Morrison Boat Ramp Non-Motorized Development Morrison Cove & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Morrison Boat Ramp Non-Motorized Development

Morrison Cove & Boat Ramp Management Vision The goal of the Morrison Day Use Area management shift is to; create a vibrant recreation destination that assists in redistributing the recent growth in visitation more evenly across the resource, while ensuring the best expenditure of decreasing financial funds. What will this entail? • Closing the Morrison Boat Ramp to motorized traffic. This will allow ANS staff and the associated seasonal wage budget to be re allocated to the busy Marina Ramp. • Encourage paddle board, sailboat, kayak and float tube use in the Morrison no-wake zone. This will hopefully reduce vehicle and non-motorized congestion at the Marina/Swim Beach Day Use Area while creating a safer recreational experience for these users. • Designate a lake swimming corridor in Morrison Cove. This will allow visitors who wish to open water swim to do it legally and in a safe location. • Creating a sand pad or maintained grass day use/picnic area. This will provide a day use experience comparable to that available at the Swim Beach. ▪ Installation of overnight vessel mooring posts. This will reduce the erection of temporary mooring posts and provide South Shore residents with a secure location to tie up their vessels.

Why? A Background on Financial Limitations A Colorado Supreme Court ruling in April 2016 significantly broadened the deductions that oil and gas companies can claim against their severance tax (STAX) liability. This resulted in severe reductions in funding for the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) program, and essentially eliminated any funding for FY 2016-2017 and the foreseeable future. Despite amazing work by the invasive species staff to generate and leverage other funding dollars this translated to a 10% decrease in funding to the Stagecoach ANS program. Many other ANS programs statewide were eliminated or drastically cut. Stagecoach has not seen an increase in our operating budget since 2007. On top of this the seasonal wage budget was decreased by 10% in 2014. When accounting for inflation this equates to a 30% decrease in available operational resources. Minimum wage increase. In an effort to accommodate the minimum wage increase park staff have committed to reducing seasonal staff numbers in 2018. Qualified seasonal staff are also difficult to attract due to the low remuneration offered for these seasonal positions. To alleviate this, staffing will be further decreased to allow for more competitive wages to be offered however this will further deplete service delivery.

Morrison Ramp V Marina Ramp By The Numbers Data obtained from ANS Database. Comparison is a like for like based on average daily usage at both locations during the peak July boating season. All data for Morrison was taken from peak weekend usage only, Marina includes the average on lower weekly visitation for the same period: Average # of vessels per day: Morrison 4.5 Marina 16.5 (Marina weekends only 47.5) Average inspection cost per vessel: Morrison $29.42 Marina $11.02 (Marina weekends only $3.64) Percentage of total motorized boating visitation at Morrison Ramp during open period: 11% Percentage of total unique vessels launched from Morrison Ramp: 2% The Morrison Ramp was open all weekends and holidays in July and the first two weekends in August, 2017.

Funding Solutions During the 2017 Legislative session Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) introduced House Bill 16-1321 or the Financial Sustainability Bill. This bill proposed increases to resident hunting and fishing licenses as well as renewed, the authority of the Parks and Wildlife Commission (PWC) to set park fees and established a fee for inspecting boats for aquatic nuisance species (ANS). The bill also included changes in how license fees were set, including allowing the PWC to set fees inside a ceiling and allowing that ceiling to go up with the consumer price index. The bill was assigned to the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources Committee. At the Committee hearing on the bill there were just under 30 people testifying in favor of the bill and none testifying against it. It passed out with bi-partisan support and made it through Finance, Appropriations and the Committee of the Whole (full House). The bill then passed to the Senate where it was assigned to Senate Finance Committee. Even with much favorable testimony before the Finance Committee, it failed on a party line vote.

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