SCHEDULE overview

Monday, April 27th

• Morning: Pre-Conference Meetings (Invitation only) and Optional Meetups
• Afternoon: The conference will officially kick off in the early afternoon. This afternoon will include a conference welcome, keynote speaker (Gemara Gifford, Founder/Consultant for Mending Mountains Collective LLC.), a breakout session, meetups, a reception, and dinner. To compliment the Tribal Summit occurring in the morning (invitation only), the afternoon will have an Indigenous topic and celebration focus.

Tuesday, April 28th

• Tuesday is a full day of conference sessions, keynote speaker Patt Dorsey (Western Director of Conservation for the National Wild Turkey Foundation), meetups, field trips, and all meals (breakfast, lunch, a reception, and dinner).

Wednesday, April 29th

• Wednesday is a full day and will include a breakout session, keynote speaker (Dacher Keltner of University of California Berkeley), meetups, breakfast and lunch, and field trips. Conference activities are expected to conclude by 4:00pm.

A tentative conference schedule can be found here. This tentative schedule is intended to help inform your planning as you decide on registration options, travel plans, and lodging reservations. Details are subject to change. This is a live document that will be updated as we have additional scheduling details.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMS

We're excited to announce our session topics, field trips, and meetups! A full schedule will be available by early March.

Breakout Sessions

The Ecosystem Effect: Strengthening Colorado’s Web of Outdoor Access Ecosystem

The goal of this session is to introduce the Rising Routes 2025 Roadmap for Colorado’s Outdoor Access Ecosystem and its connected pilot programs, including research, advocacy, and the social infrastructure needed for effective, long-term collaboration. This interactive forum will break out into sessions to generate solutions addressing barriers to outdoor access statewide, and to identify threads of connection and leverage points that can drive systemic change.

Presenting Organization:  Rising Routes Alliance

 

“Finally, somebody gets me!” - Building Partnerships to Get Kids Outdoors

Friends of Youth and Nature and Montrose Recreation District have been working together to get kids outdoors for years and have recently combined forces with several other providers as a Generation Wild community. Successful and repeatable youth and family outings takes coordination of resources, gear, mentors, and funding. Ones that are inclusive of all youth and families become natural and result in building resilience and future stewards of our world. The smiles are a bonus!

Presenting Organization:  Friends of Youth and Nature (FOYAN)

 

Advancing Accessible and Equitable Trail Information Across Colorado - Breaking Down Barriers to Collecting and Sharing Your Accessible Trails

This session will focus on COTREX’s efforts to understand the ‘state of the state’ of mobility accessibility data in Colorado. We will review what we’ve learned from advocates and land managers, current challenges in data collection, and ways various organizations have approached collecting and communicating this information. The second half of the session will showcase an upcoming collaborative pilot project where agencies will work together to collect trail data and gain insights into shared challenges and opportunities. Through this effort we hope to advance efforts to break down barriers to data collection in order to expand the availability of accessibility information across Colorado.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Parks & Wildlife

 

Art in Shared Landscapes: Deepening Connection to Nature and Community

This interactive workshop explores how art can serve as a powerful bridge between people and the natural world. Participants will learn how artistic practices can complement traditional recreation and conservation efforts to deepen emotional ties to place and expand the ways communities experience the outdoors.

Presenting Organization:  Alpine Artist Collective

 

Beyond Binoculars: The Untapped Potential of Wildlife Viewing for Conservation and Community in Colorado

This interactive session explores the role of wildlife viewing, moving beyond recreation to its critical role in conservation support and community engagement. By sharing research findings from recent surveys of Colorado's wildlife viewers, we present insights into viewer demographics, motivations, and more. This analysis provides a compelling case for public land managers and policymakers to strategically leverage wildlife viewing as a key driver for sustainable conservation initiatives and enhanced visitor experiences.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Parks and Wildlife

 

Bison as Agents of Ecological & Cultural Resilience

For over a century, bison have been a keystone of the Denver Mountain Parks. This session explores the evolution of DMP’s bison management and the evolution of key partnerships—from the first conservation herd to transferring bison to indigenous communities. It highlights the Tall Bull Memorial Grounds, Denver Zoo’s science-based research, and the Highlands Ranch Backcountry Wilderness Area, showing how collaboration strengthens land stewardship and connects indigenous communities to ancestral lands and practices.

