Colorado public lands bill get another chance in Congress

The CORE Act and the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act pass the Senate committee, with support from San Miguel County Commissioners and local environmental groups

By Sophie Stuber, Telluride Daily Planet Contributor

Two pieces of Colorado public lands legislation have another opportunity to make it through Congress. The Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act and the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act both passed the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday, December 14. Together, the two acts would protect around 488,000 acres of public land in Colorado.

Although previous iterations of the bills have gone through the committee, this is the first time that the legislation has passed with support from both sides of the aisle.

“Passing through the committee with bipartisan support, which can be uncommon, speaks to this legislation. In the San Juans, versions of this bill have been around for almost 15 years, and we have nearly a decade of local support,” Mason Osgood, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, told the Daily Planet.

With global temperatures rising, protecting Colorado’s natural environment is even more essential, according to Osgood.

“In the last 15 years, we’ve only seen increased pressure from climate change and drought. Time and time again, we’ve seen how important protecting this land can be in the face of climate change,” he said.

Colorado US Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have both fought for these public lands bills.

“Colorado’s public lands fuel more than our economy – they are the lifeblood for our communities and a cornerstone of our Western way of life,” Bennet said in a press statement.

The CORE Act would protect over 420,000 acres of public lands in Colorado, including 61,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains, encompassing Mount Sneffels and Wilson Peak. Near Telluride, Ice Lake Basin would be protected from future mining and Sheep Mountain would be designated a Special Management Area. Local wilderness advocates have been fighting to protect these lands for over a decade.

“The CORE Act continues to be broadly supported. It is an approach to land conservation and resource conservation that was built by the local communities,” Hilary Cooper, former San Miguel County commissioner, told the Daily Planet.

Cooper has spent years helping shape the San Juans elements of the public lands legislation.

“Hopefully the CORE Act will get its time in the sun and make its way to Biden’s desk,” she said.

Previously, the House of Representatives has passed the CORE Act five times with bipartisan support, but the bill has been unable to get through the Senate. Sen. Bennet and Rep. Neguse first introduced the CORE Act to Congress in 2019.

Conservation groups in Colorado have advocated for national legislation to protect public lands, particularly with recent concerns over the United States Forest Service’s proposed final management plan for Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests. The GMUG plan determines how forest conservation and management are operated.

The GMUG proposal has fewer wilderness acres than environmental organizations and many local stakeholders hoped. The plan also authorizes commercial logging on more than 772,000 acres of public lands — a 66% increase from the current forest plan.

“Given the latest draft of the forest plan, it’s up to Senator Bennet and those in support of protecting this land to pass legislation, as there are not as many protections in the plan as we would like to see,” Osgood said.

The Dolores River bill would offer protections for more than 68,000 acres of public lands in Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel counties by designating a National Conservation Area (NCA) for part of the Dolores River Corridor.

San Miguel County has worked with representatives of Montezuma and Dolores counties, as well as stakeholders to develop the Dolores River NCA.

“One of the Board of County Commissioners’ top goals is the preservation of the environment, and the Dolores River goes right through San Miguel County. A conservation area adds a layer of protection,” Lance Waring, San Miguel County commissioner, told the Daily Planet.

The proposed NCA will increase regional environmental protections, and the version going through Congress is a result of years of collaboration with different stakeholders.

“While this is a conservation effort, it has been negotiated with all existing water users, including tribal governments, agricultural and industrial interests,. It comes from a decade of consensus. This is a really remarkable compromise,” Waring added.

The diverse group of stakeholders also included people with disparate political affiliations.

“It became an excellent opportunity for partnership by San Miguel County and our neighbors to the south, Dolores and Montezuma county. We may sit on different sides of the political spectrum, but we learned to find shared values,” Cooper said. “We identified enough common ground to support this legislation. I believe this is how conservation legislation should be done, by establishing shared values regardless of political ideas.”

The NCA focuses on the upper portion of the Dolores River, running from below McPhee Dam to Bedrock. This bill is separate from proposals to designate a national monument around a larger landscape in the area.

Both the CORE Act and the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act have cleared the Senate committee, but there are still hurdles to clear before either piece of legislation could become law.

“We’re not quite to the finish line on either, but we’re one step closer,” Waring said.

Read the article here.