Jackpot

Oh hey, look – good news! Recently, Great Outdoors Colorado, otherwise known as GOCO, awarded two grants for recreation projects in La Plata County, totaling $74,025.

The first project is to fund climbing stewardship at Dalla Mountain Park, Animas City Mountain and the East Animas climbing areas. In a partnership between the City of Durango and the Durango Climbers Coalition, crews will repair social trails, install signage, rehabilitate trails for safety and install fencing to reroute trails around fragile and sensitive areas. According to GOCO, that grant totaled $48,000 and Southwest Conservation Corps-Four Corners will conduct the work.

The other $26,025 grant was awarded to La Plata Open Space Conservancy to partner with Southwest Conservation Corps to improve 4 miles of trails at the Durango Nature Center, south of Durango off Highway 550 near Bondad. According to GOCO, the trails have become overgrown with vegetation and impacted by flooding and erosion.

To date, GOCO has invested more than $12.5 million in projects in La Plata County, using a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help the state’s outdoors.