·       Rebuild Main Streets as Community Anchors:
Main Streets must once again become the gathering places of rural Colorado, centers for commerce, culture, and connection. We will support reinvestment in historic buildings, adaptive reuse of vacant properties, and public realm improvements that make these streets walkable, welcoming, and vibrant. Active storefronts, outdoor markets, and local arts and cultural programming will create spaces where people come together, celebrate identity, and support one another.

·       Drive Local Economies Through Innovation and Place-Based Industry:
Revitalizing Main Streets requires more than façade improvements, it means anchoring them with industries and services that meet community needs and create jobs. We will support small business development, craft manufacturing, and circular economy enterprises that utilize local materials and talent. By connecting Main Streets to regional agriculture, tourism, and outdoor recreation, we can ensure they remain economically strong and culturally relevant.

·       Create Housing Options That Support All Generations:
Main Streets and town centers must be places where people can live as well as work. We will develop affordable, attainable housing options for young families, essential workers, and entrepreneurs, ensuring they can build futures in rural communities. We will promote intergenerational housing models, from senior-friendly apartments to family homes with accessory dwelling units, that allow older residents to age in place, support multi-generational households, and keep wealth and care within communities.

·       Integrate Housing Into Mixed-Use, Walkable Centers:
We will design and plan Main Streets as mixed-use hubs with housing above shops, clustered homes near services, and public spaces within walking distance. This approach reduces dependency on cars, lowers living costs, and supports local businesses by creating a built-in customer base.

·       Support Local Businesses, Agriculture, and Creative Industries:
By fostering entrepreneurship, supporting local agriculture, and attracting creative industries, we will strengthen the economic backbone of rural towns while honoring their unique heritage.

·       Invest in the Next Generation:
Infrastructure, education, and shared spaces: parks, libraries, cultural centers, are essential to retaining and attracting younger residents. These investments build connection, belonging, and opportunity.

·       Empower Community-Driven Planning and Design:
Local voices must lead these transformations. We will facilitate participatory planning processes that ensure solutions reflect the character, needs, and aspirations of each community, creating resilient, self-sustaining towns rooted in pride, equity, and possibility.

·       Create Full-Scale Circular Systems:
Transform rural Colorado into a model of circularity by capturing and reusing every material possible. Establish regional recycling and resource recovery centers that serve as hubs for sorting, processing, and redistributing materials back into the local economy.

·       Close the Loop on Building Materials:
Implement systems for drywall recycling, metal recycling, and reclaimed wood reuse, turning construction waste into new building materials. Revive local quarries for sustainable stone sourcing and tumble and remanufacture glass into tiles, aggregates, and other building products. Ensure that recycled materials flow directly into on-point manufacturing, reducing transport costs and emissions while creating jobs.

·       Textile Waste Solutions for Local Industry:
Collect and process textile waste, from discarded clothing to industrial fabric scraps, into building insulation, fiber-based composites, and other high-value products. Establish fabric recovery programs in rural communities to reduce landfill waste, create local manufacturing opportunities, and support innovative circular industries.

·       Integrate Organic Waste into Soil Building and Food Production:
Turn food waste, agricultural byproducts, and organics into high-quality compost to rebuild soils and support regenerative farming. Connect existing stockpiles of materials, like lime from sugar beet processing into soil enhancement and innovative industries such as mushroom cultivation. Link these outputs directly to local farms and producers, ensuring minimal waste and maximum value.

·       Empower Communities Through Sharing and Reuse:
Use recycling centers as community hubs, hosting free stores, swap markets, and repair workshops where unwanted goods are exchanged, repaired, and reused. This not only reduces waste but fosters community connection, resilience, and pride.

·       Anchor Local Manufacturing in Circular Supply Chains:
Support rural-based manufacturing enterprises that produce compressed earth blocks, recycled textile insulation, reclaimed metal products, recycled drywall panels, and bio-based materials, all sourced from local inputs. This keeps wealth in the community, diversifies rural economies, and reduces reliance on volatile global supply chains.

·       Generate Jobs and Skilled Workforces:
Partner with unions, trade schools, and workforce development programs to train people in recycling technology, textile repurposing, materials processing, and sustainable manufacturing, creating long-term, skilled employment in rural areas.

