The El Paso County Community Services Department, Park Operations Division, is seeking best-value proposals from qualified, experienced Consultants to provide design services for the development of a Master Plan for the Paint Mines Interpretive Park for El Paso County Parks and Recreation Department. Work is anticipated to be completed between November 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024.
Since it was opened to the public in the early 2000s, the 775-acre Paint Mines Interpretive Park has been managed through the guidance and recommendations of a litany of management and interpretive plans, conservation easement provisions, as well as various baseline and archaeological reports. In recent years, through the power of social media and online travel websites, the number of visitors to the park has increased dramatically, leading to several management challenges which include vandalism, vehicle congestion, user-created social trails, climbing on the formations, and overall site degradation. The lack of a single focused managerial plan with sustainable and achievable guidelines and recommendations has led to short-term fixes for what can only be described as ongoing long-term problems. The overall goal of this Master Plan is to review, combine, and modernize the existing reports, plans, and their findings into one Master Plan document, allowing County Parks to manage, protect, and conserve the park while improving the visitor experience. In short, County Parks is seeking to balance much-desired public access with preservation of the delicate geologic formations.
