COLORADO SPRINGS — Today, Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) congratulated the Greater Pikes Peak Region for having its Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscape (PPSL) proposal selected by the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, a national partnership led by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and War that supports military readiness, conservation, working lands, and landscape resilience around military installations.

"Colorado's outdoors, open spaces, ranchlands, and military communities are all part of what makes our state special, and protecting them takes partnership. This designation recognizes years of collaboration across the Pikes Peak region to conserve working lands, strengthen wildfire and watershed resilience, support military readiness, and help ensure future generations can continue enjoying Colorado's incredible landscapes and outdoor way of life. I'm grateful to the local leaders, conservation organizations, ranchers, military partners, and community members whose work helped make this designation possible," said Governor Polis.

"From mitigating wildfire risk and conserving intact, undeveloped tracts of land, to securing our energy future, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources shares resource management priorities with the military installations in the Greater Colorado Springs area," said Dan Gibbs, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources. "Alongside our nonprofit, local government, and federal agency partners, we are working to ensure our natural resources are managed in a way that supports military readiness. We deeply appreciate the hard work of everyone involved in securing the official Sentinel Landscape Designation for the Pikes Peak region, and we look forward to the collaborative work ahead."

"El Pomar is pleased to support and participate in this collaborative effort, which conserves and protects lands around our military installations to enhance readiness and resilience, while at the same time expanding and enhancing access for recreation," said El Pomar Foundation President & CEO, Kyle H. Hybl. "The Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscapes designation leverages and strengthens partnerships to tackle the regional challenges of incompatible development, wildfire risk and reduction, watershed health, water and energy resilience, and conservation of sensitive species to ensure military preparedness and resilience for our Southern Colorado installations. We have high confidence that the leadership team and working groups developing and implementing the strategic direction for these five critical focus areas will have lasting impacts for generations."

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The PPSL proposal brings together five military installations across three service branches, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Army's Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. The designation gives partners and projects within the PPSL priority consideration for certain voluntary easement, grants, and technical assistance programs that help address incompatible development, strengthen wildfire and watershed resilience, and protect open space and agricultural lands. The Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscape is an example of Federal, State, and local governments, along with many community partners, all working to support the five military bases and training grounds in the Pikes Peak Region.

"Military installations, surrounding communities, and the natural environment are interconnected components of national security. The Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscape enables the region's partners to work together and multiply our impact in accomplishing landscape-scale projects for environmental stewardship, energy and water security, and compatible development," said a U.S. Air Force Academy Spokesperson. "The U.S. Air Force Academy is excited to be the anchor installation and collaborate with our sister installations and the 18 other partner organizations on this monumental undertaking."

The proposed landscape spans more than 2.6 million acres across the Pikes Peak region and covers a mix of federal, state, local, and private lands:

• Federal ownership: 689,024 acres
• U.S. Forest Service: 361,041 acres
• Department of War: 164,985 acres
• Bureau of Land Management: 156,730 acres
• National Park Service: 6,268 acres
• State ownership: 327,947 acres
• Local government ownership: 24,364 acres
• Other conserved lands (land trust, private): 116,089 acres
• Private, non-conserved lands: 1,448,711 acres

A cornerstone of the PPSL proposal is the Security, Open Space, and Agricultural Resilience (SOAR) Initiative, a collaborative effort led by the Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, Palmer Land Conservancy, the Department of Defense, and the El Pomar Foundation. The SOAR Initiative serves as the partnership's flagship model for balancing conservation, military readiness, agriculture, and responsible growth by protecting over 80,000 acres of critical working lands near Colorado Springs. To date, SOAR partners have permanently protected more than 19,000 acres in the region, in support of the military.

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"The Pikes Peak Region receiving the Sentinel Landscape Designation is a tremendous honor for all of us who live and work in this critically important region, and who contribute daily to our national security, natural resources management, and community vitality," said Rebecca Jewett, President & CEO of Palmer Land Conservancy. "This competitive, national designation is a testament to the dynamic and collaborative partnership committed to working together and achieving on-the-ground results that ensure the operational capability and resiliency of our military installations."

The PPSL proposal identifies five long-term regional priorities: reduce incompatible development near military installations and training areas, build resilience across forests identified as high-risk by the U.S. Forest Service, develop stormwater and watershed management throughout the Monument Creek and Fountain Creek watersheds, direct wildfire fuel treatments to key locations that reduce risk to critical water and energy infrastructure, and conserve habitat for sensitive wildlife species. The proposal also prioritizes landscape-scale forest restoration and fuels reduction projects, strengthening resilience against post-fire flooding and erosion, and maintaining the long-term viability of working ranchlands and agricultural operations that help preserve open space and reduce development pressure across the rapidly growing Pikes Peak region.

Nationally, Sentinel Landscape projects have permanently protected more than 876,000 acres of land and attracted more than $1.8 billion in combined federal, state, local, and private investments supporting conservation, resilience, agriculture, and military readiness.

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