(Denver) – This year, the Colorado General Assembly and Governor Polis worked together to advance landmark legislation to protect wildlife and their habitats, enable more sustainable water resource management, and facilitate nation-leading, sustainable energy production that carves the path to meeting the goals of Colorado’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Roadmap.
“Partnerships with legislative leaders this session allowed us to take major steps to protect our state's wildlife, advance clean energy goals, enhance our efforts to engage with our Tribal Nation partners and continue leading the way on water conservation efforts,” said Dan Gibbs, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “I want to thank the bi-partisan support and legislative champions of our bills as well as the numerous Coloradans and stakeholders who took time out of their day to support many of our legislative priorities.”
Major highlights include:
Protecting and Conserving our Water Resources
SB25-283, Colorado Water Conservation Board Annual Projects Bill
This bipartisan annual DNR bill funds critical investments in water and infrastructure projects across the state. It Includes nearly $69 million in funding for important Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) Programs and Projects, with $29 million in Water Plan Grant funding; $6 million to support the South Fork Focus Zone irrigated acreage retirement; $1.4 million for a Statewide Turf Analysis; $2 million for Water Forecasting; $5.5 million for Water Plan Update Efforts; $5 million for Wildfire Ready Watershed Efforts, and $2 million for the Yampa River/Walton Creek Confluence Restoration Project.
SB25-054, Mining Reclamation & Interstate Compact
There are estimated to be over 23,000 abandoned mines across the state and 1,800 miles of streams impaired due to acid mine drainage related pollutants. Approximately 5,000 of these sites could be reclaimed to reduce the impacts to surface waters and watersheds. This bill modernizes and improves the regulation of mining in Colorado, by creating a new reclamation permit to encourage the clean-up of old and abandoned mining waste piles that can minimize the impact historic mining conditions have on our State’s watershed health.
HB25-1115, Water Supply Measurement & Forecasting Program
Water supply forecasting, measuring snowpack, and floodplain mapping are critical for water management in Colorado, where the primary water supply comes from winter snowpack and the majority of the annual streamflow comes from melting snow. This bill authorizes the CWCB to lead the management of a statewide snowpack measurement program that will allow for the collection and dissemination of highly accurate, valuable water supply data to better manage our state’s water resources and maximize beneficial uses of these resources.
SB25-040, Future of Severance Taxes & Water Funding Task Force
A significant source of water funding in Colorado is generated from oil and gas, or severance tax, revenue. This bill recognizes the volatility of this fund source, and the importance of continued water funding to ensure a clean and reliable supply of water for cities, farms, and industry, by giving CWCB the opportunity to develop a study and work with partners to explore ways to continue funding water needs in the face of decreasing severance tax revenue.
HB25-1014, Increasing Efficiency Division of Water Resources
This bill implements process efficiencies to simplify, modernize and streamline various work processes related to well construction permitting, the water rights abandonment process, and groundwater permitting. These changes will save stakeholders, DNR’s Division of Water Resources, and Attorney General staff time and money.
Advancing Our Climate and Energy Goals and Reducing Pollution
HB25-1165, Geologic Storage Enterprise & Geothermal Resources
This bill creates a process for long-term stewardship of CO2 storage sites through a funding structure that ensures oversight and safe carbon storage facilities, advancing the state’s climate goals, relieves state taxpayers of a burden to manage these sites, and provides certainty to operators. The bill also streamlines geothermal development by minimizing costs, streamlining permitting, ensuring safe construction and operations, and clarifying regulatory authority across State agencies while protecting our treasured historic hot springs.
Improving Wildlife Science, Research & Conservation Efforts
SB25-168, Prevention of Wildlife Trafficking
Wildlife trafficking, or the illegal trade, smuggling, poaching, capture, or collection of wildlife, is a serious transnational crime that poses significant threats to wildlife around the world and also within Colorado’s own borders. This bill provides CPW with additional enforcement and management tools and penalties to help curb the harmful import of non-native or invasive species, protect native ecosystems, and interrupt a growing black market for commercialized wildlife and wildlife parts that crosses state and international boundaries.
HB25-1318, Species Conservation Trust Fund Projects
This bipartisan annual DNR department bill appropriates $5 million for research, study, and recovery programs dedicated to native species that are, or are likely to become, state or federally threatened or endangered. This bill includes $2,480,000 for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program; $1,250,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and $1,250,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation.
SB25-049, Continue Wildlife Habitat Stamp Program
The Colorado Wildlife Habitat Stamp Program (Program) was created in 2006 to help address the need to conserve Colorado’s wildlife habitat and ensure Coloradans and visitors can continue to enjoy wildlife-related recreation for generations to come. Since the Program's inception 300,000 acres have been preserved via conservation easements, 156,000 acres via public access easements, 393 miles of river banks, and 35,000 acres permanently acquired by CPW. This bill permanently continues the Program to ensure sustainable funding for protecting critical wildlife habitat and providing access for wildlife-related recreation for years to come.
SB25-053, Protect Wild Bison
The American Bison is an iconic species and with economic and cultural significance in our state. While Colorado does not have an established herd of wild bison, there is a wild free-ranging bison herd that enters into Colorado from the Book Cliffs region of Utah. Currently, all bison in Colorado are classified as livestock. This bill recognizes the cultural significance of bison and the unique status of the Utah herd members that cross over into Colorado by allowing for the regulated management of these animals as wildlife.
Tribal Engagement & Advancing Equity in the Outdoors
HB25-1163, Free Access to State Parks for Colorado Ute Tribes
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe (SUIT) and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT) are the oldest continuous residents of what is now known as the State of Colorado, and the Ute people do not have a migration story. Through a series of treaties with the United States, the original Ute homelands were severely restricted to the reservation lands that are now present today. This bill takes a first step in advancing a reparative action by waiving the entrance fee to all Colorado state parks for enrolled Tribal members of the SUIT and UMUT, to support ancestral lands reconnection and formally recognize the profound cultural and spiritual connections to the land that have been preserved through Ute traditional knowledge, oral histories, and language for generations.
HB25-1215, Redistribution of Lottery Fund
The Colorado Outdoor Equity Grant Program (OEGP) within Colorado Parks and Wildlife funds organizations and projects that improve access, representation, meaningful participation, and quality experiences for youth and their families in the Colorado outdoors, with a focus on historically underserved traditionally-excluded populations. This bill reformulates distribution of Colorado lottery funds to add to DNR’s $1.3 million in additional funding secured through this year’s budget, to further enhance OEGP funding while balancing other CPW needs and priorities. The bill also establishes a new strategic outdoor recreation management and infrastructure cash fund within CPW to help address key outdoor recreation infrastructure and management needs.
SB25-206, the Long Bill includes additional investments in the Department of Natural Resources’ strongest asset—our human capital with new capacity to boost funding at our state parks, improve infrastructure and facilities on state wildlife areas, increase capacity for water administration and increase funding to enable more Coloradans to have access to our outdoors through CPW’s Outdoor Equity Grant Program.
To read more about these bills in depth and all of our accomplishments see: Colorado Passes Nation-Leading Energy Advancements, Wildlife Protections & Water Conservation Measures