Rocky Mountain Field Institute

Background Statement

Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region are home to some of the world's most renowned treasured natural landscapes including Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Barr Trail, and many others. The Pikes Peak Region sees an estimated 5.3 million visitors per year with a significant upward trend predicted over the next decade. The majority of these visitors travel to the region to explore the vast systems of trails, parks, forests, and open spaces. According to a public opinion survey conducted by the City of Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department in 2014, 90% of respondents stated they visit parks, trails, or open spaces within the city at least once per week. Remarkably, 41% of respondents indicated they visit parks, trails, or open spaces more than 4 times per week.

While a tremendous asset from a quality of life and aesthetic point of view, the abundance of natural resources in the Pikes Peak Region presents significant challenges in the form of increased visitation and threats from wildfires and other natural disasters. In the past 3 years, Colorado Springs has experienced some of the worst natural disasters in the state's history. In 2012, the Waldo Canyon Fire burned over 18,000 acres including nearly 350 homes just west of the city. The very next year, the Black Forest Fire scorched over 14,000 acres northwest of the city and resulted in the loss of 486 homes and 2 lives. This fire remains the most destructive fire in the state's history.

Coupled with these catastrophic wildfires are post-fire flooding events that continue to pose significant threats to life and safety in downstream communities. Major flooding events have occurred within the city and surrounding communities since the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012, culminating in the historic May 2015 rains that delivered over 12 inches of precipitation to the city and surpassed the previous record held since November 1894. While substantial restoration and stabilization work has been conducted by RMFI in the burn scars and other areas affected by flooding and increased use, the process is ongoing. With regard to the burn scars, it is estimated it will be 80 years before the areas return to their pre-fire conditions. Consequently, a commitment to long-term restoration efforts is critical.

Colorado's outdoors face additional and growing threats on a number of other fronts as well. Increasing population, development pressures, and declining budgets in public agencies challenge the effective management of public lands in the state. As these threats grow, the possibility exists that increased degradation of these lands will make them less inviting and potentially irrelevant to future generations, eroding the very constituency needed to protect them. Insufficient stewardship of these lands could have a real and significant impact on Colorado's economy.

The 2014 Colorado Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan report concluded the quality of outdoor recreation in Colorado is closely tied to effective stewardship and management of natural resources. With the capacity of public land management agencies dwindling, increasing reliance has been placed on nonprofit organizations like RMFI to fill the gaps with regard to conservation, restoration, and maintenance. According to the 2014 public opinion survey conducted by the City of Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department, respondents rated improved maintenance of existing parks and open spaces as their top investment priority over the next 5 years.

Since 1982, RMFI has been a key player in the conservation, stewardship, and maintenance of Southern Colorado's public landscapes that not only define Colorado Springs, but the surrounding communities and region as well. Our restoration model centers on community involvement as a means of connecting people to the outdoors, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and fostering an ethic of environmental responsibility and stewardship that can be passed down from generation to generation. We tackle a diverse array of projects including trail construction and maintenance, post-fire restoration and stabilization, sustainable climbing and recreation access, habitat protection, and many others. We work closely with a wide variety of partners including land management agencies, organizations, businesses, nonprofits, and others to maximize our impact on the ground.