{"id":97277,"date":"2018-10-26T19:49:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T01:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hickenlooper-celebrates-economic-impact-of-outdoor-recreation\/"},"modified":"2018-10-26T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T01:49:08","slug":"hickenlooper-celebrates-economic-impact-of-outdoor-recreation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hickenlooper-celebrates-economic-impact-of-outdoor-recreation\/","title":{"rendered":"Hickenlooper celebrates economic impact of outdoor recreation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gov.
Gov. John Hickenlooper fishing in the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County.<\/span>Evan Sem\u00f3n Photography, provided by the governor\u2019s office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As his administration approaches its final two months, Gov. John Hickenlooper Friday released new data celebrating the impact of outdoor recreation on the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

He also signed an executive order to establish the \u201cInter-Agency Trails and Recreation Council,\u201d which he said will promote outdoor recreation and conservation in Colorado, as well as improve coordination on outdoor recreation among eight state agencies and related state-funded entities. Those entities include the Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Great Outdoors Colorado, and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.<\/p>\n

Standing in front of downtown Denver\u2019s Confluence Park Friday, the governor spoke about the future of Colorado outdoor recreation, whether it\u2019s hiking or hunting or fishing in the mountains, or biking and trails in urban areas. He pointed out that the metro Denver area now has 1,000 miles of bike\/pedestrian trails, almost all interconnected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to make sure people know about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Biking gets people into shape, reduces traffic congestion and adds economic impact, he added.<\/p>\n

That economic impact in 2017 topped $37 billion in consumer spending, generated $9 billion in local and federal taxes, and is tied to 511,000 jobs. The overall economic contribution in 2017, including salaries and wages, was $62 billion, nearly twice what it was five years ago, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Nearly 134,000 jobs on the Western Slope are tied to outdoor recreation, with another 120,000 located along the Continental Divide in northern Colorado.<\/p>\n

The executive order the governor signed Friday \u201cis something we\u2019ve been working on for a long time,\u201d Hickenlooper told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s lean and straightforward and allows us to continue the momentum. The goal is to make it easier for the next governor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing it does is delineate how the different agencies can work together,\u201d Hickenlooper said. It also puts \u201cmore meat on the bone to Colorado the Beautiful,\u201d the statewide effort to ensure that every Coloradan is no more than a 10-minute walk from a trail or green space.<\/p>\n

The executive order is also intended to help clarify and disseminate information on the rights of private property owners who allow people to cross their lands to reach a trailhead, for example. State law already shields those private property owners from liability, he pointed out.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the executive order looks to increase diversity hiring at the state division of parks and wildlife, as well as develop a mobile app by next month that will show off the state\u2019s trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look to the future, we see children who have traded playgrounds for PlayStations,\u201d said Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Bob Randall. \u201cWe see a lack of diversity and limited access to those who seldom think of the outdoors. Generations raised on hunting and fishing struggle to pass that on to future generations, and urban neighborhoods have too few connections to open spaces and outdoor recreation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFostering a greater connection among people, especially young people, matters for our physical and mental well being, as well as for the recreational spaces,\u201d he said, adding that the time will come to pass the baton.<\/p>\n

Without a new generation of people who share a curiosity and passion about sustaining the state\u2019s treasures, \u201cwe put that inheritance at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor signs executive order to improve coordination of agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[481,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-97277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-gov-john-hickenlooper","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97277"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=97277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}