GOCO’s origins are unique because our state is. And because Coloradans value the outdoors. Learn more about how we came to be straight from the voices of our visionary founders.
It’s hard to summarize the impacts of hundreds of partners on local communities in every corner of Colorado in a series of events plotted along a timeline. Between the gaps are thousands of wins for conservation and recreation.
Gov. Roy Romer and Dept. of Natural Resources Executive Director Ken Salazar form a citizens committee, which consisted of conservation, business and political leaders from across Colorado, to answer this question: What should we do to sustain and enhance our outdoor resources—parks, trails, wildlife, and open space—for the future?
After an extensive public process, the committee proposes establishing a trust fund to invest in the future of Colorado’s outdoors. An initiative, which would redirect up to half of Lottery proceeds each year, is placed on the ballot, and on Nov. 3, is approved with 58% of voters in favor.
One of GOCO’s most iconic investments to date—in the conservation of Greenland Ranch—materializes in July. The land protection effort by partners The Conservation Fund, Douglas County, and the landowner permanently safeguarded 17,000+ acres between Denver and Colorado Springs along the I-25 corridor.
With our 2010 strategic plan, GOCO pivots to take a more collaborative role with partners and support highly impactful projects. The plan launches initiatives that lay the groundwork for the approach that guides our grantmaking to this day.
Building on the 2010 foundation, the 2015 strategic plan launches special initiatives that help conserve more than 130,000 acres of high-priority land; build 57 miles of regional trails; and create the Generation Wild movement.
A Gunnison County ranch with some of Colorado’s most iconic scenery and contributing 20% of the county’s agricultural production is awarded GOCO’s largest-ever, single transaction grant in the amount of $10 million. The conservation project was decades in the making.
The bill to extend the Lottery Division within Colorado’s Dept. of Revenue is signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper. A coalition of hundreds of towns, cities, counties and special districts, local businesses, and nonprofits propelled the bill’s passage, supporting the state’s ongoing investment of Lottery proceeds in Colorado’s great outdoors.
Generation Wild, GOCO’s communications campaign supporting the youth-and-outdoors movement, debuts Wilder. Half-goat, half-yeti, and all friend, Wilder becomes an unforgettable symbol for outdoor play.
In October, Colorado Parks and Wildlife opens Fishers Peak State Park, formerly Crazy French Ranch, near the Colorado-New Mexico Border. GOCO invested more than $17 million in the acquisition of the 19,200-acre property that contains the local identifier Fishers Peak.
A fresh strategic plan launches to promote equity and diversity in the outdoors, advance projects with the potential to transform communities, and protect Colorado’s treasured outdoors for future generations.