Title
Resolution of Support for the City of Colorado Springs’ Application to Great Outdoors Colorado for the North Cheyenne Cañon Park Stewardship Program
Presenter:
Tilah Larson, Senior Grants Analyst - Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services
Karen Palus, Director - Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services
Body
Summary:
The Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI) and Friends of Cheyenne Cañon (FOCC) seek grant funding from the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Stewardship Impact Grant program. The exact grant funding request will be determined once all partners provide cost proposals, with an anticipated total request of $150,000 - $175,000 based on preliminary budgets. The grant provides for project and programming implementation over 3 years, from 2019-2021.
Previous Council Action:
N/A
Background:
GOCO’s Stewardship Impact Grant:
Colorado’s popularity as a place to live, work, and play has increased substantially in recent years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Faced with this reality and amid federal and state funding shortfalls, GOCO aims to improve the condition of our state’s lands by providing grants for outdoor stewardship projects that demonstrate meaningful improvements to the state’s ecological and recreational amenities. The GOCO Board has allocated $1,000,000 for this inaugural grant cycle.
In an effort to strategically deploy resources to address meaningful stewardship outcomes, GOCO intends to fund projects that:
• take advantage of opportunities for collaboration among stewardship organizations, land managers, and community partners
• target a resource or location for stewardship, and scale-up from a project-by-project engagement model to a more comprehensive, prioritized effort at addressing resource stewardship needs
• increase capacity of existing stewardship organizations and provide opportunities for collaboration and mentoring among organizations
• solicit new funding sources to increase capacity and sustainability
• create opportunities to involve new populations and communities in stewardship work including deliberate and intentional actions to include populations not typically involved in stewardship
North Cheyenne Cañon Park Stewardship Program:
Funding sought will be used to implement programs and projects that address local stewardship needs through a multi-faceted approach that increases the capacity of volunteer stewardship groups, provides a unique environmental engagement opportunity for local youth, and implements resource preservation priorities identified in the North Cheyenne Cañon Park Master and Management Plan. These combined efforts will help create a model that diversifies volunteer engagement in order to address natural resource protection and restoration. Leveraging the strength of each organization, this proposal increases collaborative opportunities between the City, RMFI and FOCC and will lead to long-term successes of increasing volunteer capacity, engaging non-traditional groups in stewardship activities, and creating behavioral change and community ownership in public lands.
The primary elements of this proposal include:
• Addressing trail and ecological restoration needs identified in in North Cheyenne Cañon Park Master and Management Plan.
• RMFI and FOCC led trail and restoration projects that prioritize the involvement of community volunteers and youth in order to foster vibrant and healthy natural systems that are respected and cared for by the public.
• Advanced crew leader training opportunities, focused on building specific stewardship skills such as rock work, advanced trail building techniques, project planning.
• Cultivating a new generation of stewards by creating a youth corps program that engages high school youth not traditionally exposed to ecological and recreational opportunities.
This item supports the City’s strategic goal relating to building community and collaborative relationships by working with partner organizations to increase stewardship and community ownership of public lands.
Financial Implications:
As part of the grant’s requirements the City, RMFI, and FOCC will provide a match of cash and in-kind services to meet the minimum 25% match, of which 15% must be in cash. This amount will be comprised of $20,000 appropriated in the Trails, Open Space and Parks fund in 2019 and $30,000 anticipated for allocation in 2020 as part of the North Cheyenne Cañon Master Plan implementation funds.
Board/Commission Recommendation:
The Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Advisory Board voted unanimously to support the proposed resolution during their meeting held on January 10, 2019.
Stakeholder Process:
N/A
Alternatives:
City Council may choose not to not support the grant application.
Recommended Action
Proposed Motion:
Move to approve the resolution in support of the City’s grant application to Great Outdoors Colorado for the North Cheyenne Cañon Park Stewardship Program.
Summary of Ordinance Language
N/A