Trail Accessibility Project Lead

About Colorado Parks & Wildlife

The mission of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is to develop, preserve, and enhance the state’s natural resources for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future citizens and visitors.  In an effort to build diversity and inclusion we welcome applications from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Our Mission is to perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state, to provide a quality state parks system, and to provide enjoyable and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities that educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources. Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

About Colorado Trail Explorer (COTREX)

COTREX is the state’s official trail app managed by Colorado Parks & Wildlife. The app serves hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, providing a comprehensive statewide resource for finding officially sanctioned trails and other public lands information in a single place. The app contains over 45,000 miles of official trails and recreational roads across over 230 land management agencies. COTREX partners with dozens of management agencies who actively use the platform to communicate critical real-time information to the public. Many agencies promote COTREX as their preferred trail app at visitor centers, in person, at trailheads and online. The public can find trails and activities across multiple use types including hiking, biking, equestrian, off-highway vehicles, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and snowmobiling. Last year COTREX integrated with federal wildfire reporting systems to show daily updates for prescribed burns and wildfire boundaries. The program has also partnered with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center to display real-time avalanche forecasts and advisories across the state. COTREX is unique in that it only displays information that has been vetted and approved by the land manager in charge of those trails – we do not use crowdsourced data. This makes the app a popular resource for those looking to recreate responsibly, stay safe, and respect wildlife and sensitive ecosystems around the state.

About the position

This position will assist the Colorado Trail Explorer (COTREX) program by managing an important trail accessibility project. This role will take on the responsibility of managing and executing a multi-agency pilot project that aims to evaluate and improve trail and trailhead data collection methods that support access to trails for those with disabilities. Currently accessibility information on trails is limited, largely due to the cost and challenges associated with data collection. This pilot aims to break down barriers to data collection by evaluating two established industry-standard methods of data collection as well as two new methods that may provide better efficiency and cost effectiveness for agencies collecting data in the field. This work will include time in the field collecting data at partner sites, primarily in Northeastern Colorado, as well as time in the office organizing and evaluating the data collected in the field.

Other work may include updating critical mapping data including trail use types, new and updated trail alignments, points of interest and trailheads, boundary data for public lands, and the creation and maintenance of recommended trail experiences related to accessibility, cultural heritage, and environmental education in partnership with land agencies around the state.

Job responsibilities

• Leading the organization, planning and execution of a trail accessibility data collection pilot project. This includes coordinating data collection logistics in the field, working with partner organizations, developing and organizing documentation, synthesizing data, and producing regular reports on progress, challenges, and improvements to the pilot.
• Utilizing artificial intelligence, specifically image recognition and processing systems to measure trail attributes such as cross slope, width, surface type, and more.
• Utilizing standard GIS software to produce shapefiles, accurate attribute tables, and other data necessary to update and improve state trails and COTREX datasets.
• Providing suggestions for improvements in data management process and policy to improve accuracy and efficiency of updates.
• Managing multiple conversations simultaneously with partnering GIS professionals around the state while ensuring high quality customer service and successful outcomes that meet the needs of our partners and the standards of the program.

This role will operate out of the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Littleton office, and also provides the ability to work remotely in line with the department’s policies (three days in office, two days work from home).

This position presents a great opportunity for an early career GIS or natural resources professional to hone their skills and work on a high visibility and impactful pilot project that supports improved access to trails. This work will provide many different challenges interpreting, processing and standardizing geospatial and field data both for the pilot project and broader statewide trail dataset. Some of the work will include utilizing image recognition software to evaluate whether the technology is capable of synthesizing accurate trail attribute data from on-trail imagery.

Anticipated project outcomes

• Producing a well organized and standardized dataset across the four collection methods in order to evaluate which methods produce the most accurate and reliable results.
• Producing reports and presenting to participating partners and stakeholders about these results for a non-technical audience.
• Collecting and producing additional qualitative data in the field that evaluates the efficiency, limitations, and practicality of the different data collection methods.
• At the end of the internship producing a best practices document for agencies around the state based on what was learned during the pilot.
• At the end of the internship developing a document for the accessibility working group that provides recommendations on how to use what was learned during the pilot to inform next steps that advance the end goal of providing more accessibility information to the public.

Compensation

This is an hourly role with an hourly rate of between $25-$30 an hour. It is expected that this position will work between 30-40 hours per week. This is a temporary internship position that is limited to a maximum of six months.

Minimum requirements

• Must have a valid Colorado drivers’ license or reliable transportation
• Previous experience working with GIS software systems such as ArcGIS, ArcOnline, etc.
• Classes, certifications and other education can be substituted for work experience as long as the candidate can demonstrate the ability to work independently with GIS software and produce quality work
• Strong interpersonal communication skills
• Ability to work with little supervision
• Ability to take ownership of projects and suggest ways to improve process and outcomes
• High degree of professionalism working with outside partner agencies. You will represent COTREX and CPW on calls with partners across the state

Preferred qualifications

• 2-3 years of work experience working with GIS software systems
• A bachelor’s degree in a geospatial or natural resource management discipline
• Experience working or volunteering in natural resources and/or outdoor recreation
• Experience working with or for government agencies, nonprofit, and tourism organizations
• An interest in a career in outdoor recreation or natural resource management fields
• Classroom or work experience utilizing machine learning, artificial intelligence, or image recognition software is highly desirable