This bill authorizes $5 million in expenditures from Colorado’s Species Conservation Trust Fund for fiscal year 2025–26, to support wildlife conservation programs that protect native, threatened, endangered, or at-risk species.
Key Provisions
Legal Background
The Species Conservation Trust Fund was established under C.R.S. 24-33-111 to fund conservation efforts for species that are:
Federally or state-listed as threatened or endangered
Candidate species or likely to become candidates, per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) annually submits a species conservation eligibility list of programs and projects needing funding.
This bill formally approves and funds that list for the fiscal year.
Appropriation Details The bill authorizes $5,000,000 from the trust fund to be spent on the following:
$2,480,000 for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program
$20,000 for selenium management (to reduce water pollution harmful to aquatic species)
$1,250,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation
$1,250,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation
Spending Timeline
Funds are available in FY 2025–26 and remain available until fully spent
Summary HB25-1318 approves the annual spending plan for Colorado’s Species Conservation Trust Fund. It directs $5 million toward recovery efforts for endangered species and other at-risk native wildlife, supporting conservation of both land and aquatic habitats.
Summary
For state fiscal year 2025-26, the bill appropriates $5,000,000 from
the species conservation trust fund in the state treasury for various wildlife conservation programs directed at conserving candidate species or species that are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service. The executive director of the Colorado department of natural resources, after consulting with the Colorado water conservation board and its director, the parks and wildlife commission, and the director of the division of parks and wildlife, has submitted to the general assembly, for incorporation into the bill, an eligibility list that describes programs and associated costs that are eligible to receive funding from the species conservation trust fund, as follows:
•
$2,480,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program;
•
$20,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control;
•
$1,250,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and
•
$1,250,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation.
