The Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office is trying to promote outdoor job creation and infrastructure development through the Colorado State Outdoor Recreation Grant.
OREC members discussed the application process for the grant Wednesday at the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs office.
The grant offers $3.9 million for projects related to economic development and recovery in the outdoor recreation industry. Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office began accepting applications June 1 and will continue to do so through Dec. 31, 2025. Applications are reviewed every three months on the last day of the month, and the next application deadline is Sept. 30.
“The biggest goal is just job creation, job growth and workforce development,” said OREC Director Conor Hall.
The grant awards $100,000 to $1 million to infrastructure projects and $10,000 to $100,000 for all other projects. Other projects eligible for receiving the grants are: land acquisition, employment retention, capital improvements, technical assistance, professional development and marketing.
Examples of these projects include trail improvements, promotional marketing and training for outdoor recreation labor.
Because of Economic Development Administration restrictions, the grant is not eligible for individuals, private businesses, other federal agencies or projects occurring on federal land.
Hall said the outdoor industry created $5 billion in total yearly economic contribution and 53,000 jobs in Southwest Colorado, but he understands there are still labor issues in the outdoor sector.
He said the grant is not going to change the labor struggle alone but could help produce an influx of job opportunities.
“Hopefully, this grant can offer more job opportunities. Maybe it’s some money going toward augmenting salary, bumping it up a little bit more,” he said. “But we want to see the creation of new jobs.”
Hall said inflation also had a major impact on the outdoor industry and the ability to retain employees.
Hall hopes the grant can help Colorado with trail stewardship and overuse. While the grant may not be able to stop mistreatment of trails, he said that investing in communication for best outdoor practices would benefit areas such as Southwest Colorado.
“Folks within the state, new users and tourists may need a little education like we all do,” he said. “And so, that’s where we’re probably going to make the most progress is with close partnership with the Colorado tourism office and Care for Colorado Coalition.”
Project Manager Matt Nunez said the office has seen most of its requests for high-priced infrastructure projects. About two-thirds of requests received have been for infrastructure, he said.
“The largest metric we’ll be evaluating is the economic impact and job creation,” he said. “We understand the number of jobs created is relative to the community.”
Hall said the amount of large infrastructure requests speak to the state’s demand for such projects. Because of the pandemic, Colorado has had an increase of visitors, he said.
“The price of putting in a couple miles of trail or putting in a whitewater park somewhere, is just significant,” he said. “Since the pandemic, we’re up as many as hundreds of thousands of visitors. So, we need those assets more than ever.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
