Tourists are flocking to Colorado’s busiest national forest. Can this mountain ‘playground’ be protected from overuse?

The Colorado Tourism Office recently published a report outlining the economic benefits of travel in different regions around Colorado. And the numbers show that tourism is growing.  

The report labeled one region the ‘Rockies Playground’ – that's an area that includes parts of Summit, Eagle, and Pitkin counties. And visitor spending in that region grew by about 50 percent between 2013 and 2023.  

But that surge in visitors -- and the ‘playground’ label from the tourism office -- caught the attention of Scott Fitzwilliams. He’s the supervisor of the White River National Forest,  the most visited national forest in the country, which includes land near Breckenridge, Aspen and Vail.  

Fitzwilliams joined host Erin O’Toole to discuss how this surge in tourism signals a moment where Coloradans need to decide: What’s the right balance between treating public lands as a playground, or as places that need to be protected? 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.