Welcome to the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative (OPPI)
Thank you for your interest in the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative (OPPI)! OPPI is an extensive regional planning process that aims to protect and enhance the Pikes Peak region’s iconic landscapes and abundant recreation opportunities as significant contributors to quality of life and economic vitality. To learn more please explore this page, StoryMap, video, or full plan. If you are looking for a specific part of the plan or resource, use the Table of Contents to help navigate this page.
We are currently seeking feedback on the draft Vision Plan so please review the plan and provide your comments through the Feedback Form. The deadline for comments on the draft OPPI Vision Plan is June 1st.
Outdoor Pikes Peak Vision
Regional Strategies and Projects
Tools & Resources
Data Hub
A comprehensive library of recreation, natural resource, and tourism data and resources for the Pikes Peak region.
Mapping
Maps created to help inform the OPPI Vision Plan and serve as a community resource for planning and project development.
Project Criteria Framework
A framework to help guide and inform proponents, planners, funders, and land managers to determine a project's alignment with the region's values and priorities.
Prior Plans
An inventory and review of nearly 100 of the region's natural resource and recreation planning documents.
Management Models
Analysis of innovative recreation management models across the U.S.
Industry Stakeholder Report
Outdoor Industry data, perspectives, and benchmarks for the Pikes Peak region.
Colorado's Outdoors Strategy
A statewide plan for conservation, outdoor recreation and climate resilience.
Get Involved
Why it's important
We want to hear from you! As we move from planning to implementation we recognize that OPPI will only be successful with your involvement. Here are a couple of ways for you to share what’s important to you and any concerns you have: Sign up for OPPI E-News or email your feedback directly to the team!
Send us a message
About OPPI
Overview
The Pikes Peak region’s iconic landscapes and abundant recreation opportunities contribute significantly to quality of life and economic vitality. However, unprecedented front-range growth threatens both natural resources and recreational experiences. Not designed for sustained high use, outdoor infrastructure such as campgrounds and trailheads are overrun and insufficient for the demand. The challenges we were seeing before the pandemic have been greatly magnified now and the need for planning for our future has never been more important.
PPORA has focused on these issues and the need for planning over the last several years, launching the Pikes Peak Sustainable Recreation & Tourism Initiative, that included an objective of finding a collaborative planning grant to move the initiative forward.
Such a timely opportunity arose and the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance (PPORA) was selected as a Colorado Outdoor Regional Partner through the Colorado Outdoor Partnership to advance recreation and conservation planning for the Pikes Peak region in 2021. The Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnership is funded jointly through Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Great Outdoors Colorado and was developed to ensure that our state remains a world-class destination for outdoor recreation while preserving our land, water, wildlife, and quality of life.
The Regional Partnership goal: working to ensure that Colorado’s public and private lands, waters, wildlife and communities thrive while providing for equitable access and quality outdoor recreation experiences.
This multi-phased planning initiative seeks to bring together people, information, and innovative ideas to collaboratively address this region’s recreation and conservation needs and aspirations for today and the future, while also tackling the obstacles to implementation.
Mission
To collaboratively identify and advance priorities and innovative strategies to ensure the resiliency and improvement of our natural and recreational values for the Pikes Peak region’s future.
Our mission is accomplished through the convening, collaboration, and empowerment of outdoor interests across sectors.
Vision
The Pikes Peak region’s people and economy thrive through our united efforts to ensure the resiliency of the region’s public lands, water, wildlife, working farms and ranches, as well as sustainable world class outdoor recreation opportunities for all.
*For these purposes, the Pikes Peak region is loosely defined as El Paso County, Teller County, and Fremont County.
Values
To fully understand the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative, read through our core values and the principles that guide this effort. They can be found at the button below.
Goals
We identified and met 10 goals for the planning portion of the Initiative, outlined below. We are now in the process of setting implementation goals, so check back as these are added!
Convene a broad-based coalition or “Task Force” of cross-sector outdoor stakeholders to work collaboratively, engage through their insights and expertise, and champion the effort. Stakeholders represent local land managers, outdoor conservation and stewardship organizations, outdoor businesses, sportsmen and outdoor recreation advocacy or user groups, working ranches, tourism, etc.
