Michigan River Camp Capital Campaign

The Colorado State Forest Service and Warner College of Natural Resources are seeking $3 million to transform the current Michigan River Camp at the Colorado State Forest into a facility that offers place-based learning, training and research. This facility will provide students, teachers, foresters, land managers, firefighters, researchers and others with the opportunity to learn on-site about forest management, fire ecology, climate change, water, grazing, recreation and more in a world-class environment.

A log home currently sits on the site of the Michigan River Camp. With campaign funding, the CSFS will build a meeting center with kitchen and bathroom facilities near the log home and construct all-season yurts and cabins. The completed camp will provide classrooms, meeting spaces and overnight lodging for up to 40 people. The camp, located about two hours from CSU’s campus in Fort Collins and an hour-and-a-half from Steamboat Springs, will serve schools and other entities in Jackson, Routt, Grand and Larimer counties – and elsewhere across Colorado.

The Michigan River Camp will be part of the existing facilities stewarded by the CSFS on the Colorado State Forest, some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Facility Project Budget

The project has a budget of $3 million to design and build the facilities. Karin Utterback-Normann, a third-generation descendant of homesteaders in Steamboat Springs, has provided a lead gift of $1.23 million to kickstart the capital campaign. This generous gift contributes to the total budget needs that include the following:

• Meeting center (including design, utilities and associated fees) – $2,300,000

• Yurts and cabins – $320,000

• Improvements to existing log home – $100,000

• Equipment – $100,000

• Operations and maintenance reserves – $180,000