Presenting Organization:  Denver Mountain Parks

 

Bringing Digitization to Stewardship: An Intro to Trailfunds

Trailfunds is a mobile-first platform transforming how outdoor recreation supports conservation. Launching Memorial Day 2025, it connects trail users directly with the nonprofits that maintain Colorado’s trails, expanding funding and volunteer engagement. This session introduces Trailfunds as a collaborative, tech-driven solution that strengthens stewardship organizations, advances climate-resilient conservation, and unifies diverse user groups. Attendees will see live demonstrations, explore partner case studies, and learn scalable strategies for coordinated planning, funding, and ecosystem-wide sustainability.

Presenting Organization:  Trailfunds

 

Building Capacity for Meaningful and Long-Term Tribal Engagement

This session explores ways in which different entities navigate Tribal engagement in their own spheres or silos and how breaking out of those spheres and coordinating with other entities engaged in similar practice would achieve goals for all involved. In forming regional networks, we increase our own capacity and resiliency. This interactive workshop will discuss ways in which we can increase our own efficacy through idea sharing, schedule coordination, networking, and creating opportunities for collaboration.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Parks and Wildlife

 

Collaborative Stewardship and Education: Response to Federal Funding Cuts

In response to federal funding and personnel cuts in early 2025, five local nonprofit organizations formed the Public Lands and Water Forum to better understand the situation and organize a coordinated response. This session details the outcomes of these efforts and how they inform the greater Roaring Fork Outdoor Coalition's regional planning process.

Presenting Organization:  Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers

 

Collaborative Strategies for Sustainable Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Economies

Join the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Office, the Colorado Tourism Office, and the Rural Opportunity Office for an engaging session highlighting their strategic planning programs and resources. Using case studies from across the state, the agencies will demonstrate how they foster community collaboration to drive meaningful action, leading to cohesive, innovative plans for sustainable outdoor recreation and tourism economies. Panelists will also showcase the implementation resources participants have used to put these plans into action.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Tourism Office

 

Collective Strength: Supporting a Future-Ready Outdoor Recreation Workforce

The outdoor recreation profession relies on the collective strength of diverse experts, merging art and science to provide exceptional outdoor experiences. The new Outdoor Recreation Professional Competency Framework emphasizes relational, managerial, and operational skills. It highlights the importance of a unified, well-prepared workforce to enhance outdoor access and manage natural, cultural, and social factors effectively, ensuring exceptional recreation experiences now and in the future.

Presenting Organization:  Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals

 

Connecting Biome-Scale Grassland Conservation to Local Action: The Central Grasslands Roadmap and the Eastern Colorado Grassland Coalition

This session will explore how biome-scale priorities developed through efforts like the Central Grasslands Roadmap Initiative are translated into on-the-ground action through place-based collaborations such as the Eastern Colorado Grassland Coalition (ECGC), a CPW Regional Partnership Initiative focused on conservation and recreation in Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, and Lincoln counties.

Presenting Organization:  Central Grasslands Roadmap Initiative, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

 

Connecting the 4 Ws: Wildfire, Water, Wildlife, Recreation & Ways of Life

Across Colorado, communities are seeking solutions for wildfire mitigation, watershed health, climate resilience, wildlife and habitat conservation and restoration, and exceptional and sustainable recreation. An interactive panel and small group discussions will offer practical examples and insights for connecting these interests through multi-benefit efforts that advance Colorado's Outdoors Strategy. The session will engage the audience in identifying actionable opportunities for data-informed planning, funding, and collaboration among regional forest, water, and recreation and conservation roundtable efforts.