Create and maintain a dynamic Outdoor Pikes Peak Data Hub as a communication tool that informs the planning effort, outdoor leaders, and the community with socio-economic, natural resource, and recreation and tourism information.
Develop a multi-layer mapping tool comprised of geographically-based data on natural resource and outdoor recreation data from credible sources to better inform planning. The purpose of the map is to identify and map both conservation and recreation data such as sensitive wildlife habitat, climate resilient areas, and existing recreational assets and amenities to help identify areas where trail and recreation development may be more or less suitable and areas where additional conservation efforts would be beneficial.
Evaluate past planning efforts, goals, and outcomes specific to the Pikes Peak region, with a deeper dive into those dealing with Pikes Peak massif and surrounding areas.
Invite and assess the needs and aspirations of land managers, stakeholders, and the general public as it relates to the preservation and use of the Pikes Peak region’s outdoor spaces.
Recommend a revised or alternative management and funding strategy specific to Pikes Peak massif and the immediate area, where high use and impacts are overwhelming land managers and impacting both natural resources and recreation opportunities.
Identify recreation and conservation priorities and the key projects that support those priorities across the Pikes Peak region.
Identify desirable and critical natural resource and habitat areas within the Pikes Peak region where additional conservation efforts would be beneficial.
Identify areas for potential opportunities for improved recreational amenities and capacity in the Pikes Peak region.
Create a sustainable recreation and conservation vision plan across three counties that
- Incorporates all of the above goals
- Serves as a unifying vision for preserving and improving the natural qualities and recreation opportunities of the Pikes Peak region
- Inspires stakeholders and the community alike
- Builds on the collaborative work that went before it
- Provides alignment and a platform for advancing priority projects
- Leads to sustainable partnerships that leverage limited financial resources across the public, private, and not-for-profit arenas
Leadership
PPORA raised up a Task Force of local stakeholders with varying perspectives across recreation and conservation to provide perspective, expertise, and leadership. The PPORA Advisory Council serves as an additional layer of perspective in the planning process. We also established two key partnerships for executing the first phase: the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the Colorado Tourism Office. We have engaged in the professional planning services of local consultants, N.E.S. Inc., to provide strategic support and expertise in this important planning process. During the second phase, a significant emphasis is on public engagement to learn from diverse perspectives and experiences to inform the process and help flesh out conservation and recreation priorities. We have hired Bachman PR to help facilitate the public engagement during this second phase.
Timeline
Timeline Overview
The planning process of OPPI spanned 3 1/2 years, from late 2021 to early 2025. We are now transitioning into a new phase of Implementation.
Frequently Asked Questions
OPPI is an acronym for Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative – the name for this project. It is a part of the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative, which encompasses coalitions from other regions across Colorado who are doing similar work. The Colorado Outdoor Partnership (CO-OP) started this Initiative as a way to empower local Colorado communities to determine and plan for their unique conservation and recreation priorities that will eventually inform a statewide plan. The CO-OP launched this effort in 2021, following authorization from Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance (PPORA) was selected as the convener for this region’s Regional Partnership.
The Pikes Peak region’s iconic landscapes and abundant recreation opportunities contribute significantly to quality of life and economic vitality. However, unprecedented front-range growth threatens both natural resources and recreational experiences. Not designed for the high use they are getting, outdoor infrastructure such as bathrooms, parking, trash receptacles, campgrounds, etc. are overrun and insufficient. Under-resourced land managers do their best with existing staff and funding to address these impacts and recreational planning needs, but management is an uphill battle.
Without a large-scope singular plan, thoughtful management, and adequate funding – the negative impacts from this increased use on the popular areas overwhelms the land managers for whom recreation is only one of many priorities. Their efforts then become necessarily focused on enforcement and mitigation from impacts rather than future-looking development of amenities in underutilized areas that would disperse recreation, providing the experience the public wants, while balancing the preservation and protection of our special places.
Recreation is not evenly distributed throughout the Pikes Peak region. Cities along the urban core, like Colorado Springs, are experiencing the Front Range challenges of balancing high use and impacts while some rural areas, such as Cripple Creek and Victor, are eager to develop recreation as an economic driver and develop recreation assets that could disperse recreation and create unique outdoor experiences for the public.
