already put in, really serve as a model for how we can effectively implement our Colorado’s outdoor strategy. It shows that we can meet our recreation and conservation goals at the same time, that we can coexist together.
I’m really looking forward to coming back here, enjoying some of the trails. I can’t wait to bring my family to hike and enjoy the picnic spots and expanded camping opportunities. And I have to tell you, it was so hard looking at all of you because I was so distracted by these ladies here in the back of us.
So we’re just really excited to be here, to partner with you in this community, and thank you so much for your leadership on this.
PHOTO OP
GOVERNOR Q/A w/Media:
Q1 When you set in motion the regional partnership initiatives, this is the kind of thing you had in mind? Could you talk a little bit about that and how it may reflect itself across the rest of the state?
Response: Yeah, frankly, when we set up the regional partnerships, we really had this kind of collaboration in mind. This is, in many ways, the highest-profile, successful outcome of that work. There’s a lot of great work being done across the state, many areas that are going to local sun visitors. But none have the significance in the United States of America or in the entire state of Colorado as Pike’s Peak. And it’s really exciting to work with the Pike’s Peak region to help make this a reality.
Q2: Can you talk to us about how this is going to benefit the state and charge the lead for the other ones?
Response: Yeah, first of all, it benefits residents of the Pike’s Peak region, across the state, people who like to recreate on the mountain camp and bike and hike, first and foremost. Second of all, of course, there’s a lot of jobs in the Colorado Springs metro area that really rely on people coming here. And there’s a lot of great experiences from the Olympic Museum to the switchbacks to, of course, Pike’s Peak. And really making that able to sustain better visitation. When we say visitation, of course, it’s got to be sustainable, right? So a lot of this, in the campgrounds, a lot of that is cleaning that up, making it accessible, making it open, and how can we more successfully accommodate people.
Q3: You’ve talked about it before, this broader concept of CPW, managing recreation around Pike’s Peak. What do you see as the importance and or potential of that?
Response: So we’re a state where the federal government owns more than a third of our state. And we’re, you know, we love our public lands, but they are very hands-off and have very little ability to work with locals dynamically and quickly to do things.
Things take a long time going through Washington. So really by having this kind of collaboration, we want to be able to provide more active management to meet the local community needs through Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which, of course, already manages our 42 state parks, our wildlife areas. This is very much the core work that Colorado Parks and Wildlife does.
Q4: So how do you think that this grant and this money will kind of help connect everything from the Pike’s Peak region to the gambling district to Camden City rural boards? How will the money help kind of incorporate everything that there is to do and then add to it?
Response: Yeah, I saw my friend Dan Williams from Teller County is here, so good to have you. Obviously, when we’re talking about marketing the tourism experience, it’s a regional experience. And we want families from across the country, the world to, you know, spend a weekend, right? It may be Denver for a couple days, Colorado Springs, it may be Royal Gorge, it may be Teller County. I mean, you know, how do they plan that special Colorado trip for themselves and their family? And of course, that’s also something that our local residents love to take advantage of. So it really is both a synergy between what’s fun for Coloradans and what can also help attract business and investment from other places. Great.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
SUPPORTING QUOTES:
“This is a very exciting moment for our community and region. The GoCo investment will unlock millions of dollars in opportunity and position the Pikes Peak Region as more than a destination- It will be a place where recreation, conservation and community thrive together.”
CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS, LYNETTE CROW-IVERSON, COUNCIL PRESIDENT & AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
“This project is about building a more vibrant Pikes Peak region and creating places that bring people together. It represents a smart economic investment and smart growth by leveraging outside funding, creating local jobs, strengthening our tourism industry, and creating long-term infrastructure and recreation areas that benefit the entire community. At its core, this effort reflects what’s possible when public leaders, private partners, and the community align around a shared vision. But it’s also personal to me. I’m a fifth-generation Colorado native and Pikes Peak has been my neighbor my entire life. The Pikes Peak Recreation Area would make Colorado Springs and the surrounding region an even better place to live, work, and raise a family. And that’s a goal everyone should be working to achieve.”
ROTH BRANDS AND VENU, JW ROTH, LOCAL ENTREPRENEUR & FOUNDER
“We are thrilled to support PPORA’s newest initiative, the Peak Exceptionalism project. PPORA’s vision to optimize recreation and conservation on Pikes Peak is a key component of our larger Destination Master Plan that is intended to increase visitor length of stay and disperse visitation across all seasons. Together with their partners, PPORA is heading toward a future that will bring more visitor satisfaction and improve quality of life for residents for many generations to come.”
VISIT COLORADO SPRINGS, DOUG PRICE, PRESIDENT & CEO
“PPORA brings region-first leadership that we are proud to support. It expands access, strengthens the crown jewel of our regional parks, trails, open space, and wilderness assets, and grows the outdoor economy across the great state of Colorado.”
“As a landowner and manager of critical utilities infrastructure on Pikes Peak, we are vested in the collaborative decision-making process that is essential for developing enhanced recreation in this important watershed. Funding received through this grant will assist with trail improvements in the North Slope Recreation Area that will help balance increased recreation with the continued safe operation of our reservoirs.”
COLORADO SPRINGS UTILITIES, CHRISTOPHER OLNEY, SENIOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS SPECIALIST
“The Colorado Springs Sports Corporation is excited to support PPORA as they lead the way in elevating outdoor recreation across our region. Their work aligns with the spirit of Olympic City USA: active, connected, and full of possibility. At The Sports Corp, we’re proud to champion a future that invites everyone to get outside and thrive.”
“The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC is proud to celebrate this investment because Colorado Springs and El Paso County’s outdoor assets are a core driver that fuel workforce attraction and long-term competitiveness. This funding strengthens the infrastructure and partnerships that allow our region to grow responsibly while protecting the natural amenities that businesses and talent expect.”
COLORADO SPRINGS CHAMBER & EDC, DANI BOLLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
“The Royal Gorge Bighorn Roundtable, a collaborative focused on the natural resources in Fremont County, is excited to get to work on these much-needed high priority projects that wouldn’t be feasible without these funds and the great collaborative work that the regional partnerships support. ”
“This $2.5 million grant from the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative represents a pivotal milestone in realizing the shared vision of the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative, transforming years of collaborative planning into tangible on-the-ground progress for recreation, conservation, and economic vitality across our three-county region. As Board Chair, I am profoundly grateful for the work of past and present leadership of the PPORA team, our dedicated partners, and the state support from Governor Polis, Great Outdoors Colorado, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife—this investment not only advances immediate priorities like Ring the Peak trails and wildlife habitat restoration but serves as a powerful catalyst for hundreds of millions in future public and private funding to secure outdoor exceptionalism for generations to come.”
PIKES PEAK OUTDOOR RECREATION ALLIANCE, DR. JD MCKENNA, BOARD CHAIR
“RMFI is thrilled and grateful to be a part of Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative’s Peak Exceptionalism project. As a part of the project, we look forward to supporting the multijurisdictional OPPI Ambassador program, serving El Paso, Teller, and Fremont Counties. Look for OPPI Ambassadors on the trails starting this year as they provide outreach, education, and hands-on maintenance on your public lands.”
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FIELD INSTITUTE, SAM HINKLE, MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR