The Colorado Trails Symposium is an annual gathering for agency trail managers. The two-day event combines educational sessions and site visits, and provides agency staff with the opportunity to network and share ideas.

The first Colorado Trails Symposium was hosted by Jefferson County in 2018, and the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks hosted in 2019. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the 2020 Symposium was shortened to a 1-day virtual event.

The 4th Annual Colorado Trails Symposium, will be hosted by the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas on September 29 and 30, 2021. Join us!

2021 Colorado Trail Symposium

2021 Colorado Trail Symposium Schedule

All sessions are held at Northside Aztlan Community Center: 112 E Willow St, Fort Collins, CO 80524

September 29

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM    Registration

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM     Welcome/Introductions - Zoe Shark, Interim Manager, Fort Collins Natural Areas. Fort Collins Natural Areas and Daylan Figgs, Director, Larimer County Open Lands Department.

11:15 AM – 12:00 PM     Session 1

  • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: A Trail Restoration Effort - Todd Juhasz, Trails and Visitor Use Technician, Fort Collins Natural Areas

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM       Lunch

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM          Session 2:

  • Visitor Use Surveys and Suggested One-Way Trails of High-Use Open Spaces. Joel Schwab, Trails Manager, Larimer County and Zac Wiebe, Planning and Natural Resource Specialist, Larimer County

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM          Session 3:

  • Presentation A: Lory State Park Mountain Bike Park Construction – Ben Plankis, Northeast Region Trails Coordinator – Colorado Parks and Wildlife

  • Presenation B: Safety and Efficiency in Trailside Skyline Rigging. Mike McHugh, Park Resource Technician, Colorado Parks and Wildlife

3:30 PM – 4:15 PM          Session 4: Round Table Discussions

  • Visitor Use Impacts. Frances Boulding, Boulder Open Space and Mountain parks and Scott Waters, Jefferson County Open Space.

  • Undesignated Trail Management. Tony Overlock, Town of Breckenridge and Joel Schwab, Larimer County

  • Trail Management - Successes and failures. Stakeholder Invovlement. Dan Allen, Colorado Springs, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services.

4:30 PM                           Retreat to New Belgium Brewery (500 Linden St, Fort Collins, CO 80524),

presentation of Golden McLeod Award

September 30

8:30AM - 9:00 AM           Breakfast/Grab Lunch

9:00AM – 2:00 PM           Field Trips

  • Bobcat Ridge Natural Area – Adaptive All-Terrain Power-Assist Handcycle Experiential Ride (bring MTB) led by Topher Downham (9 people max)

  • Lory State Park – Safety and Efficiency in Trailside Skyline Rigging led by Mike McHugh, Park Resource Technician, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (12 people max)

  • Lory State Park Bike tour – led by Ben Plankis, Northeast Trails Coordinator, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (bring bike)

  • Maxwell Natural Area hike – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: A Trail Restoration Effort - Todd Juhasz, Trails and Visitor Use Technician, Fort Collins Natural Areas

  • Soapstone Prairie Open Space hike - Endangered Species Reintroductions Talk led by Justin Frederickson, Agricultural Resource Technician II, Fort Collins Natural Areas and Aran Meyer, Wildlife Ecologist, Fort Collins Natural Areas

  • Hike to the top of Horsetooth Rock. 5 mile hike following the suggested one-way route to look at recent trail improvements to accommodate high-use. led by Joel Schwab, Larimer County Trail Manager.

  • Urban Trail Tour (bring bike)

Lodging

A block of rooms as been set aside at the Best Western Kiva Inn (1638 E Mulberry St, Fort Collins, CO 80524, 970-484-2444). When making a reservation mention Colorado Trails Symposium group name and confirmation number #31423

Golden McLeod Award

Each year Symposium attendees vote on trail projects nominated for the Golden McLeod Award. This award goes to a trail project that represents ingenuity in trail construction and maintenance. If you have a project you would like to nominate please send pictures and a brief desciption to Dan Allen with Gold McLeod in the subject line by September 17.