The challenges we were seeing before the pandemic have been greatly magnified now and the need for planning for our future has never been more important or urgent. The projections for growth along the Front Range and particularly Colorado Springs is significant. Colorado is expected to add 1.5 million new residents by 2030, and Colorado Springs is expected to be Colorado’s largest city by 2049. These new residents are coming for many reasons, but listed consistently at the top is the region’s quality of life and recreational opportunities.
What this means is more people, more outdoor usage, different types of usage and expectation, and a greater need to work together. This initiative seeks to create a pathway of balance between preservation and recreation. The urgency of the need is met with State resources that we’ve never seen before through the new Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative. We need to engage now through this statewide planning, as it is our best opportunity to effect change and plan for our future, with financial resources, tools, best practice sharing, and public private partnerships.
This plan takes a balanced approach to looking at the future – being neither a “conservation only” plan nor a “recreation only” plan. It is a thoughtful approach to bring all of the available, credible data to the table along with stakeholders, land managers, and the public to “to ensure the resiliency of the region’s public lands, water, wildlife, working farms and ranches, as well as sustainable world class outdoor recreation opportunities for all.”
There are 100+ plans within the Pikes Peak region that address components of conservation or outdoor recreation that have been completed over the years and are in some stage of implementation. These are great plans and still relevant in many ways. In fact, Phase One of this process included procuring and evaluating these plans, along with interviewing land managers with responsibilities for the plans, to better understand their priorities, challenges, and aspirations. All of these plans have been brought into the Outdoor Pikes Peak Data Hub – never before have all of these plans been available to the public in one place!
In addition to the land manager evaluations, those plans relating more closely to the smaller Area of Interest will serve as a building block to this Plan, to create one overall strategy for all entities to work together.
One other significant difference is that this Plan and Initiative has the support, commitment, confidence, and collaboration through its connection to the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative which was authorized by Governor Jared Polis, launched through the Colorado Outdoor Partnership, and funded jointly through Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Great Outdoors Colorado. Outdoor projects submitted to these entities will use the Plan to help determine alignment and community values as part of their evaluation. The Initiative is also connected to other regional partners and their plans across the state to inform a Statewide Conservation, Recreation, and Climate Resilience Plan by 2026.
Elevate the Peak is a planning process that completed in 2022. It was a collaborative effort of outdoor nonprofit organizations in the Pikes Peak region, facilitated by Palmer Land Conservancy. This high-level vision plan is the culmination of stakeholder interviews, public surveys, an economic impact review, and focus groups from the leaders of under-resourced communities. The resulting imperatives and strategies were designed “to inform current and future land conservation and outdoor recreation efforts in the Pikes Peak region.” We intend for it to do just that!
Elevate’s strong emphasis on hearing from local communities that are traditionally under represented in the outdoors makes it a particularly valuable complement to OPPI and building block on which to build this Plan. Ensuring that the findings from Elevate and other planning efforts inform OPPI and take it to the next step is key. See the “Goals” section of this web page to learn specific goals to be achieved by this Initiative.
Our planning effort is focused on Pikes Peak and the treasured natural resources and recreation “sheds” that extend down to the surrounding communities, including portions of El Paso, Teller, Fremont, and Douglas counties. Chapters of the Plan will more broadly encompass El Paso, Teller, and Fremont counties, such as a compilation of what we heard from listening sessions and the distilled priorities for both conservation and recreation.
A “deeper dive” focus for other Plan chapters, including existing plan document analysis and innovative management models, will drill down to a smaller area of focus that encompasses Pikes Peak and its area is not constrained by jurisdictional or geopolitical boundaries but rather inclusive of ecosystems and defined by established recreation areas. This focus area expands upon the footprint of the 1999 Pikes Peak Multi-Use Plan to include the majority of the Pikes Peak Ranger District. The northern boundary captures a small portion of Douglas County. The west boundary extends to Teller/Park county line. The south boundary captures portions of Fremont County. The east boundary is defined by the edge of the developed urban areas and the base of the foothills.
We definitely want to hear from you! While we have completed much of our community input, we are currently looking for feedback on our draft OPPI Vision Plan. You can find the draft at the top of this page. We also welcome feedback directly to the OPPI project team (see Get Involved section on this web page) and plan to have a Survey available there as well. We suggest that you sign up for our OPPI E-News to stay in the loop on developments and future ways to connect!
