Despite the position of Trump’s anti -public lands, Colorado is still hoping to defend Dolores River Canylands – The Denver Post

Proponents of the creation of a national monument to preserve one of the “last, best wild places in Colorado” are directed to the strategy in the face of the hostility of the new President Donald Trump to similar designations and his plans to open more public lands for energy instead Development.

Members of Dolores Coalition hoped former President Joe Biden would identify the rough Canyonland along the Dolores River in the far West Colorado as a monument before leaving office. While Biden created or expanded 12 monuments during his four -year administration, he did not take action on the Dolores River.

Biden’s lack of actions means that the river defenders will now move forward against the background of challenges to federal public lands in the West, covering hundreds of millions of acres of alpine forests and tundra, Sagebrush plains, deserts and canyons. In Colorado, the federal government owns and operates 24 million acres of land – about 37,500 square miles – which cover about one -third of the state.

State leaders in several Western states, including Wyoming, Utah and Arizona, have sought to fight control over the federal lands in recent years. On Monday, the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior of Trump ordered an overview of national monuments created by previous presidents, as well as lands withdrawn from energy and mining.

The new administration, antagonistic for national monuments, is advocating for more protection of the river and its wider ecosystem will instead continue the creation of a national protection zone. But they remain optimistic.

“Although we may not have received the designation of monuments from the Biden administration, I still think we have something of great value: people who want to gather and understand something,” said Scott Braid, director of the Wild Zone Project In Colorado and one of The The The organizers of the Monuments Campaign. “A huge amount of land is covered. There is a feeling of inevitable that something will happen to Dolores. “

The conflict over federal ownership of Western land exists as long as there are federal public lands. But the long -term conflict reaches another boiling point, as those who want to return the federal land of the state or private property see an opportunity with the Trump administration and controlled Congress -controlled Congress, the defenders of the public lands said.

“Federal public lands are at the heart of what it means to be a Westerner,” says Chris Winter, CEO of the Center for Natural Resources, Energy and Environment at the University of Colorado Boulder. “So people from all political perspectives and origin have very strong beliefs about what it means to live here, in the West and the impact of public lands on their lives.”

Optimism around the Dolores River

Proponents of wider and constant defenses for the corridor of the Dolores River say that their acquisition is crucial. The form they accept is less important, Braden said.

Instead of a monument, the defenders of the landscape will continue the creation of a national protection zone. Monuments and protection zones allow the implementation of a range of protection within their borders and management by the US Land Management Bureau and the US Forestry Service.

The president can unilaterally create a monument while the national conservation zone requires an act of Congress. Colorado’s legislators are already pursuing a national conservation zone to cover the southern currents of the Dolores River in the cities of Montezuma, San Miguel and Dolores.

Discussions last year on how the northern reach of the river in the cities of Mesa and Montrose should be operated and whether it needs more protection there, caused fiery debate and summoning names.

Coalition of environmentalists, business and entertainment owners have said that turning the area into a 400,000 acres monument will better isolate the Earth from increasing entertainment use and protects valuable ecosystems while allowing the extraction, development of energy and grazing in some areas. But some locals were worried that the designation of a monument would attract more people to the rarely populated area – or would prevent the grazing of livestock and the development of a predominantly sleepy mine industry.

Conversations about the future of the area have caused such a passionate debate because it is a special place that inspires deep feelings, Braden said.

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say it’s a level of Yosemite or Canyonlands specialty,” he said.

All the conversations in the last year have set the scene for more productive discussions about the potential national protection zone, as well as various levels of protection for specific parts of the canyons, said Amber Clark, CEO of Dolores River Boating defenders. The social process, which is part of the creation of a national protection zone, allows conversations about which lands should be considered a desert – where energy development and some types of relaxation will be banned – and which could have more relaxed rules.

The Monument Campaign has sparked visits to both US senators in Colorado, who have committed themselves to working with people in Mesa and Montrose last summer, “to find a reasonable way to protect the Dolores River.”

The campaign also caused the creation of working groups and mayoralties that facilitate important discussions about the future of the river and its canyons.

“I’m optimistic for sure, but I think we have reasons to believe we can work through it,” Clark said. “We are all here. None of us will go away. We all take care of this landscape in different ways. “

Mesa Davis County Commissioner opposed the creation of a monument, but supports a smaller national conservation zone, he said as this will create long-term rules on how the land is used. In response to the proposal for monuments, the leaders of the Mesa and Montrose Counts last year published a plan for a much less conservation area covering 29 806 acres along the river.

A national conservation designation protects the land from determining a monument along the way – which will “pull the carpet” from local communities, Davis said.

“Let’s arrange the debate once and for all,” he said. “I think doing nothing is dangerous.”

Threats from a new administration

The optimism for the future of the Dolores River comes against the background of the greater concern about the future of public lands in the West.

The order of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last week for reassessment of mineral and energy downloads on public lands – which makes them out of bounds – undermines the long -term public process that was used to approve them, said Brien Webster, Campaign Manager in Public Land in ConteRationo S

Burgum gave staff 15 days to review hundreds of withdrawals and offers opinions.

“Going back and the explosion of these processes politicized our public lands in a way that should not be, he ignores the involvement for these groups, he ignores the hard work that continued by the agency’s employees,” Webster said.

One of the withdrawals in Colorado, finalized during the Biden administration, which can be scheduled for review, blocks 224 713 acres of energy development and mineral of Thompson’s division into southwestern Colorado.

“We know that this is a place that people love and that Republicans and Democrats and Ranch and entertainment have been working for decades to defense,” says Will Rush, CEO of Wilderness Workshop, one of the leading groups who advocate for the withdrawal of Thompson Divide From energy development.

Burgum also ordered the review of national monuments, determined by former presidents under the Antiques Act. The presidents have identified 163 monuments across the country, including nine in Colorado, as the National Brown Canyon Monument near Salida and the Colorado National Monument outside the Grand Junction. Colorado’s nine monuments cover a combined 490,000 acres.

In 2022, Biden marks a 53 804 acre camp of Hale-Continental Divid, the National Monument north of Leivil-the low designation of monuments in the state.

It is unclear whether the president can cancel a designation of a monument from a predecessor, as the courts have not yet arranged the issue, said Winter of Cu Boulder.

A ‘resentment thread’ to the federals

Leaders in many Western states in recent years have been trying to undermine federal ownership of large plots within their borders.

“There is this thread of resentment to the federal government because of the federal property of the public lands and how they were managed,” Winter said. “Although this is not the greater part, this is a very strong point of view held by some people from the West.”

Wyoming state legislators are pursuing a resolution requesting the Congress to transfer all federal lands and mineral rights to state control, with the exception of Yellowstone National Park. The bill presses for control over 30 million acres-about half of the state land mass, including the Grand Teton-and National Park on Friday, left the Senate with a vote 16-14.

In Utah, state MPs introduced a bill asking the state to run the five national parks within its borders: Arki, Canyon, Bryce Canyon, the Capitol Reef and Zion. The bill follows the decision of the US Supreme Court last month not to listen to a case filed by the best leaders of Utah in August, challenging BLM control over 18.5 million acres or about 28,900 square miles.

The legislative authorities of several Western countries have filed briefs in support of Utah’s court case, including Vayoming, Idaho and Arizona.