Rico Trails Alliance volunteers cut a trail across a grassy hillside on the west side of the Dolores River south of Rico - September 3, 2023. Trail crews worked several weekday evenings in summer 2023 to create a connector between West Rico and the Rio Grande Southern (RGS) railroad trail on the west river bank. The RGS trail continues south to the Montelores Bridge at the Dolores-Montezuma county line.
> Ore Cart photo

by Allyn Svoboda
Publisher

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission approved a RicoTrails Alliance request for Rico Grande Southern RGS trails bridge construction project funding at its monthly meeting, March 4-5, 2026 at Westminster, Colorado - a Denver suburb.

Responding to a mid'-March Ore Cart request for information, CPW Southwest Region Public Information Officer John Livingston, replied March 18:

. . . RTA did receive funding as approved by the Parks and Wildlife Commission at the March 2026 meeting. The grant is our 2026 Non-Motorized Trail Grant. Information on the grant in more detail can be found here.

The grant funding specifically is for the Rio Grande Southern Trail and Pedestrian Bridge. RTA received the full $250,000 for its request for construction.

Local CPW staff, including Southwest Region Trails Coordinator Joshua Stoudt, met with the Rico Trails Alliance during previous aspects of this project. CPW's main concerns were focused on the bridge height potentially impacting recreational boats during spring run-off, the bridge width potentially impacting wildlife movements along the river bank, and impacts to wetland vegetation associated with the construction of the bridge and trail. The Rico Trails Alliance has minimized these potential impacts through design of the bridge and related trail. . . . .

RTA members were not at the commission meeting to present. Our Assistant Director for Outdoor Recreation and Lands, Fletcher Jacobs, presented the recommendations for funding to the Commission, which in turn approved the recommended funding.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Trails Program, a statewide program within CPW, administers grants for trail-related and outdoor recreation projects on an annual basis. Local, county, state, and tribal governments, federal agencies, special recreation districts, and non-profit organizations with management responsibilities over public lands may apply for and are eligible to receive non-motorized and motorized trail grants.

Colorado's Non-Motorized Trails Program was created with the adoption of Colorado's "Recreational Trails Act of 1971" codified in sections 33-11-101 through 33-11-112, Colorado Revised Statutes. The Grant Program provides funding for trail construction, maintenance, planning/support projects, as well as outdoor recreation acquisition and development projects.

The Grant Program is a multi-agency partnership that includes CPW, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), Colorado Lottery, and the Federal Highways Administration's Recreational Trails Program (RTP).

note
boldface emphasis above
added by Ore Cart

CPW non-motorized trails grants explained

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife 2026 Non-Motorized Trails Grant Application Summary document describes the Rico Trails Alliance funding request:

Project Number/Region
C8-SW

Amount Requested
$250,000

Total Cost
$313,058

Rico Trails Alliance (RTA) seeks a construction grant for completion of the northern extension of the Rio Grande Southern (RGS) River Trail, consisting of approximately 1.69 miles of trail and the installation of a pedestrian bridge (RGS Bridge) across the Dolores River, creating the only non-motorized trail in this area with a gentle grade for trail users of all ages and abilities.

CPW video recording of Day 1 - March 4, 2026 CPW Commission meeting provides details. Presentation by Fletcher Jacobs, CPW Assistant Director - Outdoor Recreation and Lands.

video note
Non-Motorized Trails
begins at 2:45

. . .

The CPW video describes how grant applications are reviewed and evaluated by CPW wildlife managers on an individual project and larger landscape level based on:

• special status species
• habitats and their values
• wildlife impacts
• environmental compliance
• education/interpretation
• recommended design features and mitigation

Grant application review follows a CdecisionPW internal process:

1. Wildlife Impact Comments
2. Regional Trails Coordinators
3. State Trails Program
4. Grant Reviews Subcommittee
5. Colorado State Trails Committee
6. CPW Commission decison

Summary of CPW non-motorized trails grant applications -received and funded

NUMBER OF 2026 NON-MOTORIZED TRAILS
GRANTS APPLICANTS
70

GRANT CATEGORIES
& NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS

19 Construction
16 Maintenance
18 Trail Stewarship
17 Planning/Support

TOTAL AMOUNT OF REQUESTS
$8,094,565

FUNDING SOURCES
$ 1,500,000 Great Outdoors Colorado
$ 935,057 Recreational Trails Program
$ 2,435,057 TOTAL

Rico Trails Alliance application ranked 4th of the 4 projects selected for "construction" grant funding

CONSTRUCTION
SELECTED PROJECTS
TOP 4 SCORES
89.20 . . . Colorado 14ers Initiative
87.25 . . . City of Idaho Springs
87.67 . . . Silverton Singletrack Society
87.30 . . . Rico Trails Alliance

TOTAL
$ 954,220

> all above except Idaho Springs requested $250,000

RGS trail reroute will bypass riverside campsites

Town of Rico and owners of land which is now the site of the Lazy Rooster Ranch campground executed a Recreational Trail Easement in September 2020. The easement grants Town of Rico

. . . a perpetual, non-exclusive public recreational trail easement over and across Grantor's⁽¹⁾ Property for pedestrian, bicycle and other non-motorized mechanical means of conveyance and for trail and infrastructure installation and maintenance . . .

. . . Grantee⁽²⁾ has the right to clear brush, rocks and stumps, and in that portion of the Trail Easement area where no trail currently exists, to construct a single tract⁽³⁾ dirt trail ("NewTrail") as well as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge to be constructed/installed across the East Fork of the Dolores River in the historic bridge location . . .

(1) landowners
(2) Town of Rico
(3) single-track

. . . If the location of the Trail Easement interferers⁽⁴⁾ with Grantor's use and development of the Grantor's Property, Grantor may require Grantee to relocate the Trail Easement to another portion of the Grantor's Property as reasonably and mutually determined by Grantor and Grantee at the cost of the Grantee in a manner which does not require relocation of Grantee's adjoining sections of trail on adjacent properties and which does not require relocation of the bridge.

(4) interferes

. . .

Composite map below shows existing RGS trail (left) and RTA's planned reroute (right). Left map is Exhibit B in the Easement document reprinted in the Rico Board of Trustees March 18, 2026 meeting packet. Right map is i the Rico Trails Alliance presentation at the March 18 meeting, also reprinted in the meeting packet. Edits by Ore Cart combined the two maps and add lines/notes indicating the reroute.

RGS trail project timeline and benefits

RTA described the RGS trail project timeline and community benefits in its March 18 Rico Trustees meeting presentation:

TIMELINE

• 2011 Rico Regional Master Plan adopted
• 2017 Rico Trails Alliance formed
• 2020 Town approved RGS Recreational Trail Easement
• 2020 Town approved Memo of Understanding (MOU)
• 2025 RGS River Trail (north) fully approved/shovel-ready

BENEFITS

• Easy grade for all trail users
• Improves safety / emergency access
• Secures and improves public access along the river
• Decommission destructive bandit trails
• Connect fragmented USFS trails to create a system
• Ties into Town’s new park facilities
• Enhance economic vitality

Images below are reproduced from a Rico Trails Alliance document included in the Rico Board of Trustees March 18, 2026 meeting packet.

Site of former Rio Grande Southern railroad Dolores River bridge, and future Rico Trails Alliance pedestrian bridge, south of Rico CO.

. . .

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