Pikes Peak Multi-Use Plan

El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado

Pikes Peak is a premier landmark of the West, treasured by outdoor enthusiasts and home to wildflower species found nowhere else. It also contains large watersheds that serve as a major water source for the Colorado Springs area. Currently, most of the south slope of Pikes Peak is protected to preserve the watersheds, but population growth has led to ever-increasing demands for recreation and access to all of the mountain.

Colorado Springs Utilities - the primary agency that manages the Pikes Peak watersheds with the U.S. Forest Service - hired a team led by Design Workshop to recommend how to reconcile natural resource protection and recreation needs for the 200- square-mile area.

After defining the planning objectives, landscape features associated with these objectives were identified and mapped. Then an analysis of the natural "carrying capacity" for the whole study area indicated where the most sensitive landscape types are, such as tundra. These mapping exercises allow the master plan to synchronize land use needs with appropriate landscape types.