Hybrid in-person (Woodland Park area) and online. Organized and led by Pikes Peak Outdoors. Posted for the group to reference.
State of the Outdoors (2027)
- Theme centers on the connection between outdoor access and public health; outdoor infrastructure framed as public health infrastructure.
- Scheduled for January 28, 2027, at The Pinery.
- Format includes main programming plus an outdoor expo (auction portion moved to the September Celebration and Awards).
- Partners invited to join planning committees and to participate in the expo. Sign-up available via QR code shared in the meeting.
Give Campaign partner events
- Trout and Trails — November 5 at Angler’s Covey (with Trails and Open Space Coalition and Rocky Mountain Field Institute). Includes fly-fishing activities, knot-tying, and adult beverages; proceeds split among the three organizations.
- Local Legends trivia — November 19 at Bristol Brewery, in partnership with the Women’s Mountain Bike Association.
- Indoor pickleball event — December 1 at Springs Pickleball East, in partnership with Rocky Mountain Field Institute. Beginner-friendly with introductory instruction; also falls on Giving Tuesday.
Regional Partnership Initiative (RPI) and land-manager collaboration
- Short-term MOU signed among Pikes Peak land managers. An RFP for technical consulting (covering Pikes Peak, Ring the Peak, trail connectivity, and camping) is expected to be released within about a week and remain open for roughly 30 days.
- Rosemont Reservoir groundbreaking (start of the Pikes Peak Recreation Area) was postponed due to weather and rescheduled as an invitation-only event. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is also evaluating additional properties for potential expansion of the Recreation Area.
- Ute Pass Trail (El Paso County) tracking toward substantial completion by the end of the month, weather permitting; this is the first RPI implementation-grant capital project expected to finish.
- Ambassador program continues collecting visitor interactions; data is moving into the regional data hub.
IMBA Ride Center designation effort
- Focus is solely on evaluating existing, approved system trails (no new trail proposals). Goal is to recognize the region’s range of trail experiences and benefit multiple user groups.
- Pin location set at the gateway to Pikes Peak Highway (30-minute drive radius to trailheads).
- Small review group finalizing the trail list on Monday, with land-manager and COTREX cross-checks required to exclude unauthorized trails.
- IMBA evaluation visit targeted for October 28–30. Partners invited to help with hosting, social/networking components, and overall support for the evaluation.
- Designation is intended to support tourism, family-friendly experiences across skill levels, and potential future upgrades as additional projects come online.
Regional visitor data and data hub
- Combines ambassador interactions, trail-counter data, and mobile-location data.
- Locations for mobile data have been identified with land managers and submitted; quarterly reports planned.
- Once access is established, up to seven years of historical mobile-data trends will be available.
- All streams will feed the same regional data hub for insights on visitor numbers, origins, and patterns.
Trails Preservation Alliance trail-crew update
- Statewide multi-use trail crew (three field members plus management support) stood up in 2025 and funded primarily with private dollars.
- 2025: 15 six-day hitches with 18 BLM/Forest Service districts and field offices.
- 2026 season (through 13 of 18 planned hitches): substantial tree removal in burn areas, drainage installation, sustainable reroutes, and rehabilitation of unauthorized routes.
- Local example included partnership with mountain-bike and motorized groups on multi-use trails in the Pikes Peak Ranger District.
- Separate UC Health–led OHV safety outreach (with Stay the Trail and others) has produced measurable reductions in OHV-related hospital cases in the Pikes Peak area through trailhead education, equipment giveaways, and public messaging.
Teller County projects
- Pine Stone Ranch (~675 acres, recently acquired by Palmer Land Conservancy) is in early planning and study. Teller Trails Team is providing stewardship and on-the-ground oversight. Public access is not expected immediately; longer-term ownership transfer and opening timeline remain undetermined (influenced by a GOCO loan repayment window of roughly three years). Partners asked to help prevent trespassing.
- Separate 120-acre open-space property (city-owned) is advancing toward permanent protection via conservation easement with Palmer Land Conservancy; trail planning underway with Teller Trails Team.
Regional project-and-priority mapping
- Discussion postponed to the November meeting.
- Goal is to identify shared priorities, geographic intersections, and opportunities for collaboration or joint funding (including possible Sentinel Landscape linkages). Partners are asked to come prepared to share current or planned projects so resources can be better leveraged regionally.
Pikes Peak Outdoors video and other notes
- B-roll footage of outdoor activities (motorized, paddling, fishing, biking, hiking, etc.) is being collected from partners.
- Filming session scheduled for October 21 at Rampart Reservoir; volunteers interested in participating (paddleboarding, hiking, camping, birdwatching, etc.) are invited to reach out.
- Next Advisory Council meeting moved to November 18 (Wednesday) at Colorado Parks and Wildlife due to Veterans Day on the regular second-Wednesday date.
- Partners encouraged to share events and updates for the newsletter and post-meeting notes.