We want to know how you value and use the Pikes Peak region’s outdoors and what you want the future to look like. We want to know your aspirations, concerns, and priorities when it comes to our natural environment and special places, as well as what would improve your recreational/outdoor experience. We want to know your ideas on how to increase funding needed to maintain our existing outdoors as well as future upgrades.
This plan is designed to be adaptive and evolve with our region. If you have a project that you see as a regional priority and good fit, first explore the “Project Criteria Framework” to build out an understanding of what was considered with the other projects and then reach out!
Yes! All of the above. Through community listening sessions and surveys, we want to know what matters to you – be it trails, types of outdoor use, the need to preserve special places, using your neighborhood park, etc. All of your input is valuable and will be added to other sources of information to help inform the Plan.
The Plan itself is a landscape-level view of the region, however, and will not drill down to the level of adding infrastructure to your local neighborhood park.
Yes! These are all very important aspects that definitely need to be part of the conversation and we want to hear your thoughts and concerns on these and other topics. It is a privilege to be able to enjoy the outdoors, but we must be responsible stewards of them as well to ensure long term sustainability for our future.
The entire planning process has encompassed nearly four years, with the first one completed between 2021 and 2022, the next major phase completed through 2023 and 2024 and the draft plan released in the spring of 2025.
We hope so! This plan is to create an open, honest, transparent, cohesive, and collaborative effort to include ALL affected and invested entities that use or live within the Pikes Peak region. We hope to have a framework of partnerships and structures that benefit all for today and future. We hope for this plan to identify specific funding mechanisms or to be used as a tool to attract funding.
This plan was funding by Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) through Regional Partnership grants. Implementation of this plan will also be heavily supported by these incredible partner organizations as GOCO has made $50 million commitment from 2025-2029.
OPPI has a Task Force of local stakeholders with varying perspectives across recreation and conservation to provide perspective, expertise, and leadership. The PPORA Advisory Council serves as an additional layer of perspective in the planning process. We also established two key partnerships for executing the first phase: the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the Colorado Tourism Office. We have engaged in the professional planning services of local consultants, N.E.S. Inc., to provide strategic support and expertise in this important planning process. During the second phase, a significant emphasis is on public engagement to learn from diverse perspectives and experiences to inform the process and help flesh out conservation and recreation priorities. We have hired Bachman PR to help facilitate the public engagement during the second phase.
Colorado’s Outdoor Strategy is a collaborative vision uniting public and private partners and stakeholders to advance conservation, outdoor recreation, and climate resilience across the state. While there is considerable overlap with OPPI, Colorado’s Outdoor Strategy specifically aims to:
- Advance shared goals, collective strategies, and statewide Coordinating
Partner actions for conservation, outdoor recreation, and climate resilience - Strengthen strategic funding and partnerships for the outdoors
- Catalyze and align statewide leadership and planning
Provide data, mapping tools, and resources to inform decision making,
drive action, and track progress
Amplify regionally rooted efforts and support local communities
10 Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy
This makes us confident that Colorado’s Outdoor Strategy will strengthen the work we have been doing.
The draft OPPI Vision Plan will be available for comment now until June 1. Over the Summer of 2025 we will be incorporating comments, sharing this plan with key partners including elected officials, land mangers, the communities of our region, and partner organizations. This will culminate in a finalized plan and we will move into implementation where we work to realize our regional vision for outdoor recreation and conservation.
Need support?
We may not have answered your question, so please feel free to reach out to share any additional questions.
Community Engagement
Community engagement serves as a fundamental building block for the OPPI planning initiative and was vital as we moved through the recommendation phase of this process. To ensure the community voices were heard across the region and also from our visitors, we held two series of listening sessions, conducted various surveys, met with our elected officials across the three counties, engaged focus groups for deeper engagement, and hosted pop up outreach events throughout the region.
To learn more about the community engagement aspect of this process, please see Appendix C: Community Engagement in the draft Vision Plan document.
We gathered all public engagement responses including individual and group responses at listening sessions, all individual survey responses, and email comments that have been submitted. The full spreadsheet of responses and public engagement report can be viewed below.