Presenting Organization:  Keystone Policy Center

 

Conservation wins that support exceptional and sustainable recreation

Learn from panelists from across the state about how and why their conservation-based RPI projects support exceptional and sustainable recreation. Together we will take an intersectional look at regional problems, risks, and opportunities and discuss solutions RPI members have developed through thoughtful, intentional, and collaborative project planning. Our goals are to celebrate and share good ideas, lessons learned, and examples of conservation-based projects that benefit people, local economies, wildlife, and landscape resilience.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Wildlife Federation

 

E-bikes and Accessibility: What's All the Confusion About?

E-bikes are transforming outdoor access—but what does that mean for accessibility, conservation, and collaboration? Join an accessibility consultant and nonprofit leader as they reveal the real barriers people with disabilities face, from conflicting trail policies to gaps in protections. Through the lens of their personal and professional partnership, they’ll share how their perspectives have evolved and guide participants to uncover practical, partnership-driven solutions that make trails and programs more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable.

Presenting Organization:  Every Body Outside Consulting, LLC

 

Everyone Outdoors Colorado Mentorship Program

Led by mentees from the Everyone Outdoors Colorado (formerly Next 100 Colorado) Mentorship Program, this session showcases their capstone project. The program connects emerging and seasoned leaders of color in Colorado’s outdoor industry to build community, confidence, and leadership. Participants will experience a session fully designed and facilitated by mentees, highlighting their growth, insights, and creativity. Join us to learn from their perspectives and celebrate this cohort’s accomplishments and collective impact.

Presenting Organization:  Everyone Outdoors Colorado

 

Forty Years of Fishing is Fun in Colorado

Looking back at 40 years of grant making, CPW’s Fishing is Fun has successfully implemented more than $15M of fund to support projects across the state that improve fishing access, habitat and conservation. Come learn about how to develop projects to improve angling opportunities in your community.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Parks and Wildlife

 

From Fear to Freedom: Embracing the Outdoors

This session explores the cultural, historical, and personal barriers that prevent underrepresented communities from accessing nature. We'll discuss strategies to overcome fear, increase equity, and create inclusive, empowering outdoor experiences that foster stewardship and belonging. Join the conversation on how we can transform fear into freedom and make the outdoors a space for all.

Presenting Organization:  Orophile Outdoor Adventures

 

FILM SHOWING: From Restoration to Rematriation: Shared Stewardship on the Mancos River

Along the Mancos River, shared stewardship is restoring both land and community. Join Montezuma Land Conservancy and Trees, Water & People, in partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, for a screening of Rooted: A Story of Rematriation and a discussion on how ecological engineering, cultural knowledge, and Indigenous leadership are revitalizing ancestral gathering areas and river health—showcasing a model for climate-resilient restoration grounded in partnership, reciprocity, and tradition.

Presenting Organization:  Montezuma Land Conservancy and Trees, Water & People

 

From the GPLI to the GORP Act: How extensive collaboration led to the most broadly supported public lands legislation in years

Established in 2016, the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) included 10 members representing ranching, water resources, motorized recreation, conservation, mountain biking, hunting, and angling. The GPLI's work led to the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act — affectionately named after the hiking snack — a bipartisan, 730,000-acre public lands bill. This session will explore the path taken by the group to arrive at consensus, engage the public, and share lessons learned along the way.

Presenting Organization:  The Wilderness Society

 

How Belonging Initiatives Drive Sustainable Outdoor Recreation

This 75-minute panel discussion examines how fostering belonging in outdoor spaces creates measurable benefits for conservation, community well-being, and sustainable recreation management across Colorado's diverse landscapes. Our session directly addresses the conference theme by demonstrating how inclusive outdoor initiatives strengthen the shared future of Colorado's natural and social landscapes.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Mountain Club

 

Natural Resilience: The Healing Bond Between Veterans and the Outdoors

This session explores how outdoor recreation fosters healing for veterans, enhancing physical, mental, and emotional well-being while building community. It highlights nature-based activities like hiking to reduce PTSD symptoms, inclusive design for accessible spaces, and group programs to combat isolation. Attendees will learn sustainable strategies to develop veteran-focused recreation initiatives, aligning with equitable, high-quality outdoor experiences that strengthen communities.

