“In a state known for its mountains, rivers and scenic beauty, the slow but persistent loss of nature threatens life as we know it in the Centennial State.”
That’s according to a recent report, Colorado’s “Pathways to 30x30,” a joint project of Conservation Colorado and Western Resource Advocates. The report offers warnings about the future of Colorado’s natural environment and the action we must take to ensure we don’t lose our most iconic asset: nature.
Since 10,000 BCE, my ancestors, the Ute “Nuchu” people, have called Colorado home. Land conservation is not a new concept for us. Today, two federally recognized tribes in our state, the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountain Ute, are managing nearly 1 million acres of land, with the latter proudly managing a 125,000 acre Tribal Park near Mesa Verde, where we emphasize conservation and stewardship of Ancestral Puebloan culture sites.
Despite our efforts and those of the conservation community, Colorado’s lands, waters and wildlife are facing serious threats. Since 2001, we have collectively lost over 500,000 acres of natural lands to development caused, in part, by energy extraction and sprawling housing. Nationally, it’s even worse: The U.S. loses a football field’s worth of nature every 30 seconds, or about 1.5 million acres a year. Globally, it’s catastrophic: According to the World Wildlife Federation, the average population of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles has dropped 68% since 1970. This year, Colorado saw up close and personal what happens when nature is deprived of its ability to function naturally. Wildfires and extreme bouts of weather were regular reminders that something is wrong.
The threats to our lands are intertwined, but so are the benefits of protecting them. As a board member of Conservation Colorado, I am proud to support a Made for Colorado effort to protect and restore at least 30% of our state’s lands and waters by 2030 – the amount scientists say is the minimum we need to protect, globally, to pull us back from the tipping point nature has reached.
Implementing a 30x30 agenda builds on Colorado’s national reputation for environmental leadership. From our decadeslong commitment to conservation funding through Great Outdoors Colorado; to our ability to maintain government-to-government relationships with tribal governments through the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, where I served as executive director for 12 years; to our ongoing efforts to safeguard communities from the ill effects of energy drilling, Colorado has been on the cutting edge of environmental policy for decades.
Embracing a 30x30 agenda at home will also build upon the groundwork laid by our elected leaders in Washington. Sen. Michael Bennet is sponsoring resolutions in Congress to support a national 30x30 goal, as is Congressman Joe Neguse, who successfully fought to include the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, or the CORE Act, in the National Defense Authorization Act. The CORE Act, which would conserve about 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado by establishing new wilderness areas and safeguarding existing outdoor recreation represents an important down payment on realizing the 30x30 goal as we head into 2021. What’s more, President-elect Joe Biden has endorsed the effort nationally, promising in his Policy Plan for Tribal Nations to issue an executive order to conserve 30x30 on Day 1 of his administration.
Achieving a 30x30 goal is not only possible for Colorado, but is within our collective self-interest as a state. Today, only 10% of our lands are conserved. Protecting 30% will take the collective efforts of all of us, who must work together to identify lands and waters in our own backyards as well as in the more distant corners of our state.
It will also require engaging communities historically ignored and excluded from the halls of power, including Indigenous voices. As a start, we should be considering lands to be co-managed between tribes and the state or federal government, providing for traditional land uses to occur, and acknowledging ancestral homelands in establishing or updating place names.
I am proud of our leaders at home and in Washington for stepping up to meet this great challenge. The threats our lands face today require all of us to act. If we’re going to be successful, we must summon our collective will to accelerate the pace and scale of conservation. There is no time to waste.
Ernest House, Jr. is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and a Conservation Colorado board member.
