Anticipating a very busy 2020/21 winter at its trailheads due to the pandemic, Steamboat sought help with visitor management solutions. Mimi worked with the Chamber and its Routt Recreation Recreation Roundtable partners to develop a Know Before You Go website as well as media and messaging to inform visitors and encourage responsible and safe backcountry winter travel.

Colorado’s Front Range’s population is projected to increase by 20% by 2030, and the pandemic-driven 2020 and 2021 visitation levels provided a valuable preview of what is to come on public lands accessed by US-285. The need to plan proactively to distribute visitors, improve and maintain trails, and protect wildlife habitat is paramount. Mimi is supporting ERO Resources as a planner and facilitator for Outside 285, a 1-year, regional trail planning process focused on identifying opportunities for trail improvements, wildlife habitat conservation and management solutions within public lands surrounding the US-285 corridor southwest of Denver. 

Mimi has assisted National Wildlife Refuge managers across the Rocky Mountain West and Great Plains in addressing visitor use management challenges and designing for wildlife-dependent recreation on their refuges. These projects range from multi-year management plans, to site plans and sign plans, to community engagement, to the production of educational graphics. Mimi has worked on over 10 NWR projects including a Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Charles M. Russel NWR and most recently site planning for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR and National Elk Refuge.

Mimi worked in partnership with Noble Erikson to design an information campaign that encourages respectful visitation at Pitkin County’s popular North Star Preserve. The campaign included signs, a website and this fun video designed to convey the importance of floating the Roaring Fork with respect, like a local. 

This one-room school house south of Buena Vista has a story to tell. We designed interpretive signs for the State Land Board that explain the early 1900s structure as well as the State Land Board’s role in generating revenue for Colorado’s public schools. Among the signs were small, interactive panels for local school children to find on site during their field trips to the Maxwell School.