Animals are perhaps the most alluring side of agritourism. Resources to help manage your herds and stay up-to-date on sustainable practices are listed below.

CSU’s Sustainable Livestock Systems Collaborative

Colorado Wildlife Federation

Land is the canvas for both agriculture and tourism efforts. Resources below are to help you think about how to best utilize this precious resource.

Colorado State University Land Stewardship Program

CU’s Sustainable Innovation Lab.

Sustainable management of plants and crop rotation are important principles. Below are links to help with ideas in this area.

Trees, Water, People– Helping People and the Planet

Full Circle Farms- Sussex Ltd  and Garden Army Ltd

Without water, nothing else works. It is a complicated issue. Here are some resources to help.

Explore Colorado’s Water Plan.

Colorado Water Wise- conservation

Colorado State University Extension- irrigation and water publications

Below are resources to help support the implementation of sustainable tourism strategies in Colorado communities. These links can serve as starting points in your research and in your journey toward creating more sustainable destinations and businesses.

4 Pillars of Sustainable Tourism

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council defines a more detailed look at what sustainable tourism is — tourism that incorporates the needs of the community and environment while considering economic and social impacts:

1. Socio-economic – tourism products and services should benefit your community.
2. Culture – preserving local history and culture.
3. Environment – protecting and preserving the environment both locally and globally.
4. Management & Monitoring – the only way to ensure sustainability initiatives are successfully implemented is through an effective management and monitoring plan.

Care for Colorado Coalition – you can join the list.

Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research

Responsible Tourism

Sustainable Travel

Tourism Dashboard

United Nations World Tourism Organization – Sustainable tourism

Sustainability features links for sustainable tourism, food, water, plants, land, and animals.

What is Sustainable Tourism?

Sustainable tourism is defined by United Nations World Tourism Organization as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” Thus, while environmental concerns are crucial to sustainable tourism, this approach is also highly concerned with people, culture, and livelihoods. Sustainable tourism is about how stakeholders (destinations, operators, hotels, etc.) can maximize tourism benefits and minimize negative impacts. The responsibility is more on the stakeholders.

Responsible Tourism or Responsible Travel  is about “making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.” Responsible Tourism requires that operators, hoteliers, governments, local people and tourists take responsibility, take action to make tourism more sustainable. The difference is that it puts the responsibility into the hands of the traveler. How can we educate travelers to do a better job when they visit? See resources in Visitor Section for more on this.