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Fishers Peak To Become 42nd State Park

Fishers Peak. File photo.
Mike Procell
/
91.5 KRCC
Fishers Peak. File photo.

Colorado is poised to get a new state park. The new recreational area will include an iconic mountain peak and lots of wildlife in Southern Colorado.

Fishers Peak near Trinidad was privately owned and off limits, but the state and conservation groups teamed up to purchase the land and will now turn it into Colorado’s 42nd state park.

Governor Jared Polis said Thursday tourists from all over the country will visit to hike and take in the views. But, he added, it’s not just for the humans.

"This newly established area helps connect the grasslands to the east with the foothills and mountains to the west," said Polis. "Very important corridor for the movement of wildlife including elk and mule deer and white tail deer."

Polis said a visitor center and campgrounds will be constructed in the area. He hopes the new park is open by January 2021.

 

Capitol Coverage is a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Eleven public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.

Copyright 2019 KRCC

Scott Franz is a government watchdog reporter and photographer from Steamboat Springs. He spent the last seven years covering politics and government for the Steamboat Pilot & Today, a daily newspaper in northwest Colorado. His reporting in Steamboat stopped a police station from being built in a city park, saved a historic barn from being destroyed and helped a small town pastor quickly find a kidney donor. His favorite workday in Steamboat was Tuesday, when he could spend many of his mornings skiing untracked powder and his evenings covering city council meetings. Scott received his journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an outdoorsman who spends at least 20 nights a year in a tent. He spoke his first word, 'outside', as a toddler in Edmonds, Washington. Scott visits the Great Sand Dunes, his favorite Colorado backpacking destination, twice a year. Scott's reporting is part of Capitol Coverage, a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.