How To Use These Tools for Your Project
A practical framework for coordinated conservation and collaboration
This guide includes questions designed to help project teams across public agencies, nonprofits, and private stakeholders consider how their work aligns with the shared guideposts of the Roaring Fork Watershed.
These considerations are not intended to be prescriptive. Instead, they provide a practical framework to support coordination, reduce duplication, and strengthen collaboration across jurisdictions. By using these questions early in project planning, proponents can identify opportunities to align with existing efforts, contribute to consistent management approaches, and build partnerships that increase overall impact.
Not every question will apply to every project. However, thoughtful consideration of these prompts can help ensure that individual efforts contribute to a more coordinated, efficient, and unified approach to conservation and recreation across the region.
Build a Regional Understanding
Understand the Conservation Context
- Identify the project area’s conservation and restoration priorities
Understand the Outdoor Recreation Context
- Identify the project on the Regional Spectrum of Recreation Opportunities
- Identify area use trends, using the Recreation Volume and Trends Dashboard
Advance Our Community Priorities
Cross-Jurisdictional Partnerships
Work together to provide consistent and coordinated management across federal, state, and local jurisdictions
- How does the proposed project support combining efforts towards a common goal?
- How does the project encourage consistent messaging for a variety of user groups?
- How will the proposed project support land managers at the federal, state, or local levels in combining efforts towards a common goal?
- How does the proposed project support a joint and adaptive management plan?
Promote collaboration and partnerships between land managers and local organizations within the Roaring Fork Watershed
- How will the proposed project support land managers and local organizations in combining efforts towards a common goal?
- How does the project align with relevant plans?
- How does the project encourage collaboration among agencies, nonprofits, and private stakeholders?
Conservation, Habitat, and Connectivity
Reduce habitat fragmentation
- Describe how the project protects and/or improves wildlife habitat.
- Is human use is anticipated? If so, what mitigation measures are proposed? (i.e. seasonal closures, limited access points, etc.)
- How does the project enhance connected habitat areas, foraging and shelter, through the protection or expansion of conserved land, including agricultural lands?
Protect or improve biodiversity
- How does this project advance resiliency to a changing climate? (i.e. adaptable to changing landscape conditions?)
- How does the project offer protections for existing areas of quality habitat, and/or restore degraded habitats to effectively support a wide variety of plant and animal species?
- Does this project require habitat improvement, if so what is needed and how would you measure success?
- How does the project propose ongoing monitoring specific to biodiversity? Does the project accommodate adaptive management to respond to needs?
Access and Equity
Create outdoor spaces for everyone
- How does the project provide resources for participating safely in outdoor recreation?
- How does the project ensure accessibility for people with disabilities and for different recreation types?
- How does the project reduce known barriers to participation? (e.g., crowding, cost, transportation, parking)
- How does the project serve multiple user groups?
Provide accessible, diverse, high-Quality outdoor opportunities for all user groups
- How does the project enhance connectivity to an existing recreation experience, or fill a gap in a missing recreation experience?
- How does the project enhance connectivity to trails, corridors, or communities to other recreation opportunities?
- How does the project provide and/or diversify opportunities to multiple user groups across seasons, skill levels, and settings (primitive vs. highly developed)?
Education and Stewardship
Empower visitors through education and clear communication
- How does the project provide consistent and multilingual messaging about responsible recreation, wildlife, and the environment that extends across jurisdictional and private land boundaries?
- How does the project reach both visitors and residents through signage, outreach, and digital tools?
- How does the project identify gaps in existing education resources?
Build a culture of stewardship and community involvement
- How does the project follow stewardship best practices for the conservation priority it is located within and/or reflect the recreation Opportunity Class?
- To what extent does the project encourage participation from multiple interests, land managers, partner organizations, and community members?
- How does the project encourage ongoing stewardship and/or long-term community involvement beyond one-time events?
Recreation Volume and Impacts
Ensure a positive recreation visitor experience for all
- Describe the anticipated visitor motivations for recreating in this area, and how those will be accommodated through the project?
- Does the project address needs associated with recreation and visitation, such as traffic, parking, facilities, conservation, and recreation demands?
- Does the project address visitation volumes – maintaining low-use areas where appropriate and alleviating pressure in high-use areas
Protect the places we love to recreate and manage human impact
- Is there capacity or a plan in place to sustainably manage and maintain this project long-term? Does the project accommodate recreational demand and also protect natural resources, wildlife, and water?
- Does this project potentially have a negative impact on the natural area? If yes, how does the project minimize recreation impacts and/or enhance natural resources?
