Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative · Article 2 of 24
The introduction does not ease into the problem. “Unprecedented front-range growth threatens both natural resources and recreational experiences. The challenges at hand before the pandemic have been greatly magnified, and the need for planning for our future has never been more important.”
The state context
Colorado has been an outdoor destination since statehood in 1876. The plan notes the average 300 days of sunshine and a dry climate as lasting attractors. From 1940 to 2020 the state population grew by 414 percent. From 1990 to 2020 it grew 75 percent. Jobs, housing, remote work, and the recreation assets themselves, the plan says, have kept the curve climbing. Population growth, tourism growth, and climate change are the three forces that pushed the state toward a proactive balance of conservation and recreation.
Three counties, different speeds
El Paso County’s population increased 41 percent from 2000 to 2020. Fremont County increased 20 percent. Teller County increased 6 percent. Douglas County, which borders the plan area on the north and is not inside the study, grew 103 percent in the same window. The plan treats that as relevant anyway: “it is safe to assume attrition from Douglas County occurs as recreators in the Pikes Peak region.”
Housing moved with the people. The three-county housing stock increased by 91,083 units from 2000 to 2020 — 42 percent in El Paso, 29 percent in Fremont, and 18 percent in Teller. The plan’s point is not the count itself. New housing means water, infrastructure, and “disruption to natural environment which ultimately affects conservation and recreation elements.”
The forecast
The Colorado State Demography Office projects the Front Range will add 1.6 million people from 2020 to 2050. El Paso County is expected to be among the top three counties for growth, with more than 200,000 additional people by 2050. A Gazette report cited in the plan, from November 6, 2023, carries the Demography Office forecast that El Paso County will reach 1,002,683 by 2049, and that the Colorado Springs metropolitan statistical area — El Paso plus Teller — will reach 1,003,957 in 2045.
The visitor economy
Longwoods International figures for 2023, as reported in the plan, put the outdoors as the number-one draw for visitors. People who participated in outdoor activities more than anything else accounted for $1.7 billion in spending ($1,699,298,550). In all, 24.8 million people visited Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region and spent $2.8 billion. Day trips totaled 13.5 million. Overnight visits totaled 10.5 million.
Those are the numbers the rest of the plan is written against. More residents, more houses, and a visitor economy already built on the outdoors. The question the Vision Plan keeps returning to is whether management, funding, and conservation can scale with that use.
Source: Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative Vision Plan 2025, prepared through the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance as the local Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnership, with support from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Great Outdoors Colorado. Project team: PPORA, Trails and Open Space Coalition, N.E.S. Inc., Bachman PR, and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Geography Department. The plan was written across a four-year process and released in 2025; some statistics reflect a point in time before publication. Introduction, pages 21–31.
