I had the honor last week of attending President Obama's announcement of the initiative "America's Great Outdoors (AGO): A Promise to Future Generations." The overall goal of the initiative is to strengthen protection of our shared land, waters, wildlife and recreational, cultural and historic places.
As executive director of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and as a citizen of this wonderful state, I took enormous pride in the President's announcement because it is the example that Colorado set through GOCO that helped form many of the priorities and approaches outlined in the AGO plan.
In 1992, Colorado voters approved a citizens' initiative to dedicate virtually all of the State's lottery proceeds to the outdoors. It created the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund to be a unique entity that invests about half of lottery proceeds "to preserve, protect, enhance and manage the state's wildlife, park, river, trail and open space heritage." GOCO awards grants to local governments and land trusts and makes investments through Colorado State Parks and the Colorado Division of Wildlife. These grants are leveraged two-to-one through contributions from landowners, local and federal funds, and private contributions. And, demand for GOCO grants continues to outpace funds available more than two-to-one.