Our CORE Giving Circle gathered this fall for its fourth round of funding decisions. Since the program began in in 2019, the CORE Fund has awarded over $140,000 to 35 projects. This year, donors reviewed 26 projects requesting $128,000. The Giving Circle awarded $60,000 to 13 impactful projects across western Colorado.

• Citizens for Clean Air, Biochar 2023, $4,500 – Multi-year biochar study surveys the impact of biochar in working agriculture as a potential resource for farmers to utilize green waste that would otherwise be burned and contribute to air pollution.
• Colorado Canyons Association, Stewardship Collaborative, $4,000 – The stewardship collaborative is working to advance the following goals: Engage and mobilize more volunteers to steward local lands and waters; increase collaboration between organizations for stewardship projects; develop new ideas, models, partnerships and tools to increase collective impact on the stewardship of public and private lands and waters. 
• Colorado Discover Ability, 2023 Adventure Camps, $5,000 – Funds support a series of day camps designed and delivered for youth (ages 8-20) and young adults (21-38 years) with disabilities. These camps are held at various Mesa County locations, with experiences centered around adaptive cycling, indoor climbing, and river rafting, kayaking and other water sports.
• Colorado Water Trust, Restoring the 15-Mile Reach, $3,000 – Colorado Water Trust (CWT) partners with Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (OMID) and Grand Valley Water Users Association (GVWUA) to strike an innovative agreement designed to boost flows in the 15-Mile Reach when the river runs low. The 15-Mile Reach project is implemented by securing water from upstream sources. The CORE award provides an important local match for the project.
• Colorado West Land Trust; Monument Corridor Stewards, $2,000 - CWLT will continue restoration work, working with youth and community volunteers to pull weeds, plant native vegetation, cut and transplant willows, collect native seed and re-seed, and monitor progress.
• Colorado Wildlands Project, Dolores River and Unaweep Canyons Protection, $5,000 - CWP is leveraging federal legislation to create a National Conservation Area in San Miguel, Dolores and Montezuma counties to include permanent protections in Montrose and Mesa counties. This includes scenic treasures like the Gateway area and Sewemup Mesa. Funding will help CWP educate key stakeholders and the public through field trips, overflights, social media, and local media outlets. 
• EUREKA! McConnell Science Museum, Colorado Rivers and Climate pilot program, $7,500 – The new Colorado Rivers and Climate program is a series of after school and day programs dedicated to introducing local students to the important issues of water, climate change, and environmental science in Western Colorado through hands-on education, data collection, and restoration. Students will visit the headwaters of the Grand Valley water system to study riparian ecosystems by exploring human, agricultural, and industrial impacts on water, megadrought, fire, and the importance of snowpack.
• Mesa County Public Health, Tools and Equipment for the Grand Valley Trails Crew, $6,000 - Mesa County’s innovative approach to trail management has resulted in significant impact across the county over the past several years. MCPH manages a 4-person trail crew which focuses on the maintenance of non-motorized trails throughout Mesa County. The crew works to address issues including revegetation, social trail closure, erosion control, invasive species removal, rock work, corridor clearing, and other activities aimed at protecting public lands while improving the trail user experience for thousands of individuals.
• Outdoor Wilderness Lab, Scholarships, $7,500 – This funding helps the District 51 keep OWL tuition low and free to under-resourced students. 
• Partners of Delta, Montrose and Ouray – High Camp Experience 2023, $2,000 - This funding supports two nights at a high-elevation cabin for up to 20 youth, mentors and staff, to provide youth with a deep dive into nature and the beauty of Colorado at 11,500 feet. Partners youth typically do not have the opportunity to experience nature. Families of Partners youth are often low-income, single parent households where time and financial resources for experience nature and wildlife are scarce.
• RiversEdge West, River Stewardship and Education Program, $6,000 – This program is designed to sustain a collaborative stewardship model that supports the ecological health of local rivers and engages youth and adults through river restoration projects and other direct learning opportunities. This program will directly assist with ongoing restoration through volunteerism and provide standards-based river curriculum to youth across the Grand Valley.
• TECH-It Up, Computer Recycling, $2,500 - Tech I.T. Up’s educational programming is designed around learning about the inner workings of computers. Students learn about components and reassemble old computers into working PCs. For each workshop, Tech I.T. Up, holds at least two events to collect old computers and accessories in local communities. What is not used is taken to CORRecycling. 
• The Nature Connection (TNC), Rope & Rocks pilot program, $5,000 – Funding supports TNC’s pilot socioemotional learning curriculum and ropes course activities, demonstrating to future funders that climbing positively impacts physical and mental wellness. TNC will pilot the program this year with 800 students and develop a school-year rock climbing curriculum with the goal of serving all Delta County 7th and 8th graders in the 2023-2024 school year.

