Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission approves $6.4 million in motorized trail grants
DENVER - Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 2024 - 2025 OHV Trail Grant funding award recommendations were approved for $6.4 million to fund 59 trail projects across Colorado. The grant funding represents over 98,000 trail crew hours and comes from Colorado OHV registrations and the federal Recreational Trails Program.
“This is literally OHV dollars going right back into the trails,” said CPW Assistant Director of Outdoor Recreation and Lands Fletcher Jacobs. “This year we funded 33 maintenance trail crews across the state, 26 of which are Good Management crews, which allow our federal partners at the United State Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to get much needed consistent funding for trail crews. We were also excited to fund 20 weeks of youth corps crews that helps us to not only protect resources, but also allow young adult corps members to be exposed to careers in natural resources.”
Some of the highlights from this year’s grant award winners include:
Stay The Trail Education & Stewardship Alliance Project - $235,711
Funding will be provided to continue and enhance the Stay The Trail Campaign which promotes responsible OHV recreation through educational programs, stewardship projects, direct user contacts, and resource protection/mitigation. The campaign will also work in bordering states in an effort to target and educate the many out-of-state trail users who visit Colorado.
Sawyer Training 2025, Pikes Peak Ranger District - $31,648
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) requires all individuals operating a chainsaw to hold either a National Wildland Fire Chainsaws (S-212) or Developing a Thinking Sawyer certification to operate a chainsaw on Federal Lands. Pikes Peak Ranger District employees will provide four training courses to teach and certify sawyers (woodcutters) from partners, clubs, volunteers, state, or federal agencies, so they may operate on federal lands. This will enable these certified individuals to do important trail work and clear trees from Colorado’s OHV trails.
Megawatt Moto Complex Track Maintenance, Northwest Colorado Trails Corp (NWCTC) - $56,742
The Megawatt Moto Track is located in Craig, CO. NWCTC has been awarded equipment and materials necessary to provide weekly maintenance for practices as well as a race-ready track. NWCTC provides youth and their families a location to ride their OHVs outdoors and even hosts a summer Youth Racing Series which just concluded this month.
Good Management Grant, McInnis Canyons & Dominguez Escalante National Conservation Areas (NCA) - $120,000
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grand Junction Field Office and McInnis Canyons & Dominguez-Escalante NCA staff will continue to provide trail maintenance and signage on approximately 150 miles of open OHV routes located within the Cactus Park, Rabbit Valley, the Hunting Grounds, Escalante Canyon and Sawmill Mesa Recreation Management Areas. In addition to maintenance, the crew will construct 6 miles of Ponderosa Loop trail that will connect the trail system around a wildlife closure area in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Dolores Good Management Trail Crew, Dolores Ranger District - $90,000
The San Juan National Forest Dolores Ranger District’s Trail Crew is responsible for the maintenance of over 200 miles of motorized Forest Service trails and has provided trail stewardship for nearly two decades as a Good Management grant recipient. The Trail Crew will continue to provide trail maintenance, manage safety issues, and address resource concerns.
A complete list of the 2024 – 2025 OHV Trail Grants is available here.
About the grant process
The Colorado State Trails Committee is responsible for the review process for the trail grant applications and makes recommendations to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission regarding funding for grants.
The OHV/motorized trail grant selection process follows a four-tiered review and approval protocol. All grant applications are first reviewed by CPW wildlife field biologists and regional CPW staff. This process allows CPW to flag potential wildlife issues prior to the review by the subcommittees. While concerns may be flagged during this review, CPW’s field staff attempts to resolve these concerns prior to the subcommittee’s review. Next, applications are evaluated by the OHV Grant Review and Ranking Subcommittee to score and rank the OHV competitive grant applications in order of their recommended funding priority. The ranked applications are then passed to the Committee to evaluate the applications in ranked order and recommend funding strategies to the Commission. The Commission provides the final approval to the funded projects. This process invites public review and comment at four separate stages: upon submission, before the subcommittees, before the State Trails Committee and before the Commission.
Click here for more information about CPW’s Recreational Trails Program.
###
Left: Pikes Peak Ranger District Sawyer project. Courtesy of PPRD
Right: BLM Grand Junction Field Office Good Management Crew. Courtesy of GJFO
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 43 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW's work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.