​Blue River Watershed Group has partnered with Friends of the Lower Blue River and Summit County Sustainability to support the formation of the Summit County Outdoor Coalition. This partnerships is part of the Regional Partnership Initiatives ​with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO). Together with local organizations and alongside other coalitions, we have formed the Summit County Outdoor Coalition to join a statewide initiative working to ensure that Colorado’s land, water, and wildlife thrive while also providing for equitable and quality outdoor recreation experiences.

The goal of the coalition is to best manage the impacts of growth in outdoor recreation and best support ecosystem health in a changing climate. SCOC will cohesively address needs across the region’s natural landscapes, working lands, and political, ecological, managerial, and ownership boundaries. The coalition will utilize roundtable formats and a science-based mapping tool to promote unbiased planning, catalog needs, and prioritize proposed projects. SCOC will be an active member in the regional Mountain Communities Outdoor Collective (MCOC). MCOC brings together the coalitions of Summit, Grand, Eagle, and Pitkin counties. MCOC’s mission is to share lessons learned and best practices
developed within each respective coalition.

​Read more about this collaborative effort and how it will integrate with similar coalitions resourced by CPW and GOCO here.

The SCOC was recently awarded a Outdoor Regional Partnership Grant which supports coalitions that bring together conservation and outdoor recreation interests. Learn more about this grant and how it will affect coalitions around the state here.