Presenting Organization:    Trailhead Strategies Group

 

One of Us: River Lessons and Prayers for LGBTQ Youth Color in the Outdoors

Fortaleza Familiar invites you to an experiential and participatory workshop that shares how nature is a place of safety, belonging and power for LGBTQ youth of color and communities. This session uplifts co-regulation with nature and community as harm reduction, suicide prevention, love in practice and collective healing. Learn firsthand from a Summer Youth Fellow on their experience, lessons and offerings rooted in their summer experience.

Presenting Organization:  Fortaleza Familiar

 

Outdoor COLAB: Lessons from a Regional Leadership Laboratory for the Future

Explore adaptive leadership in action through this collaborative mini-training led by partners from across Colorado’s outdoor community. During this session you’ll have the opportunity to experience a condensed version of Outdoor COLAB, an adaptive leadership training. Through interactive frameworks, group activities, and reflection, participants will practice navigating complex conservation and recreation challenges. Adapted from an internal CPW leadership model, this session builds self-awareness, strengthens cross-sector relationships, and inspires collective action to create lasting regional impact.

Presenting Organization:  Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance

 

Privately Funded Trail Crew Partners with Federal Land Managers

The Trails Preservation Alliance (TPA) spotlights a strong and productive partnership where a privately funded trail crew performed trail maintenance tasks across trail networks throughout Colorado at no cost to the government or public.

Presenting Organization:  Trails Preservation Alliance

 

RESTORE CO: Leveraging Statewide Planning to Scale Up Wildlife Conservation

The RESTORE Colorado Program funds landscape-scale habitat restoration and stewardship projects to conserve native wildlife across Colorado. Over the past decade, the State of Colorado has invested deeply in various natural resources planning efforts, including stream management plans, wildfire ready action plans, the State Wildlife Action Plan, and most recently, Colorado’s Outdoor Strategy. How can RESTORE Colorado and our grantees convert these planning investments into successful projects that achieve real outcomes for wildlife at scale?

Presenting Organization:  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

 

Roadmap for Species in Need: 2025 Colorado State Wildlife Action Plan

The most vulnerable Colorado species and their habitats need everyone’s help in the face of growing threats. Workshop participants will receive a roadmap and tools to conserve species and habitats, which can be applied to all Conference attendees, whether hunter or outdoor recreationalist, educator, or youth corps volunteer. Learn about Colorado’s new 2025 Colorado Wildlife Action Plan, hear about successful collaborations across the conservation spectrum, and practice using tools to apply to your work.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Wildlife Federation

 

State Land Board Conservation & Recreation Working Group Update

Colorado’s 3 million acres of state trust lands are entering a new chapter. Created by HB25-1332, the State Trust Lands Conservation & Recreation Work Group is bringing together diverse leaders to explore how conservation, climate resilience, biodiversity, and low-conflict sustainable recreation can occur on these important assets. Join the State Land Board and Department of Natural Resources for an inside look at early insights, emerging opportunities, and how your voice fits into the path ahead.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado State Land Board

 

Taking Action: Recreation for Conservation

Now more than ever, the work of conservation falls on the shoulders of all those who spend time outdoors. Organized recreational events that bring diverse communities together to actively support the conservation efforts of nonprofits and government agencies are key to engaging and educating people to take real action to protect and preserve our wild spaces. This session focuses on the variety of ways recreational events can forge new active and engaged champions of conservation.

