This letter is to highlight the partnership North Sterling State Park has had with The Colorado Parks Foundation (CPF) over the past several years. North Sterling has applied for and received five different grants that have helped the park meet or fix a need that general park budget was not able address.


Funding from CPF for two of our projects allowed us to begin projects and then later we were able to secure additional funding from other sources after we showed success. For years the park requested funding from various sources for help with developing camp host sites at the park as well as shade shelters to beat the heat of summer. It was not until we applied for a grant from CPF that we were able to get financial assistance to start developing these two projects. Once we were able to develop portions of each project and demonstrate a true success for each one, we were able to acquire additional funding from other sources to fund the larger expense of the projects. Camp host sites were a big priority for us since we went years without getting as much as one host application. It seemed nobody wanted to occupy a modified campsite as a camp host that had no septic tank and no protection from the weather here on the eastern plains. With a grant from CPF and a small amount of park budget we began developing our first camp host site and now have one on each end of the park. Both have a loafing shed for vehicle storage out of the weather and each has a nice covered meet and greet area that is covered. Since we developed these sites, we have had camp hosts in each location every year since they were completed. The second project that we used CPF grant money to kick start the project was shade shelters. With temperatures exceeding 100 degrees every summer, we need to provide some shade on really hot days. We developed very inexpensive shade shelters to show a need and also show we can redistribute park visitors based on an amenity we provide in an underutilized area. We built several shade shelters in an area that did not get much use and within a year the popularity of the area sky rocketed to the point we needed more shade shelters. Armed with the information of how shade could distribute park visitors, we were able to get additional funding from other sources to build a lot more shade shelters that have helped redistribute park visitors to new areas.


We have done other projects that were standalone projects that were fully funded by CPF. Two projects we received grants for from CPF were upgrading boat slips and purchasing an electric bike for ranger patrols. The parks budget could not fund either project, but a grant from CPF enabled us to accomplish both.


All of these projects were successful because of the partnership with CPF. CPF has been a key part of North Sterling’s camp host program from day one.