Chaffee Rec Adopters’ sign-up map & mobile app help monitor and manage growing visitation
You can help land managers address the impacts of visitation to Chaffee County’s public lands when you go to the Chaffee Rec Adopters webpage and click on your favorite recreation area to sign up. Like “Adopt-A-Trail,” the program allows the public to be active participants in preserving the beauty and value of recreational lands.
“Adopters” use the Chaffee Rec Collector App to monitor campsites and other conditions on their adopted lands. Each app entry, called a “survey,” is aggregated in an online dashboard to support planning and management by the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area. Volunteers can join group cleanup events or steward lands on their own.
According to national agency reports, visitation to public lands grew by more than 50% since Covid started. The program allows volunteers to not only monitor conditions using GPS but also track and report your stewardship efforts.
Our community already has so many dedicated volunteers! You can collaborate with other outdoor users to help preserve the natural resource and retain quality experiences for the benefit of everyone.
Chaffee Rec Adopters is funded by Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and Chaffee Common Ground grants, as well as the Chaffee County Visitors Bureau.
In addition to keeping a watchful eye on public lands using the Chaffee Rec Collector App, Rec Adopters contribute to goals outlined in the Chaffee Rec Plan:
- Clean, quality camping on all lands.
- The right infrastructure such as restrooms and signs.
- Better behaviors through engineering such as downsizing huge campfire rings for safer campfires.
Check out the program and sign up today!