Again taking a leadership role, Colorado became the first state to adopt the Principles for Advancing Outdoor Recreation and Conservation (aka the “SHIFT Principles”). Here’s a brief summary of the steps that led to their adoption. You can jump here for the official proclamation from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
During the 2014 SHIFT Festival, The SHIFT Roundtable on Land Conservation, Wilderness Advocacy & Human-Powered Outdoor Recreation, which sought to develop stronger partnerships between natural allies for the benefit of conservation, identified the reduction of division among such allies as a key to successful conservation efforts.
In June 2015, The Conservation and Recreation Summit, held in Grand Teton National Park at The Murie Center, used this observation as the starting point for a conversation between fifteen outdoor recreation enthusiasts, conservation advocates and public land managers who had convened to explore ways to better protect America’s outdoor heritage.
The participants, who came from the three interest groups in roughly equal proportion, agreed that a set of principles that served as a unified framework for natural allies would reduce internal conflict and increase success in the protection of our public lands, waters and wildlife.
At the Summit’s conclusion, the participants therefore proposed six Principles for Advancing Outdoor Recreation and Conservation. The Principles were then debuted at the 2015 SHIFT Festival.
In the fall of 2016 Colorado hosted a similar SHIFT Roundtable to discuss how the Principles for Advancing Outdoor Recreation and Conservation could apply to Colorado’s outdoor recreation and natural resources.
The “Executive Summit on Colorado’s Natural Resources” was a full day meeting that included leaders from recreation, land trust, conservation, sportsmen, businesses and land management organizations and agencies. The purpose of the meeting was to have the leaders share their perspectives on the SHIFT principles and to discuss how to best balance outdoor recreation and sustainable management of wildlife in Colorado.
The group reviewed the SHIFT Principles and felt they helped define an outdoor recreation ethic of taking care of the places that Coloradans recreate in. They also agreed the Principles offered an opportunity to unite the various recreation opportunities that Colorado has to offer.
The group also felt it was essential to add a seventh principle that covers the importance and role that private lands play in providing outdoor recreation access and opportunities in Colorado. This new principle was added so that it directly followed the first principle, which focuses on publicly owned lands.