About Us

Metro Denver Nature Alliance (Metro DNA) is the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnership Initiative collaborative for the metro Denver area aligned around the mission of championing more equitable access to nature and promoting healthy people, communities, and natural places in the metro Denver region.

WHERE WE WORK

Metro Denver Nature Alliance (Metro DNA) is honored to work with organizations across the seven-county metro Denver region serving nearly 3.3 million people inhabiting more than 4,500 square miles of lands and waters.

Our Role in the Statewide Outdoors Strategy

Leading Regional Coordination for People and Nature

Metro Denver Nature Alliance serves as the Regional Partnership for the Metro Denver region within Colorado’s Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI), led by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

In this role, MDNA helps translate statewide priorities into regional action — aligning partners, coordinating across jurisdictions, and advancing conservation, climate resilience, and equitable outdoor access.

We address one of the region’s greatest challenges: fragmentation across agencies, jurisdictions, and funding systems. By serving as a regional convener and information hub, MDNA helps align efforts, reduce duplication, and increase collective impact.

Statewide Alignments and Partnerships

Colorado Outdoors Strategy

Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI)

MDNA’s role in the Statewide Network

How the Regional Vision Aligns with the State

Why this Matters

This is a statewide effort to align conservation, outdoor recreation, and climate resilience across Colorado centered around statewide coordination, funding, and tools.

Led by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), and the Governor’s Office, the Strategy brings together public, private, and community partners to:

  • Align planning and investment across the state

  • Provide shared data, tools, and resources

  • Advance coordinated action on conservation, recreation, and climate resilience

  • Support long-term sustainability of Colorado’s landscapes and communities

At its core, the Strategy is about connecting efforts across regions to address shared challenges such as population growth, climate impacts, and increasing demand for outdoor access.

 Partnerships like MDNA are essential to implementing this strategy on the ground — ensuring that statewide priorities reflect local needs and that regional efforts contribute to broader collective impact.

The Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI) is a statewide network of regionally based coalitions working to implement Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy at the local level.

Each Regional Partnership:

  • Brings together diverse stakeholders across conservation, recreation, government, and community sectors

  • Develops regionally rooted visions and action plans

  • Advances priorities for land, water, wildlife, and equitable outdoor access

  • Contributes local knowledge and data to inform statewide decision-making

Collectively, Regional Partnerships ensure that Colorado’s statewide strategy is grounded in community-driven priorities and regional realities.

Metro Denver Nature Alliance serves as the Regional Partnership for the seven-county Metro Denver region, acting as a bridge between local action and statewide strategy.

In this role, MDNA:

  • Connects Regional and Statewide Efforts: MDNA translates statewide goals into regional action and elevates regional priorities to inform statewide planning and investment.

  • Aligns Partners Across Jurisdictions: By convening over 60 organizations across sectors, MDNA helps coordinate efforts, reduce duplication, and strengthen collective impact in a region where planning and funding are often fragmented.

  • Supports Data, Tools, and Shared Resources: MDNA contributes to and leverages statewide tools, including the Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy Resource Hub, to support regional planning, mapping, and decision-making.

  • Advances Regional Implementation: Through its Regional Vision for People and Nature, MDNA provides a roadmap for advancing conservation, climate resilience, and equitable access to the outdoors in alignment with statewide priorities.

MDNA’s Regional Vision for People and Nature is intentionally designed to align with Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy.

Like the statewide Strategy, the Regional Vision focuses on: 

  • Landscape-scale conservation and restoration

  • Equitable and inclusive access to outdoor recreation

  • Climate resilience and sustainable land use

  • Coordinated planning, funding, and implementation

These strategies are mutually reinforcing. Regional partnerships like MDNA help implement the Strategy within local contexts, while contributing to a broader statewide model for collective impact.

Colorado’s outdoors are facing increasing pressure from growth, climate change, and competing land uses. Addressing these challenges requires coordination across scales from neighborhoods to regions to the entire state.

As a Regional Partner, MDNA helps:

  • Bridge fragmented systems across jurisdictions and sectors

  • Align funding and priorities for greater impact

  • Elevate community voices in statewide decision-making

  • Ensure that the Metro Denver region contributes to and benefits from Colorado’s shared vision for the outdoors

Current and Previous Members of Metro DNA

  • Arapahoe County Open Spaces

  • Butterfly Pavilion

  • Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir Watershed Association

  • Biohabitats

  • Bluff Lake Nature Center

  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver

  • Cherry Hills Land Preserve

  • City and County of Broomfield, Open Space & Trails

  • City of Westminster Parks, Trails & Open Space

  • cityWILD

  • Climate Courage, LLC

  • Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education

  • Colorado Environmental Film Festival

  • Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Partners in the Outdoors

  • Colorado Public Health + Parks and Recreation Collaborative

  • Cottonwood Institute

  • Colorado State University - Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology

