Countering the West's devastating pine beetle blight emerged as a major cause during a July 6 meeting of Colorado's outdoor user, conservation and industry groups earlier this month.


The meeting, held at REI's flagship Denver store, was organized to help the state's outdoor groups prepare comments for America's Great Outdoors Initiative (AGO), which held a listening session in Denver July 16. President Obama launched AGO in May to solicit public input on how to update federal conservation and land management policies to reflect 21st Century realities. 

Those in attendance also endorsed Colorado's Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). The plans are adopted by every state to identify outdoor recreation trends, needs, and issues and  provide a strategic plan to help address these concerns and expectations. SCORPs are the primary tool used by the National Park Service to  determining priorities for allocating Land & Water Conservation Fund grants to local governments.



The most urgent business discussed, however, revolved around countering the devastating pine beetle blight wiping out millions of trees on federal lands across the West. Randy Piper from GreenWay, a Colorado company salvaging and recycling Rocky Mountain beetle-killed Blue Pine wood, addressed the group about the looming catastrophe.


Already nearly 4 million acres in Colorado have been killed. Almost 18 million acres of pine are dead in the western US, with millions of additional acres under attack. Before a fire of unprecedented size blackens Colorado and the Western US destroying billions of dollars of infrastructure and risking tens of thousands of lives, attendees pledged to work together to increase awareness and develop programs to help stem this growing crisis and protect forest health and sustainability for future outdoor recreation.

 
Other organizations represented at the meeting and their topics included:

 


  • The Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the Responsible Recreation Foundation and Leave No Trace focused on efforts educating Coloradans on environment stewardship and respectful use of our public lands;
  • Great Outdoors Colorado outlined Colorado Lottery funds recreation and conservation efforts;
  • Vail Resorts and the National Forest Foundation Skier Conservation Fund highlighted ongoing efforts to fund grassroots organizations through voluntary donations aassociated with lift tickets and accommodations;
  • The National Ski Areas Association detailed their Sustainable Slopes Environmental Charter as a framework to support greater ski area environmental sustainability;
  • The motorized recreation community detailed their Responsible Recreation Foundation’s efforts to help public agencies to better support growing public outdoor recreation needs.
  • Colorado Youth Corps Association discussed Colorado’s commitment to fostering greater environmental stewardship by employing and training youth statewide for a variety of land, water, and energy conservation projects.
  • Captain Zach Taylor, Regional Health Administrator, Department of Health and Human Services spoke on the increasing support for the annual national “Get Outdoors Day” where healthy, active outdoor activities are offered;
  • Denise Escobedo from Safe City Youth Leadership Team spoke about the acclaimed North Face Outdoor Nation and Planet Explore initiatives where US youth commit to bringing their friends and family into outdoor activities making healthy and lasting connection with nature;
  • Seth Winnerman of City Wild addressed initiatives involving more inner city youth in outdoor activities through the SOS Outreach/ City WILD/ Big City Mountaineers curriculum.
  • Sue Anderson, Program Director for Outdoor Colorado Outdoor Stewardship Institute (OSI) described the environmental stewardship training provided to volunteers, land management agencies, and other Colorado and US organizations.