DENVER  –  Great Outdoors Colorado, which invests state lottery revenues in outdoor recreation, land conservation and wildlife, will start a month-long, statewide listening tour next week to gather input for its 2015 strategic plan.

Fourteen interactive sessions are scheduled in communities from Sterling and Pueblo and Lamar to Grand Junction plus multiple sessions in the Front Range metro area. There will be refreshments and door prizes. To RSVP, click here.

The public is invited to help GOCO set funding priorities for the next five to 10 years for Colorado’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. New GOCO grant programs like Paths to Parks, which seeks to link trail systems and recreation facilities together, and School Play Yards, which upgrades playgrounds and installs outdoor learning spaces, resulted from input at such meetings during a previous strategic planning process.

Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers and open spaces. GOCO’s independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts, and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created by voters in 1992, GOCO has funded more than 3,500 projects in all 64 counties without any tax dollar support. The grants are funded by GOCO’s share of Colorado Lottery revenues, which are divided between GOCO, CPW, the Conservation Trust Fund and school construction. For more information, visit goco.org.

SCHEDULE:

Aug. 5: Alamosa
2 - 4 p.m., Recreation Center, 2222 Old Sanford Road.

Aug. 6: Durango
5 - 7 p.m., Recreation Center, 2700 Main Avenue.

Aug. 7: Grand Junction
4:30 - 6:30 p.m., Mesa County Workforce, 512 29 1/2 Road.

Aug. 8: Silverthorne
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Recreation Center, 430 Rainbow Drive.

Aug. 12: Sterling
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Library, 420 N Fifth St.

Aug. 13: Fort Collins
6 - 8 p.m., Boyd Lake Room, Courthouse office building, 200 W. Oak Street.

Aug. 14: Colorado Springs
5:30 -7:30 p.m., Deerfield Hills Community Center, 4290 Deerfield Hills Road.

Aug. 19: Lamar
6 - 8 p.m., Recreation Center, 610 S. Sixth Street.

Aug. 20: Pueblo
5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Rawlings Library, 100 E. Abriendo Avenue.

Aug. 21: Salida
6 - 8 p.m., Steamplant hall, 220 Sackett Avenue.

Aug. 26: Denver  (2 events)
9 - 11 a.m., Central Park Recreation Center, 9651 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
6 - 8 p.m., La Alma Recreation Center, 1325 W. 11th Avenue.

Aug. 27: Aurora
5:30-7:30 p.m., Beck Recreation Center, 800 Telluride Street.

Aug. 28: Golden
5:30- 7:30 p.m., Golden Community Center, 1470 10th St.