Public lands updates
CORE and PAW acts still being considered
By Sophie Stuber, Telluride Daily Planet
Colorado public lands bills have made another round through the U.S. House of Representatives. Last week, both the Core Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act and Protecting America’s Wilderness (PAW) Act were approved as amendments to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Act.
As the effects of climate change worsen, the passage of these bills comes at a critical time. If U.S. public lands counted as a country, fossil fuel extraction on these lands would make them collectively the fifth-greatest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide.
The CORE Act, sponsored by Representative Joe Neguse in the House and Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in the Senate, has already passed the House three times. If approved, it would protect 400,000 acres in Colorado — of which 73,000 acres would be designated wilderness, and almost 80,000 would be recreation and conservation management zones for activities such as hiking, trail running and mountain biking. The bill would also establish the first National Historic Landscape at Camp Hale in tribute to the 10th Mountain Army Division.
“As climate change becomes a growing national security threat, we know that conservation becomes a moral imperative,” Neguse said in remarks on the House floor prior to the vote.
Colorado constituents have been working to protect many of the lands included in the CORE Act for decades. The counties of Summit, Eagle, San Juan, Ouray, San Miguel, Gunnison and Pitkin; the cities of Glenwood Springs and Carbondale; and the towns of Ridgway, Crested Butte, Ophir, Telluride and Basalt have also voiced support for the CORE Act.
“The CORE Act has really worked with these constituencies,” Sheep Mountain Alliance Executive Director Lexi Tuddenham said. “A ton of work has gone into working with stakeholders and finding compromises.”
The House also voted to pass the PAW Act as an amendment to the NDAA. Sponsored by Colorado Representative Diana DeGette, it would protect 1.3 million acres of public lands in Colorado, California and Washington.
DeGette’s legislation was also approved by the House last year as part of the NDAA, but failed to make it into the Senate’s version of the defense bill. This is the fourth time the House has passed a version of the PAW Act.
If approved by the Senate as well, the bill would protect the largest area of public lands in any annual defense authorization act, including 660,000 acres in Colorado, including Handies Peak, the Dolores River Canyon and Little Bookcliffs. There would be 36 designated wilderness areas across the state, which would protect the land from development, mining, logging and drilling. A map of the protected areas in Colorado is available at degette.house.gov.
“The easy way to think of the Wilderness Act is as the BLM bill,” Tuddenham said. “Being a BLM bill, it’s critical in our minds, especially with climate change.”
The CORE Act and the PAW Act address very different land areas. DeGette’s bill primarily protects mid-elevation wilderness areas.
“McKenna Peak is the one common chunk in the two bills,” Tuddenham explained. “They’re both really important bills, and they’re both really important for the future of conservation, especially for 30x30.”
Although DeGette’s legislation is far-reaching, San Miguel County local and public lands advocate David Taft worries that it might not be the right bill to protect the region’s lands. Taft told the Daily Planet that the CORE Act may have a better chance of succeeding.
“I feel like the CORE Act is a much more likely piece of legislation given that the Wilderness Act has a huge smattering of locations that are largely located in super red counties. Trying to get support from those local commissioners doesn’t really seem all that likely, honestly,” he said.
“CORE is more targeted in friendlier counties with an existing comfort with public lands.”
The San Miguel County Commissioners have not taken an official position on DeGette’s legislation.
While the CORE Act and the PAW Act are still up for debate and a Senate vote, Colorado public lands advocates did earn a major federal victory two weeks ago in the form of funding to protect the Thompson Divide, which local wilderness conservation groups and county governments have been fighting to protect for more than a decade. The funding offers $500,000 to buy oil and gas leases to keep future drilling away from the Thompson Divide.