WASHINGTON – Public lands, including the people who play in and draw meaning from them, are central to Colorado’s identity.
Last week, that sense of place was central to Sen. Michael Bennet’s testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as he advocate for the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, a bill that would protect 400,000 acres of public lands in the state – with more than 60,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains.
The CORE Act has passed the House of Representatives three times since it was first introduced in 2019, each with bipartisan support, according to Rep. Joe Neguse’s website. It has yet to pass the Senate.
On Dec. 2, Bennet said the act has the support of seven counties, 17 towns and cities, and fellow Sen. John Hickenlooper. He pointed to more than 50 letters of support from county commissioners, tribal governments, wildlife advocates and environmental groups. The next step for the bill is a markup in committee.
“The CORE Act demonstrates Colorado’s approach to protecting public land,” Bennet said during his testimony. “Over the past 15 years, Coloradans negotiated this bill at trail heads and at kitchen tables. County commissioners across the political spectrum, outfitters, ranchers, hunters, anglers and local businesses rolled up their sleeves to find the best way forward to preserve our special places.”
The act includes the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act, which would add permanent protections to 61,000 acres of land specifically in Southwest Colorado, according to the legislation’s website.
That includes 31,725 acres of new wilderness areas near Telluride, Norwood, Ouray and Ridgway; extending the Lizard Head and Mount Sneffels wilderness areas by 23,000 acres; and designating an 8,884-acre wilderness study area surrounding McKenna Peak in San Juan County as an official wilderness. The legislation would also create protections for Nordic skiers on Lizard Head Pass, prohibit oil and mineral extraction on 6,590 acres outside of Norwood and designate two new special management areas near Silverton, Ophir and Telluride.
San Juan Citizen’s Alliance Executive Director Mark Pearson said the bill, if passed, would protect and expand on some of the most beautiful pieces of wilderness in Colorado, particularly in the southwest corner of the state.
“(Bennet’s testimony is) encouraging because it demonstrates, I think, the widespread love and appreciation for our mountains from those of us who live in this part of Colorado,” Pearson said. “There’s unanimous support from local governments in the region here. And you would have hoped that over the last 15 years that this enormous outpouring of support would have been enough to get Congress to act.”
Pearson wrote and signed one of the letters in support of the CORE Act. He said that originally, the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act was one of four separate pieces of legislation that were wrapped into a larger public lands bill.
“So there’s a little something for everybody in the whole package to try to get enough interest to then make it worthwhile,” Pearson said.
Pearson said every time the act has passed the House, it has failed to materialize enough support in the Senate. If it can pass the Senate, it will likely be put into a larger package of public lands legislation that would go to President Donald Trump’s desk.
“I think both our senators have done a great job advocating for the CORE Act and for the San Juan Mountains part as well,” Pearson said. “We’ll see if we can make better progress this time around.”
According to the National Park Service, wilderness designation provides “the highest level of protection” for a landscape.
The Weminuche Wilderness recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Pearson pointed out how in that half-century, countless memories and connections to nature were made that may not have occurred without the wilderness designation.
“The fact that wilderness is the strongest level of legislative protection that we have in the United States just makes it the gold star of landscape protection,” Pearson said.
During his testimony, Bennet said things were looking hopeful for the CORE Act. He did, however, implore the Senate to garner the support needed to get it signed into law and put on the president’s desk.
“The CORE Act enjoyed bipartisan support from this committee last Congress, and I hope that you will respect the years of work that went into this bill and honor the Coloradans who spent over a decade drafting, refining and pushing for its passage,” Bennet said.
ahatting@durangoherald.com
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