Presenting Organization:  Suffer Better

 

The Commons Revisited: Lessons from the Timber Barons, Trail Builders, and Wilderness Philosophers

This session explores what history’s land stewards and exploiters, from timber barons to wilderness philosophers, can teach Colorado today. Using The Tragedy of the Commons as a frame, we’ll trace the legacy of the Weeks and Wilderness Acts to our current challenges: recreation pressure, risk, and resilience. Through storytelling and discussion, participants will reflect on shared responsibility and imagine a new ethic for Colorado’s outdoors—where use, care, and collaboration coexist.

Presenting organization:  Human Potential LLC

 

Therapeutic Mentorship: Modality for Expanding Outdoor Access

The Summer Wilderness Mentorship Program (SWMP) serves as an innovative case study for programs and professionals across the state looking to improve mental health and outdoor recreational outcomes for marginalized young people. The SWMP is a public-private partnership between La Plata Youth Services (LPYS), a nonprofit, and the LifeWays Wilderness Institute. In this session, we will showcase how therapeutic mentorship, before and after nature-based programming, increases equitable access to the outdoors.

Presenting Organization:  La Plata Youth Services

 

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Planning & Funding Strategies

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe uses an innovative planning and funding process that has generated over $176 MILLION in new grants over 11 years including millions for outdoor recreation and outdoor health equity. In this session, you will learn a new integrated process for planning and fundraising for your organization.

Presenting Organization:  Center for Rural Outreach and Public Services, Inc.

 

Using Outdoor Learning Data to Guide Conservation and Stewardship Outreach Efforts

What do today’s outdoor and environmental learning trends mean for the future of conservation and stewardship? Join us to explore data from a comprehensive analysis of outdoor and environmental learning in Colorado. Discover the biggest gaps and opportunities and learn how these insights can help natural resource professionals strengthen your community outreach, foster future stewards, and ensure all learners have opportunities to connect with and care for the natural world.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education

 

Why We Hunt

This breakout session fosters community and shared passion for wildlife by exploring "why people hunt." This session will include a short presentation on the Rookie Sportsperson Program out of Colorado Springs and a segment about how hunting funds conservation. A panel, including rookie sportspersons, a CPW staff member, a non-profit representative, and one of our regional partners, will discuss their values and why hunting is critical for the success of wildlife in Colorado.

Presenting Organization:  Colorado Parks and Wildlife

 

Youth and Families from the Backyard to the Backcountry

Join Generation Wild communities from across Colorado as they share how they help kids and families connect with nature, starting in their own neighborhoods and growing into bigger outdoor adventures. Panelists from both urban and rural communities will talk about creating programs that are welcoming, fun, and meaningful for all ages and cultures. Learn how youth and families help shape these experiences every step of the way.

Presenting Organization:  Great Outdoors Colorado: Generation Wild

Lightning Talks

 

