There’s a lot of fanfare around grant awards, but what happens after the ceremonial checks are presented and the reporters have published their articles? Our partners get down to business.

For more than 30 years, GOCO has improved Colorado’s great outdoors with the help of Colorado Lottery proceeds. We’ve put more than $1.4 billion in proceeds back into 5,700 projects to improve the lives of Coloradans across the state.

After projects are awarded funding, grant recipients usually have about two years to make their projects happen. 

In recent months, 8 projects wrapped up, representing $1,959,609 in GOCO investments in local communities across the state. Scroll to see if one’s near you:

Continental Divide Trail Coalition Fellow

$150,000 grant to Continental Divide Trail Coalition 

With this funding, the Continental Divide Trail Coalition hired a fellow to support its mission of promoting, protecting, and completing the Continental Divide Scenic Trail, which spans over 700 miles in Colorado. Fellow Jordan Williams worked on growing diverse trail support through community engagement, trail completion efforts, policy work, and trail signage initiatives. He strengthened connections in all seven Colorado Gateway Communities, boosted volunteer capacity, raised awareness of key trail areas with public officials, and contributed to regional planning efforts and relationship building with volunteers, government organizations, and tribal communities. He recently transitioned into a full-time role within the organization.
Read a Q&A with Jordan

Generation Wild of the Pikes Peak Region Prospect Lake Beach House Renovation

$1,009,121 grant to City of Colorado Springs

With the help of Generation Wild grant funding, the City of Colorado Springs renovated Prospect Lake Beach House at Memorial Park. A Generation Wild of the Pikes Peak Region community project, the centrally located beach house provides a close-to-home space for engagement with nature and culturally relevant programming for diverse communities of Colorado Springs. This funding supported the City in renovating the 90-year-old building during the financially challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn more about Generation Wild of the Pikes Peak Region

Alamosa City Ranch Stewardship Project

$16,928 grant to City of Alamosa

With a Conservation Service Corps (CSC) grant, Alamosa Parks and Recreation partnered with Southwest Conservation Corps-Los Valles youth crews for two weeks of work at Blanca Vista Park. Crews treated areas affected by invasive plants and conducted maintenance on roughly two miles of trail. This included re-routing sections of the flooded hiking trail, filling new trail sections with gravel, and maintaining plant overgrowth to keep the trail corridor clear. This project helped maintain the City’s existing trails as its trail network grew.
Learn more about our CSC grant program

Lake San Cristobal Rec Infrastructure & Ute Ulay Heritage Tourism Site

$38,125 grant to Hinsdale County

With a Conservation Service Corps grant, Hinsdale County partnered with Southwest Conservation Corps-Los Valles crews for four weeks of work. Crews conducted campsite fire mitigation, infrastructure work, and installed a 150-foot, ADA-compliant fishing pier at Wupperman Campground and Red Mountain Gulch. Crews also performed one week of trail work at the Ute-Ulay Town and Mill Site. This project is part of a continuing partnership with Southwest Conservation Corps that began in the summer of 2022 to improve infrastructure and increase lakeshore access for residents and visitors.
Learn more about Southwest Conservation Corps

National Wildlife Federation Fellow

$144,675 grant to the National Wildlife Federation

This Fellowship grant supported the National Wildlife Federation in hiring a fellow to help those living in historically marginalized neighborhoods in Denver Metro communities access nearby nature more easily and often. The fellow led community-centered habitat restoration projects and helped transform public spaces by removing concrete, planting trees, and engaging residents. They fostered partnerships, provided educational resources, and worked to establish the Green Dot Coalition, which supports BIPOC-led green infrastructure work. This fellow transitioned into a full-time role with the organization and will continue leading green efforts in Denver.
Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation

Gunnison Wet Meadows Restoration & Resilience Building Project

$153,760 grant to Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District

With a Planning and Capacity grant, the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District expanded its decade-long meadow restoration efforts in the Upper Gunnison River watershed. The project implemented low-tech processes to restore stream and meadow function, reduce erosion, and improve habitat for wildlife, including the threatened Gunnison sage grouse. It also increased soil moisture to help mitigate the impacts of drought, wildfire, and climate change. Funding also supported training, site planning, and increased the coalition’s capacity to implement more projects and leverage federal and state funding opportunities for watershed health.

This multi-year project brings together a coalition of state and federal government agencies, local ranchers and agricultural producers, nonprofit and volunteer organizations, youth leaders, and academic institutions. Together, they work to restore wet meadows throughout the upper Gunnison River watershed and in neighboring San Miguel, Mesa, and Eagle Counties.
Learn more about the project

High Line Canal Conservation Easement

$350,000 grant to the High Line Canal Conservancy

This Land Acquisition grant supported the High Line Canal Conservancy (HLCC) in permanently protecting the High Line Canal as a regional open space. On June 20, 2024, 45 miles of the High Line Canal was placed under a conservation easement, ensuring it would never be developed or subdivided. GOCO funding supported the transaction costs associated with the conservation easement and provided $250,000 to the HLCC to support the long-term management and enforcement of the easement. The canal corridor (pictured above) offers valuable recreation access for the Denver metro region, winding through diverse communities and connecting residents and visitors to schools, community centers, and over 8,000 acres of parks and open spaces.
Learn more about the HLCC

Protecting the Mesa Verde Landscape – Boren and Henley Conservation Easements

$97,000 grant to Montezuma Land Conservancy through Keep It Colorado

This funding supported Montezuma Land Conservancy in permanently protecting over 2,500 acres of highly developable land through two conservation easements. Located adjacent to Mesa Verde National Park, the San Juan Scenic Byway, and San Juan National Forest, the Hensley and Boren easements were decades in the making. This project preserved an iconic Mesa Verde viewshed seen by over 600,000 visitors annually. It also supported agricultural resiliency and maintained critical habitat for mule deer, mountain lion, wild turkey, bear, and Colorado state species of concern such as the northern harrier and juniper titmouse.

This grant is part of Keep It Colorado’s Transaction Cost Assistance Program, which re-grants GOCO funds to help cover transaction costs associated with conservation easements.
Learn more about the project