The Colorado Environmental Education Plan (CEEP) was created through a collaboration between the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR) to foster the partnerships and awareness needed to promote, coordinate, and sustain standards-based environmental education across the state.  The CEEP was adopted by the Colorado State Board of Education on December 5th, 2012 with bi-partisan support.

In 2010, legislative authority (HB10-1131) was given to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to create the Colorado Kids Outdoors Grant Program. The goals of the legislation were to improve young people's knowledge of the environment and increase young people's opportunities for outdoor educational experiences. The legislation also required the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to adopt a statewide plan for environmental education.  The CDE and DNR asked the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) and a dedicated task force to create an initial proposal for a statewide environmental education plan. Through an iterative process of data collection including online surveys, focus groups, and public meetings, a proposal was developed and a final Colorado Environmental Education Plan (CEEP) was adopted by the Colorado State Board of Education on December 5, 2012 with bi-partisan support. 

The CEEP aims to build on existing CDE and DNR strategic priorities by providing a vision for environmental education that is based on the Colorado Academic Standards, supports high quality research-based environmental education curriculum and instruction, and fosters outdoor recreation and stewardship.