SB01-216 Senate Committee on Public Policy and Planning

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for our community, the environmental enhancement that it makes, as well as it's the greatest example of Colorado's outdoor pride. In speaking to the economic impact, small towns need to generate a year -round economy. We need to create attractions that have sustainability on a year -round basis. There's a direct correlation when our business is the lowest and when the rivers are the highest. For example, May [unintelligible] represents 2.5 total percent of our business on a year -round basis. It's often when we have the greatest flow on Clear Creek where our whitewater park is built. A small number of increase in business will have a tremendous amount of impact for our community. Over 24 percent of the guests that come to Vail in the summer, have a whitewater experience. The second point, the point of gathering, in the Front Range places like Coors Field helps to create a sense of community for. the Front Range guests as well as people from the Western Slope. In our case, a whitewater park is the first time that we are going to have a place to gather in the community. It's a place where we can hang out. It's the first opportunity to bring locals back into a business core and allow our ma and pa businesses to benefit at a time where they had no business • in May and June. My second point emphasis is from the environment. In our case, we have no water . consumptive use. The water that comes in goes straight out. It's an incredible fish habitat. The whitewater park is one and the same with the fish habitat. This is non - scientific by any means, but I spent a lot of time around this creek in the last couple years. And it was very rare to see fish in this section of water. Last Saturday, when I took my parents down there, we had 20 plus fish in one of our features. The last point I'd like to speak to is that Colorado's outdoor spirit, we are a state that takes great pride in our outdoor activities. This is why a majority of us live in the state. The American Canoe Association identified 24.2 million paddlers in America. This is one of the only growing sports in America. Colorado needs to embrace this, not create roadblocks, that limits the recreational access to the number one growing sport in America. The final thought I'd like to leave you with is an article from this past November that was in the Rocky Mountain News. It was speaking to the level of activity of high school students in the Front Range. There was a report that kids are spending less and less time with outdoor activities. There was one senior quoted from Kent High School that said she didn't like to go to outdoor activities `cause she was out of April 12, 2001 Page 16