·       Envision a Fully Circular Rural Economy:
A future where nothing goes to waste , where resources flow continuously from soil to food, to building, to fabric, to reuse, strengthening local economies, protecting ecosystems, and providing the foundation for self-reliant communities. This is not just recycling, it’s economic regeneration powered by ingenuity and place-based innovation.

·       Build fire-resistant housing and community infrastructure using sustainable, regionally sourced materials such as compressed earth blocks (CEB), rammed earth, and reclaimed timber. These materials offer durability, thermal efficiency, and reduced environmental impact while strengthening local supply chains.

·       Integrate fire-wise landscape planning by using native, drought-tolerant vegetation, defensible space design, and green buffers that reduce wildfire risk while enhancing ecological health.

·       Restore and expand beaver habitat in riparian areas to improve natural firebreaks, retain water during drought, and restore critical ecosystems that support biodiversity. Beavers act as natural engineers, creating wetlands that slow fire spread and protect watersheds.

·       Implement proactive forest health management strategies, selective thinning, controlled burns, and replanting with drought-resistant species, to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk while improving resilience and biodiversity.

·       Protect watersheds as natural fire barriers by integrating riparian restoration into land-use and community planning, ensuring water security and ecological stability.

·       Develop fire-adapted infrastructure systems, such as decentralized water storage for firefighting, underground utilities, and resilient energy systems like microgrids powered by renewables.

·       Educate and empower local communities with fire-preparedness training, neighborhood action plans, and resources for retrofitting existing homes to meet fire-resistant standards.

·       Plan for climate-ready growth, ensuring new development avoids high-risk areas, uses smart site selection, and aligns with regional hazard-mitigation plans.

·       Build rural construction workforce capacity in fire-resistant building methods, creating skilled jobs while protecting lives, homes, and landscapes.

·       Rebuild Colorado’s soils as the foundation of life, agriculture, and resilience. Prioritize soil health through regenerative practices, cover cropping, rotational grazing, composting, reduced tillage, and perennial systems to restore fertility, increase carbon storage, enhance water retention, and ensure productive land for future generations.

·       Protect and empower Colorado’s farmers, ranchers, and food producers as the backbone of our state’s resilience. Provide access to land, capital, and training for the next generation of producers so Colorado can feed itself for decades to come.

·       Integrate soil conservation into land-use planning and watershed protection, ensuring healthy soils are recognized as vital natural infrastructure. Protect prime agricultural lands from fragmentation and development pressures.

·       Develop climate- and disaster-resilient food systems, including hail-proof, geothermal-heated greenhouses for year-round production, drought- and flood-tolerant crop systems, and water-wise growing techniques that withstand extreme weather events.

·       Safeguard and restore watersheds as the lifeblood of Colorado’s agriculture. Reclaim lands held solely for water rights, ensuring they serve ecological health, agricultural viability, and public benefit.

·       Strengthen the entire food chain from soil to table by investing in local processing facilities, distribution hubs, storage infrastructure, and value-added enterprises that keep wealth in rural communities.

·       Create robust, fair markets for Colorado-grown food, empowering local producers with farm-to-school programs, community-supported agriculture (CSA), institutional purchasing, and strong regional branding that builds consumer loyalty and pride in Colorado’s agriculture.

·       Champion water-wise stewardship by supporting efficient irrigation technologies, soil moisture management, and regenerative land practices that optimize every drop for agricultural and ecosystem health.

·       Build a culture of respect, pride, and prosperity in farming by elevating agriculture as a dynamic, innovative, and essential driver of Colorado’s economy, ecology, and identity, making farming and ranching viable, respected careers for the next generation.

·       Ensure long-term food sovereignty for Colorado a state capable of producing, processing, and consuming its own food through resilient, regenerative, and locally grounded systems that support both people and the planet.

• Transition Colorado’s communities from car-dependent to bike- and pedestrian-focused, inspired by leading models like Denmark.

• Make walking and biking easy, safe, and convenient for everyone by developing grade-separated, connected bike networks, including pedal-assist and e-bike infrastructure, that link rural towns, urban centers, and natural landscapes.

• Open riverbeds, greenways, and corridors as continuous, accessible routes for people of all ages and abilities.

• Design communities where walking and cycling are the natural choice, connecting homes, schools, workplaces, and main streets, so active mobility is simple, joyful, and central to daily life and economic vitality.