• Building Independence Through Horses: Outdoor Equity in Action -  Discover how Bits of Freedom uses therapeutic horseback riding to make Colorado’s outdoors accessible, equitable, and inclusive for youth with disabilities and low-income families. This session highlights how equine-assisted programs foster confidence, physical strength, and community belonging while promoting stewardship of working lands. Learn how cross-sector partnerships and adaptive recreation strategies create sustainable outdoor opportunities that align with Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy and inspire shared futures across landscapes and communities.
• The Mayfly Project: Mentoring Youth in Foster Care - summarize the history, operation and impact of The Mayfly Project, a nationwide non-profit organization that connects children in foster care with mentors through fly fishing. The four Colorado based projects and our partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife will be highlighted in this presentation.
• Where Tech Meets Trails: Powering Outdoor Access Through Partnership -  Modernizing trail data through technology and collaboration
• Flash Talk on the Water: Wildfire Nexus -  Changing the way we talk about water—connecting it to the forests that filter and store it—can build a powerful statewide constituency for wildfire mitigation. This session explores how funders are coming together to support forest and stream restoration that protects source water from wildfire. Modeling and tracking that connects wildfire to water supply risk can unlock new sources of corporate and public funding to scale the climate resilience of Colorado’s forests and streams.
• Bears and People: Shared Landscapes -   What does it take to address human-bear conflict in communities? Everyone, including you. This talk will take a quick look at how community groups, local governments, and CPW come together to find and implement solutions that protect people and bears.
• Creation of the Colorado MTB coalition: History, Motivation, and Vision -  What is the Colorado MTB Coalition? Why, when and how was it formed? What are its goals and activities, what has it achieved? How can YOU partner with us?
• Get it Gone: A Roadmap of Barbed Wire Removal Through Collaboration and Dedicated Nonprofit Volunteers -  Barbed wire fencing is a relic of the past that poses ongoing risks to wildlife. By working together as a community to remove these outdated barriers, we can create safer, more connected landscapes for all species to thrive. Join Wild Aware as we take you on a barbed wire removal tour!
• The Mental Health Benefits of Connecting with Nature: Leveraging Colorado’s Outdoors for Well-Being -  We all know that feeling—the calm that settles in when you step onto a trail or pause beside a mountain stream. Beyond that feeling lies real science: nature heals. In this session, we’ll explore how Colorado’s great outdoors can ease stress, lift mood, and strengthen resilience. Join us to discover how simple, intentional moments in nature can support mental health and bring healing to our communities.
• Unlocking Impact Through Partnership: Creative and Practical Ways to Collaborate -  Learn how strategic and creative partnerships can boost your impact and build organizational capacity. This session will cover the nuances of different types of partnerships, from programmatic models to cross-agency collaboration. Explore ideas to apply within your own organization and actionable steps for initiating or strengthening partnerships. Whether you're new to collaboration or refining your approach, this session offers tangible insights to help you build reliable partnerships that advance your mission and amplify collective impact.
• Colorado’s Statewide Natural Heritage Survey- what has happened in two years, and how can you get involved? -  The Colorado Natural Heritage Program is embarking on the third year of a five year effort to level up Colorado's biodiversity data. We will share a status and progress update and illustrate the ways the work is supporting the COS, CPW, Regional Partnerships, Tribes, local planners, landowners, and land trusts. We will share exciting discoveries, look ahead to the 2026 field season, and guide attendees to fun ways to get involved.

Posters

• Emerging Professionals in Conservation: Academic Poster Showcase
• Bridging Communities and Conservation: A Community Navigator Model for Grant Access
• Creek Connections: Outreach and Education in the Fountain Creek Watershed
• Healing in Nature: Building Belonging with Newcomer Girls & Women
• CSU Extension Logan County Outdoor Equity Program
• Designing for Uncertainty: Climate-Resilient Restoration in the Fountain Creek Watershed
• Headwaters of the Colorado Initiative

Field Trips

• Explore Sky High Ranch, an 880-acre property and zipline managed by Girl Scouts of Colorado
• Botany Hike at Garden of the Gods with Colorado Native Plant Society
• 101 Introduction to Fly Fishing at Anglers Covey Fly Fishing Shop
• Explore Chico Basin Ranch, an 86,000 acre property managed by the Colorado State Land Board
• Wings, Water, and Well-Being: Mindful Birding along Fountain Creek
• Exploring Shared Landscapes: An Adventure at Cheyenne Mountain State Park utilizing Augmented Reality (AR) and AI technology with Agents of Discovery and Douglas County
• Mt. Muscoco Hike in North Cheyenne Cañon Park with Rocky Mountain Field Institute
• Wild Game Processing, Cooking, and Taste-testing with Wild Turkey (location TBD)
• Let’s Talk Turkey: A Naturalist Walk with a Hunter at Cheyenne Mountain State Park at the Visitor Center Firepit
• Explore Avenger Open Space in Woodland Park

Optional Meetups and Activities

Affinity Spaces

• We will once again be offering specialized affinity spaces at the 2026 conference.
• Affinity spaces provide a place for groups or communities where people with a shared identity or experience come together to connect, discuss, and find support

Meetups

Join other conference goers for casual meetups like walks, runs, yoga, and pickleball.

Schedule