Colorado Mesa University is paying attention to the outdoors. While it’s doubled-down on the importance of public lands and the outdoors in recent years, specifically launching the Outdoor Recreation Industry Studies program which offers a Bachelor of Science and an option to minor, CMU’s Natural Resource Center has been conducting research and facilitating conversations around public lands in Mesa County since the mid-2000s.

The Center and Professor Nathan Perry released The Economic Impact of Outdoor Recreation in Mesa County earlier this fall. The study is the first of its kind in the county and shows the impact of outdoor recreation spending locally. Outdoor recreation businesses and outdoor recreation tourism in Mesa County result in over $320m or 4.8% of local GDP annually. This number increases to $484m or 7.2% of GDP when indirect or supply chain effects and induced spending is included. You can read the details of the study here. We asked Dr. Perry a few questions related to his study and interest in public lands. 

WCCF: It’s exciting to see Mesa County ahead of the state average related to outdoor recreation business and outdoor recreation tourism, 4.8% compared to 3.1%. Are other communities rich in public lands and outdoor recreation opportunities contacting you and your team to learn how to replicate it?  

NP: There is definitely interest in this study from our region. It would surprise me if we didn't conduct this study for one or two more counties. There is a real need to understand the impact this has on our region.

WCCF: Many people live in Mesa County because of access to the outdoors. Do you plan on adding the economic impact of local outdoor recreation into a future phase of the study? Would you anticipate the percentage of economic impact to increase?  

NP: This study does capture indirectly the economic impact of outdoor recreation tourism by locals through the business survey. The local spending should show up, after people purchase goods or services, in the form of wages and profits to businesses, which we have. There are other studies that have been conducted locally on the role of outdoor recreation in economic development, including a study that looks at how home values change depending on their proximity to natural amenities, a survey that asks Grand Junction residents if outdoor recreation impacted their decision to move here, and several more which can be found at the Natural Resource Center at CMU.  

WCCF: Your study uses 2019 data because of the significant impact COVD-19 has on outdoor recreation. Do you think the impacts of increased use on public lands are here to stay?  

NP: I do think the increase in activity on public lands is here to stay, in fact I think it will continue to increase steadily over the years.  

WCCF: As an economist studying the economic impact of the outdoors, how do you think about the “intrinsic value” of nature?

NP: This is a big question that my colleagues at CMU and I have spent time trying to answer. How does one put a value on a good that has no market price? Well, you can see how that good increases the value of things around it (such as home values), or you can ask what people would be willing to pay for something that is technically free to them to derive a market value, but there are many other impacts that are difficult to measure, such as the physical and mental health components of spending time in nature. We have tried to measure some of these at the Natural Resource Center.

WCCF: What’s your favorite outdoor recreation activity in Mesa County?

NP: I love hiking and kayaking. I love to take my kids out hiking or put in my earbuds and listen to a book while I hike to the monument.

School District 51’s Outdoor Wilderness Lab (OWL) is an outdoor science school located at the old Gateway School in the heart of the Dolores River Canyon. Run in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife with a curriculum built around state science standards, OWL’s vision is to engage every D51 learner in unique learning experiences that explores the conservation of natural resources in the local environment and empowers health and wellness for learners. 

All 6th graders have the opportunity to spend three days at OWL throughout the school year. As former OWLers enter high school, they have the opportunity to return to OWL as a camp counselor. Below is a reflection from Maren Lynch on her recent time in Gateway earlier this month. This was Maren’s second time serving as an OWL counselor. During her most recent stint she worked with West Middle School and Bookcliff Middle School students.

While being a counselor had its faults, like early mornings and late night trips to the nurses with the kids, there was so much that was rewarding about it. Teaching the kids lessons and encouraging them to learn only got better throughout the week. Within the three days that each group was there we got to see the kids become more excited and eager to ask questions. 

Personally, my favorite part is the end of camp bonfire. There the kids get to perform skits they created and asked the high school counselors to be a part of. The high school counselors also were able to bond during this time due to the fact that we had to come up with our own skits as well. A full week with two different groups meant two different skits that can be funny or serious or downright dramatic. The more we know the kids and the more we know each other the better the experience became. 

Another important part of our bond with the kids is the ability to pick one sixth grader to earn our future high school counselor bead. We look for students that we connect with and believe would grow to be good high school counselors when they reach the age. Each counselor has one bead and gets to pass on the legacy to one student.

Three CORE nonprofits receive Dreaming Forward grants

In celebration of our Community Foundation’s 25^th Anniversary this year, we supported nonprofits with Dreaming Forward grants designed to support organizations with big visions in need of strategic planning, technology upgrades, capacity building, feasibility studies, and other growth-related activities. We were thrilled to support three CORE-related nonprofits through Dreaming Forward grants:

• The Confluence Center, $25,000 – Feasibility study for Land and Water Education Center

• Colorado National Monument Association, $25,000 – Strategic Branding and Marketing

• The Grand Mesa Nordic Council, $10,000 – Website upgrades