·       Safeguard and expand biodiversity by protecting critical habitats, restoring ecosystems, and ensuring Colorado’s native plants and wildlife thrive.

·       Preserve and regenerate watersheds as living systems vital to the health of our state and the 40 million people beyond our borders who rely on them.

·       Transform lands held for water extraction into protected ecological assets, advocating for the conversion of large municipal holdings, such as the City of Aurora’s lands in Park and Otero Counties, into state-managed wildlife preserves that prioritize ecological restoration, habitat connectivity, and long-term stewardship.

·       Create an interconnected network of public land corridors linking Colorado’s mountains, plains, rivers, and forests, uniting national forests, state parks, BLM lands, and newly restored habitats into continuous migration routes for wildlife and accessible natural spaces for people.

·       Reintroduce keystone species including buffalo, wolves, and beaver to restore ecological balance, rebuild ecosystems, and strengthen the natural resilience of forests, grasslands, and waterways.

·       Empower communities as stewards of these corridors through education, partnerships, and access, fostering a deep cultural connection to the landscapes and waters that define Colorado’s identity.

• Support and strengthen local unions and trades organizations, helping expand their capacity to train, mentor, and sustain the next generation of skilled workers in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry, and other essential trades.

• Build partnerships that amplify existing apprenticeship and training programs, ensuring rural communities have access to pathways into good-paying, skilled careers.

• Elevate traditional knowledge and local expertise, from water system management and regenerative agriculture to land restoration and renewable energy, by integrating it into planning and design processes.

• Advocate for and invest in community-based trade education that links young people to local mentors, ensuring knowledge of how to build, protect, and sustain Colorado’s land, water, and infrastructure is carried forward.

• Celebrate Colorado’s heritage of craftsmanship while supporting the organizations and individuals who keep these vital skills alive for future generations. Support training in skilled trades—building, electrical, plumbing, agriculture, ensuring these critical skills remain vibrant in rural communities.

• Encourage intergenerational mentorship, connecting youth with traditional knowledge and innovative practices.

·       Empower rural economies by supporting industries that keep value in Colorado—transforming local resources and waste into high-quality products such as compressed earth blocks, recycled textile insulation, sustainable wood, reclaimed metals, and renewable energy components.

·       Strengthen local supply chains to reduce dependence on volatile global markets, ensuring that Colorado can feed, house, and power itself with local agriculture, manufacturing, and materials.

·       Invest in rural infrastructure, broadband, transportation, water systems, and renewable energy, to create the foundation for thriving communities and future-ready industries.

·       Support community-led planning that puts decision-making in the hands of local residents, ensuring equitable growth and preventing displacement.

·       Foster true resilience by linking economic development to environmental stewardship, so that prosperity strengthens, rather than exploits, Colorado’s land, water, and people.

·       Build a statewide identity of self-reliance and pride in producing what we need locally, while exporting innovation, craft, and regenerative practices to the world.

·       Restore and protect Colorado’s forests as living infrastructure, critical to our water supply, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Implement large-scale, science-driven reforestation with drought-resistant native species, integrating forest management practices that reduce wildfire risk while enhancing ecological health.

·       Generational Planting: Commit to long-term reforestation strategies that include fast-growing species like cottonwoods and elms, alongside hardwood, long-lived species, oak, walnut, maple, and other climate-adapted trees, to ensure enduring canopy cover, habitat diversity, and ecological stability for centuries to come.

·       Protect and regenerate watersheds as the lifeblood of our state and the West. Safeguard high-altitude headwaters, riparian zones, and wetlands, ensuring long-term water security for Colorado and the 40 million people downstream who depend on these resources.

·       Transform lands held for water extraction, such as those owned by municipalities like the City of Aurora in Park County and Otero County into state-managed ecological preserves that increase biodiversity, restore natural hydrological systems, and provide public access for stewardship and education.

·       Reintroduce keystone species—including buffalo, wolves, and beaver, to restore balance, rebuild ecosystems, and naturally manage forests and waterways. Support habitat connectivity by creating linked wildlife corridors across Colorado’s mountains, plains, and river systems.

