State Parks Engagement with American Indian and Indigenous Communities

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is seeking input from stakeholders and the greater community through April 30, 2025.

Background

Indigenous peoples have lived on and cared for the lands that are now Colorado state parks for thousands of years. Colorado state parks are the ancestral homelands for different Tribal Nations and are important places for maintaining cultural identity. There are two federally recognized Tribal Nations with jurisdiction and reserved treaty rights in Colorado: The Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The Ute people have profound cultural and spiritual connections to their ancestral lands and have continuously stewarded the natural and cultural resources living here in Colorado for time immemorial. The Ute people do not have a migration story. Colorado is also home to over 200,000 residents that have connections to at least 200 Tribal Nations and there are at least 48 Tribal Nations that specifically have historic ancestral ties to Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recognize that Indigenous knowledge, oral histories, and languages handed down through generations have shaped profound cultural and spiritual connections with the land and ecosystems in Colorado and beyond, and strive to continue to build relationships and continue discussions related to how the state can support further reconnection of American Indian and Indigenous communities with these ancestral lands and sacred spaces located within Colorado state parks.

2025 Legislation

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is pursuing legislation in the 2025 Colorado General Assembly session that would waive entrance fees to all Colorado state parks (currently there are 43) for enrolled members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Due to the unique legal status of Tribal Nations and the sovereign-to-sovereign relationship between the State of Colorado and Tribal Nations, this proposed legislation supports state park access requests made by the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribal governments to the state. Both CPW and DNR believe it is paramount to conduct formal consultation with both the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe to ensure Tribal leadership is fully supportive of the details and scope of the legislation. Initial formal consultation meetings were held with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in November 2024 as a first step in this continuing consultation process.

What is happening now?

Through the below feedback form, CPW is seeking input from stakeholders and the greater community on:

1. the 2025 legislation that would waive entrance fees to all of Colorado’s state parks (currently there are 43) for enrolled members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; and

2. how CPW can meaningfully engage with Tribal governments, American Indian communities, and Indigenous communities across Colorado on state park issues and needs.

Input is being collected through April 30, 2025.

After the feedback form closes, a team of CPW and DNR staff will analyze the responses and feedback to help inform staff in planning future engagement opportunities, including who to engage, what topics individuals are interested in, and how best to engage moving forward, on the issue of state parks and the specific needs related to state park visitors from American Indian and Indigenous communities in Colorado.