El Paso County officials are pausing a long-going effort to build a nature center north of Colorado Springs.

Renderings have shown an ambitious "canopy tower" and "canopy walk" among the pines of Fox Run Regional Park — components of Fox Run Nature Center, what the county has described as a vision born from a 2013 master plan. A feasibility study came in 2019, followed by several public meetings in 2023, followed by those renderings from a contracted design firm. Construction had been eyed for 2026.

Now plans have been put on hold in what a county news release called "a strategic decision made in consideration of the current economic environment."

A letter to project supporters described "economic changes of the past year," including "rapidly rising material costs, supply chain issues,

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