·       Empower local communities and youth to become stewards of forests and watersheds through education, hands-on restoration projects, and conservation jobs. Build a pipeline of expertise in forestry, watershed science, and ecological management, ensuring long-term care and local capacity.

·       Integrate forestry and watershed planning into every level of development, from rural land use plans to urban infrastructure to ensure water, forests, and biodiversity are protected as essential components of Colorado’s future.

·       Foster a culture of belonging and legacy, where generational planting and restoration projects create living timelines ensuring that future Coloradans inherit landscapes richer, more resilient, and more connected than those of today.

·       Connect youth to Colorado’s land, water, and wild spaces through hands-on conservation work that fosters both environmental stewardship and pride in place. Engage students and young adults in projects that restore habitats, maintain trails, reforest landscapes, and protect watersheds, building a direct connection between their efforts and the health of their communities.

·       Create career pathways in conservation and preservation by partnering with youth corps programs, schools, and local employers to provide paid internships, apprenticeships, and training in fields like ecological restoration, forestry, regenerative agriculture, wildlife management, and sustainable construction.

·       Teach environmental literacy and cultural connection by incorporating traditional knowledge, local history, and modern conservation science into programming, helping youth understand the value of wild spaces and their role as stewards of Colorado’s future.

·       Support rural communities by retaining young talent through jobs that allow youth to stay in or return to their hometowns while contributing to the preservation of local lands and resources.

·       Foster a lifelong connection to the outdoors by designing accessible, inclusive programs that remove barriers to participation and instill a love for Colorado’s landscapes, ensuring young people see themselves as part of its legacy.

·       Build leadership and civic engagement by empowering youth to participate in planning, decision-making, and advocacy for public lands and conservation policies at the local and state levels.

·       Create a statewide culture of stewardship where youth-led projects and community partnerships visibly transform degraded spaces into thriving ecosystems, inspiring ongoing investment in Colorado’s natural heritage.

·       Create vibrant, hyper-local public spaces, playgrounds, community gardens, and gathering places, that celebrate the unique identity of each community while fostering connection across generations.

·       Design nature-based playgrounds and discovery spaces that encourage exploration, creativity, and a lifelong relationship with the outdoors, providing children with safe, inspiring places to play and learn close to home.

·       Develop intergenerational gathering spaces, community gardens, outdoor classrooms, cultural plazas, where elders can share knowledge, families can grow food together, and traditions can be celebrated through art, storytelling, and shared activity.

·       Integrate pollinator habitats, edible landscapes, and ecological education into public spaces so they nourish both people and the land, teaching stewardship through direct experience.

·       Ensure equity and accessibility by locating these spaces in every community, urban neighborhoods, rural towns, and underserved areas, so all Coloradans, regardless of age or background, can benefit from safe, beautiful, and inclusive environments.

·       Foster community pride and identity by using local materials, crafts, and cultural elements in design, ensuring each playground, garden, and public space reflects the spirit of its place and its people.

·       Strengthen community resilience by making public spaces multifunctional, venues for celebration, places of rest, hubs of education, and sources of local food, building deeper connections between people and the land they call home.

·       Recognize Colorado as the headwaters of the American West. Water from the Continental Divide flows in every direction, feeding the Arkansas, Rio Grande, Colorado, Platte, South Platte, Yampa, Gunnison, and other rivers, vital sources of life for dozens of states and tens of millions of people. Colorado’s waters sustain agriculture, industry, and communities from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, and they must be treated as the priceless national resource they are.

·       Transform our watersheds from neglected backwaters into celebrated corridors of life. Today, we often treat rivers and creeks as dumping grounds, unsafe, polluted, and forgotten. We will restore them into clean, vibrant sanctuaries for people, wildlife, and future generations.

·       Ensure safety, dignity, and stewardship with housing-first solutions for unhoused populations along waterways, paired with regular restoration and patrol programs to keep riparian zones healthy, safe, and welcoming.

·       Reconnect communities to water through continuous networks of bike and pedestrian trails along rivers, streams, and riparian corridors—linking towns, parks, schools, and public lands. Clean, beautiful, and accessible waterways will become daily spaces for recreation, health, and pride.

·       Restore ecological integrity and biodiversity by rehabilitating riparian habitats as wildlife corridors and climate-resilient lifelines, supporting pollinators, fish, birds, and large mammals. These living networks will stitch together fragmented habitats and restore balance to Colorado’s ecosystems.

