{"data":{"id":"us-co/c.r.s.-33-10-119","jurisdiction":"us-co","citation":"C.R.S. § 33-10-119","heading":"Parks and outdoor recreation capacity - outdoor recreation coordination, planning, and management - duties of the division - planning reports - legislative declaration.","body":"(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:\n\n(a) It is important that the division perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state, provide a high-quality state parks system, and provide enjoyable and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities that educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of the state's natural resources;\n\n(b) The division, pursuant to section 33-9-101, provides a comprehensive program designed to offer the greatest possible variety of exceptional and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities to state residents and visitors; and\n\n(c) The division is best positioned to serve as the state's coordinating entity for advancing implementation of Colorado's outdoors strategy, in collaboration with coordinating partners and other state, federal, and local government partners; tribal governments; and interested stakeholders, including local communities, private landowners, recreation and recreation provider stakeholders, conservation stakeholders, agricultural stakeholders, and wildlife and sportsperson stakeholders. In this role, the division should facilitate planning and data coordination among partners and stakeholders to support coordination and accountability in advancing the strategy's goals and vision.\n\n(2) The division shall develop and maintain the organizational capacity sufficient to effectively execute the duties and responsibilities described in this section.\n\n(3) The division shall:\n\n(a) Ensure that outdoor recreation needs are prioritized and represented within the leadership of the division; and\n\n(b) Develop the capacity of the division to increase coordination between outdoor recreation, wildlife, agricultural, and climate-resilience efforts and interagency planning and activities.\n\n(4) In implementing subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the division shall focus on the following goals:\n\n(a) Strengthening the division's capacity for coordinated recreation management, particularly at the regional level, to anticipate and work through potential conflicts, by coordinating and incorporating wildlife, conservation, recreation, and climate-resilience considerations across division planning and decision-making and in alignment with local perspectives;\n\n(b) Proactively engaging with state, federal, and local government partners; tribal governments; and interested stakeholders, including local communities, private landowners, recreation and recreation provider stakeholders, conservation stakeholders, stakeholders representing a disproportionately impacted community, as defined in section 24-4-109 (2)(b)(II), agricultural stakeholders, and wildlife and sportsperson stakeholders, to ensure that all perspectives and areas of expertise are considered in the division's planning and management processes;\n\n(c) Advancing and formalizing internal processes to better integrate recreation opportunities and resource management into the division's core operations, ensuring coordination between recreation access, agricultural working lands, and wildlife and habitat stewardship;\n\n(d) Coordinating and balancing the division's participation in external processes, including public planning, federal land management, and legislative engagement, to ensure that recreation, wildlife, conservation, agriculture, and community priorities are consistently represented;\n\n(e) Collaborating closely with coordinating partners to lead engagement with other state agencies to advance a coordinated and unified approach to enhancing outdoor recreation opportunities, management, and planning at the state level;\n\n(f) Proactively engaging with tribal governments through the framework collaboratively developed in Colorado's outdoors strategy, ensuring that tribal perspectives and priorities, treaty rights, and cultural priorities are meaningfully incorporated into statewide planning and coordination processes; and\n\n(g) Serving as a clearinghouse for information on voluntary best practices, tools, and strategies, including through advancement of the Colorado outdoors strategy toolkit, to support interdisciplinary and inclusive planning processes at all levels.\n\n(5) Consistent with the mission and directives of the division outlined in this article 10, and as the state agency with primary coordinating responsibility for exceptional and sustainable outdoor recreation planning, sustainable visitor use management, and regional partnership coordination, the division shall:\n\n(a) Provide proactive approaches to visitor use management, which approaches consider on-the-ground capacity to support visitor use management, maintenance, and coordination, to foster outcomes that support improved outdoor recreation opportunities and experiences, natural resource conservation, and protection of wildlife habitats and working lands;\n\n(b) In alignment with Colorado's outdoors strategy, support the planning, development, and maintenance of outdoor recreation facilities, infrastructure, and access improvements statewide, with the goal of enhancing sustainable and exceptional outdoor opportunities while protecting private property rights, agricultural operations on working lands, wildlife, and natural resources;\n\n(c) Coordinate and consult with local governments to identify potential impacts to services and infrastructure associated with outdoor recreation use, including opportunities to mitigate these impacts, communicate existing funding opportunities available through the division, and give appropriate consideration to local government priorities, jurisdictional authorities, and regional planning efforts to ensure a cooperative and complementary approach to achieving outdoor recreation planning and management; and\n\n(d) In carrying out the duties described in this subsection (5), apply an integrated approach that considers outdoor recreation access, visitor use management, conservation, wildlife habitat, working lands, and long-term resource stewardship so that these uses, taken together, best meet present and future needs without permanent impairment of the productivity or health of the state's natural resources, to the extent practicable and consistent with state law.