FILING - 06/28/2017

Basis and Purpose

Chapter P-3 - River Outfitters

Basis and Purpose:

New Trip Leader and Guide Instructor Training Documentation Requirements

Previous regulation #P-302.5.c required trip leaders and guide instructors to have an itemized log of each individual regulated river trip they had previously guided, documenting and demonstrating a prescribed number of river miles required for those roles. This itemized requirement led to industry confusion as most other states and/or countries do not have the similar requirement of maintaining an itemized river log for the individual. Therefore, when those individuals began working in Colorado as a trip leader or guide instructor, they were left with the option of trying to re-create an itemized log based on verifiable information (schedules, pay stubs, etc.) or start from the beginning as an entry level guide. Re-creating a log was difficult to do and lended itself to creating fraudulent and/or unverifiable entries. Starting from the beginning potentially caused the outfitter to not be able to take advantage of the individual’s full skill set and real experience until that mileage requirement had been met.

To address these challenges, this change to regulations allows for utilization of “lumped” regulated river trips as long as certain details are still captured. This should help the industry to have an increased degree of clarity and flexibility, without sacrificing public safety.

Another problem that occasionally occurred was when initial guide training documentation was lost, destroyed, or incomplete due to missing information. Not being able to provide those records upon request put the outfitter out of compliance. River Rangers most often addressed this problem by relying on a prior qualification record inspection. CPW staff had found that in a few instances, those inspections relied more on the River Ranger's personal knowledge then on adequate documentation.

In order to correct these inconsistencies and provide outfitters a means to bring those qualification records into compliance without requiring a very experienced employee to start over with beginner level training, these regulations now allow the individual to sign an affidavit stating that they have met the minimum training requirements per regulation. This perjury statement must then be submitted with a documented river log to be verified by designated CPW staff prior to guiding in Colorado.

The primary statutory authority for these regulations can be found in §24-4-103, C.R.S., and the state Parks Act, §§ 33-10-101 to 33-33-113, C.R.S., and specifically including, but not limited to: §§33-10-106 and 33-10-107, C.R.S.

EFFECTIVE DATE - THESE REGULATIONS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2017 AND SHALL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT UNTIL REPEALED, AMENDED OR SUPERSEDED.

APPROVED AND ADOPTED BY THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO THIS 8TH DAY OF JUNE, 2017.

APPROVED:

James C. Pribyl

Chairman

ATTEST:

Michelle Zimmerman

Secretary

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