·       Integrate watershed protection into statewide identity and policy. Colorado must lead in protecting its headwaters, not only for itself, but for the millions who rely on the Arkansas, Rio Grande, Colorado, Platte, and other river systems. We will embed watershed preservation into land-use planning, agricultural policy, and community design.

·       Celebrate water as part of community and culture. Public art, cultural events, and educational programs along restored waterways will foster deep, cross-generational connection to the landscapes that define Colorado, ensuring our children grow up with rivers they can safely access, explore, and protect.

·       Envision watersheds as shared lifelines, clean, connected, and thriving, where people, wildlife, and the land itself are sustained by a renewed commitment to care and stewardship.

·       Tap into and strengthen existing local networks, farmers, artisans, tradespeople, small businesses, conservation groups, and cultural organizations,  to create a foundation of collaboration and shared success. Build on what communities already have by connecting informal networks with cooperative models, funding, and technical expertise to amplify their impact and sustainability.

·       Empower Colorado’s communities through cooperatives so wealth generated by local resources, labor, and innovation remains within the community. Promote worker-owned, producer-owned, and consumer-owned cooperatives across agriculture, manufacturing, energy, housing, and retail.

·       Leverage proven models of agricultural and food cooperatives as blueprints for infrastructure and service cooperatives, water management cooperatives, rural broadband cooperatives, and energy cooperatives that produce and distribute renewable power locally. This ensures communities have control over their essential services, reducing dependence on global corporations and billionaire-owned utilities.

·       Create community-owned circular economy hubs, integrating recycling, local manufacturing, energy production, and food systems under cooperative ownership, ensuring that profits, decision-making, and long-term benefits remain with local residents.

·       Support cooperative development in critical infrastructure sectors:

o   Energy Cooperatives: Generate and distribute renewable energy locally, lowering costs and reinvesting profits back into communities.

o   Water Cooperatives: Manage water resources collectively to protect access, preserve ecosystems, and keep control in the hands of those who depend on it.

o   Construction and Trades Cooperatives: Build affordable housing and infrastructure while supporting fair wages and local job creation.

·       Invest in leadership and capacity-building for cooperative governance, equipping youth, entrepreneurs, and community leaders to organize, manage, and scale cooperative ventures.

·       Foster a statewide web of cooperation by linking local networks and cooperatives across rural and urban communities, sharing resources, innovation, and markets, while ensuring control over essential resources remains in Colorado’s hands, not global conglomerates.

·       Create a culture of shared ownership and pride where communities not only participate in but control the systems that sustain them, food, water, energy, housing, and economic opportunity, ensuring a resilient and self-determined future for Colorado.

·       Adapt and thrive, not just survive. Responding to climate change in Colorado means transforming our infrastructure to improve daily life for people, protect wildlife, and safeguard the landscapes we depend on. We will design systems that anticipate and adapt to extreme weather while creating healthier, more connected, and more equitable communities.

·       Reimagine infrastructure for resilience and quality of life. From water storage systems that double as wetlands and recreation areas to flood control projects that restore river corridors and provide bike and walking paths, we will create solutions that address climate challenges while enhancing community wellbeing.

·       Connect people to nature through climate-adaptive projects. Just as New York Harbor linked parks and natural defenses, Colorado can connect river corridors, greenways, and mountain parks to create a statewide network of accessible natural infrastructure—places that store carbon, manage water, support biodiversity, and give Coloradans safe, beautiful spaces to gather and play.

·       Transform urban and rural systems for climate realities.

o   Urban: Retrofit streetscapes for shade, stormwater capture, and active transportation; integrate renewable energy microgrids; and create green roofs and walls that cool cities and support pollinators.

o   Rural: Build fire-resilient infrastructure, restore riparian buffers, and create multi-use water systems that support agriculture, wildlife, and recreation.

·       Design for both people and wildlife. Integrate wildlife corridors, crossings, and restored habitats into transportation, energy, and water infrastructure, ensuring climate-resilient systems also enhance biodiversity.

·       Empower communities to lead climate adaptation. Provide resources, planning tools, and participatory design processes so Coloradans can shape their own responses to climate challenges, ensuring solutions reflect local needs and values.