\n\n(6) Consistent with the division's mission and the objectives of Colorado's outdoors strategy, the division shall work to advance sustainable outdoor recreation, wildlife conservation, and climate resilience outcomes through collaboration, data integration, proactive planning, strategic financial investment, and reporting. To fulfill its duties related to statewide outdoor coordination, the division shall:\n\n(a) Lead and coordinate across state, local, and federal government partners and tribal governments participating in regional outdoor partnership planning efforts and related voluntary efforts associated with Colorado's outdoors strategy; and\n\n(b) (I) Develop and maintain a recurring internal coordination and reporting process, including by creating planning reports, to integrate data, priorities, and outcomes from wildlife, recreation, climate resilience, and regional outdoor partnership efforts, ensuring alignment with the goals of Colorado's outdoors strategy and other division efforts both regionally and across the division. In creating planning reports, the division shall:\n\n(A) Integrate and summarize key metrics, outcomes, opportunities, needs, performance indicators, and economic impacts and benefits from statewide and regional initiatives;\n\n(B) Collaborate with state, federal, and local government partners; tribal governments; and interested stakeholders, including local communities, private landowners, recreation and recreation provider stakeholders, conservation stakeholders, agricultural stakeholders, and wildlife and sportsperson stakeholders;\n\n(C) Establish processes with state government entities and associated partners, such as the outdoor recreation industry office and the great outdoors Colorado program, to improve coordination and efficiency across agency partners;\n\n(D) Apply proactive and adaptive approaches to the development of exceptional and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities to support long-term resource viability;\n\n(E) Identify areas of alignment and potential conflict among recreation, wildlife, conservation, agricultural, and community priorities and character and facilitate collaborative problem-solving processes with relevant partners to support mutually beneficial outcomes;\n\n(F) Engage local governments in the development of regional priorities and associated planning efforts and projects within their jurisdiction and give appropriate consideration to local government priorities and regional planning efforts to ensure a cooperative and complementary approach to outdoor recreation planning and management;\n\n(G) Employ data-informed management strategies for planning and investment in public lands and regional outdoor recreation resources to support shared understanding and informed decision-making among partners;\n\n(H) Incorporate climate-resilience strategies for regional outdoor recreation and conservation planning to advance the resilience and adaptability of the state's natural and community assets;\n\n(I) Coordinate across the division to ensure the best available information, input, and collaboration. In particular, the division shall ensure coordination between wildlife, recreation, and climate-resilience efforts within the division.\n\n(J) Consider available funding sources to enable strategic investments to advance conservation, recreation, and climate-resilience efforts within the division.\n\n(II) The division shall:\n\n(A) Refer to the planning reports described in subsection (6)(b)(I) of this section to inform division planning, investment, and management activities and outreach to external stakeholders, including local governments; and\n\n(B) Update the planning reports at least annually to reflect the latest knowledge and any associated planning updates and facilitate improved awareness and coordination within the division and among the division and other agencies.\n\n(7) Nothing in this section:\n\n(a) Requires action or participation from a private or non-state-government entity;\n\n(b) Grants the division decision-making authority over matters that are within another entity's jurisdiction;\n\n(c) Alters or diminishes the division's existing statutory responsibilities to perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state and to manage and improve the state parks system. The authority set forth in this section complements the division's mission and existing obligations.\n\n(d) Supersedes, abrogates, or impairs the right to divert water and apply water to beneficial uses in accordance with section 6 of article XVI of the state constitution, compacts entered into by the state, articles 80 to 92 of title 37, or state court determinations with respect to the determination and administration of water rights. A person shall not construe, enforce, or apply this section to cause or result in material injury to water rights.\n\n(e) Requires, mandates, or otherwise compels a public or private landowner to provide access to land for recreational purposes or alters existing state laws governing property rights, easements, or landowner liability.\n\n(8) In 2027 and 2028, the division shall include, during its \"SMART Act\" hearing required by section 2-7-203, an update on the efforts described in this section, including a description of the planning reports required by subsection (6)(b)(I) of this section and the money that the division utilized to comply with this section.","path":["Title 33 - PARKS AND WILDLIFE","Article 10 - Parks and Outdoor Recreation"],"source_url":"https://olls.info/crs/crs2026-title-33.htm","current_through":"Colorado Revised Statutes 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:37:45Z","sha256":"44577cbc66bfb0f5af600407b88ad39be7279195bce24e26914efbb2ff72f090","source_id":"us-co","stale":false,"prev":"us-co/c.r.s.-33-10-118","next":"us-co/c.r.s.-33-10.5-101"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}