  • Denver Audubon

  • Denver Botanic Gardens

  • Denver Mountain Parks Foundation

  • Denver Park Trust

  • Denver Parks & Recreation

  • Denver Public Schools - Sustainability Team

  • Denver Public Works, Water Education

  • Denver Regional Council of Governments

  • Denver Zoo

  • El Laboratorio

  • Environmental Learning for Kids

  • Generation WILD Northeast Metro Coalition

  • Grassland Garden School, a Project of Mycelium Cooperative

  • Great Outdoors Colorado

  • Greenway Foundation

  • Groundwork Denver

  • Heart of the West Counseling

  • Highline Canal Conservancy

  • Jo Burns Consulting, LLC

  • Lacy Consulting, LLC

  • Lincoln Hills Cares

  • Mile High Connects

  • Mile High Flood District

  • MindShine Foundation

  • National Parks Conservation Association

  • National Park Service, Intermountain Regions

  • National Wildlife Federation

  • Nature School Cooperative

  • Outdoor Lab Foundation

  • People and Pollinators Action Network

  • Rising Routes

  • Rocky Mountain Land Library

  • Rocky Mountain Wild

  • Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership

  • South Platte Park, South Suburban Parks & Recreation

  • Southwest Denver Coalition

  • The Park People

  • The Alliance Center

  • The Nature Conservancy

  • Trust for Public Land

  • University of Colorado, Denver – College of Architecture and Planning

  • University of Denver - Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship and Learning

  • University of Denver - Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute

  • Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado

  • Walk2Connect Co-Op

  • Wild Bear Nature Center

  • Wild Within Reach, LLC

  • Xcel Energy Foundation

Our Team

Metro DNA is made possible by the support of dedicated people who volunteer their time and energy to move forward the mission of the organization and our collective goals. Metro DNA is led by an Executive Committee who meets regularly to steer the organization. Metro DNA is also supported by a Steering Committee that helps the Executive Committee guide and implement the goals of the organization.

  • Susan Daggett

    FOUNDING MEMBER & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

    Susan D. Daggett is a natural resources, environmental, and land use attorney who serves as the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute and as a Professor of the Practice, teaching in the area of land use and sustainability. She previously served as Managing Attorney in the Rocky Mountain office of Earthjustice, a national non-profit public interest law firm (formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) and also worked as an independent consultant to non-profit organizations engaged in energy-related advocacy. She serves on the Boards of Smart Growth America and Transportation Solutions, and she previously served as Trustee for the Colorado Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, as Commissioner of Denver Water and as a founding Board member of Greenprint Denver. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and received her law degree from Yale University.

  • Erica Elvove

    EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

    Erica Elvove is a collaborative leader and conservation advocate with a strong commitment to equity and community. She brings over 20 years of experience advancing people–nature connections across Colorado and around the globe, including prior service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, leading student groups in Kenya, and helping a zoo emerge as a conservation organization.

    Erica helped develop the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver and has led many strategic processes and programs focused on nature and equity.

    In addition to her conservation work, Erica is a licensed Colorado realtor with a focus on rooted living. She lives on the Front Range with her partner, two kids, a dog, a cat, and three backyard hens.

  • Christopher Hawkins

    FOUNDING MEMBER & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

    Chris Hawkins leads the Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Cities program where he spends his time focusing on improving regional habitat connectivity and access to nature; creating a more equitable and climate resilient urban forest; and ensuring there is funding and support for helping the region achieve more sustainable outcomes at the intersection of people and nature. Prior to this role, he was a member of TNC’s Chief Conservation Office and Global Cities team since May 2014. Before joining TNC, Chris spent six years in New York City Government, including time with the New York City Department of Education Office of Charter Schools, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, and four years at the Department of Environmental Protection, the city’s drinking water and wastewater utility. He and his wife, two kids, and dog love to travel, play outside, and find inspiration for the critical work of The Nature Conservancy in their Colorado home.

  • Kate Kramer

    EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

    Kate Kramer is one of the founding members and Manager of the Generation Wild Northeast Metro Coalition. She was the Executive Director of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway Partnership and was instrumental in funding the construction of the final sections of the greenway. Prior experience includes working at the New Denver Airport Office, the Colorado Governor’s Office, and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment as Pollution Prevention Manager. Kate graduated with a Bachelor’s from Grinnell College and a Master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Kate enjoys volunteering, hiking, traveling, and cooking with her family and friends.

  • Kimberly Lopez

    EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

    Kim Lopez is an environmental advocate seeking to bridge the gap between disenfranchised communities and their natural resources through collaboration. Her passion is connecting seemingly disparate ideas. Raised in South Denver, she currently is the Volunteer Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, where she seeks new ways to connect Denver communities to their outdoors as stewards with bilingual programs. She served as the team lead for MetroDNA’s equity working team and is on the Board of Directors for Bluff Lake Nature Center. A first-generation college graduate, she attended Colorado State University and received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Science and Minors in Ethnic Studies and Conservation Biology, and a Graduate Certificate in Wildlife Conservation Actions. Kim enjoys spending time with her cat Frida, visiting Mexico, and going to Denver’s farmers markets.

  • Sa'Ro Tannenbaum

    CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR

    Sara Rose “Sa’Ro” Tannenbaum is a facilitator and artist working towards collective care of our environment and communities. They bring over 15 years of experience in coalition building and community engagement.

    Their love for public lands led them to Colorado in 2016 to advocate for federal lands protections through storytelling with the Center for Western Priorities. They then joined Conservation Colorado, advancing key climate and environmental justice policies at the state level. Sara Rose became a collaboration consultant in 2021, and helped lead Metro DNA’s Regional Equity Assessment.

    Outside of work, you can find them chatting with their plants and neighbors in SW Denver, swimming and playing basketball at local rec centers, and serving as board chair for Ekar Farm in Aurora.