Data from Colorado Parks and Wildlife paint the picture of a summer of outdoor recreation boom.

That very well could continue into the fall, if hunting and fishing applications and license sales are any indication, as well as trends at state parks. 

For the year, as per a recent request by The Gazette, big game applications were up to 624,104, nearly 15,000 more than 2019. Through the first six months of 2020, state resident fishing licenses were at 289,876, up a whopping 44% from last year, according to CPW. And the agency at last check had sold 293,975 small game and fishing combo licenses to Coloradans, more than double the amount from 2019.

In a statement to The Gazette, CPW attributed the increases to the noted phenomenon of more people turning to the outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic.

“[W]e hope they will continue to enjoy hunting, fishing and visiting parks and become lifelong outdoor enthusiasts and advocates for our wildlife and wild spaces,” the agency said. “We’d love to see these quarantine activities become beloved family traditions.”

It’s uncertain how much, if at all, the numbers reflect a first-year change in policy that stirred some controversy.

Since July, CPW has mandated all visitors to state wildlife areas — initially set aside for sportsmen and women but in recent years attracting other users — have a hunting or fishing license. Those permits and other fees fund CPW, not tax dollars.

“We also hope people can appreciate that this type of explosive growth presents some additional challenges to ‘how it used to be,'” the agency statement said. “Some areas, like state wildlife areas, were never intended for this type of traffic. That’s why we now require licenses and are exploring additional paid options to access — helping to fund the needed habitat work and other maintenance, as well as potentially redirecting some traffic to more appropriate recreation spaces.”

CPW is reporting a 30% surge in visitation across state parks. The 41 preserves saw 14.7 million people from the start of 2020 through August — 3 million more than the same time frame in 2019.

Colorado’s most visited state park, Lake Pueblo, is on pace for another record year, with 2.2 million people tallied from January through August, according to a CPW spreadsheet. Chatfield and Cherry Creek state parks, the water getaways in Denver, have seen the next most visitors, with 1.8 million and 1.4 million, respectively.