Daily Sentinel heaps praise on Bennet and Hickenlooper

Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Momentum builds for land protection in Colorado
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Friday, August 12, 2022
The Hanging Flume on the Dolores River Canyon. Simon Foot, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ([link removed])

Support is building for two major conservation bills in Colorado. The editorial board of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel heaps praise on Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper ([link removed]) for their bill to protect the Dolores River Canyon, which the paper calls “a true compromise that protects important landscapes and natural resources while also preserving private land rights.”

The Sentinel also thanks Rep. Lauren Boebert, who introduced the same bill in the House this week, along with other Colorado Republicans. Boebert noted the bill's bipartisan support, and the Sentinel agrees. The editorial board then connects the dots between the Dolores bill and another bill with near-universal public support in Colorado, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, which would protect more than 400,000 acres in the state, including the Thompson Divide near Glenwood Springs.

The Sentinel suggests that Boebert, with her newfound love of bipartisan conservation, should reconsider her opposition to Sen. Bennet's CORE Act ([link removed]) . The Center for Western Priorities' recent Winning the West poll ([link removed]) found 86 percent of Colorado voters support the CORE Act, and 82 percent support protecting the Dolores River Canyon.

The CORE Act has already passed the House of Representatives, but conservation bills are stalled in the Senate, where Republicans have blocked any efforts to withdraw public land from future oil and gas leasing. CWP's Conservation Gridlock analysis ([link removed]) this year found Colorado lagging in land protection over the last decade compared to other Western states.

Protecting the Dolores and the Thompson Divide, through legislation or executive action, would be big steps to catch Colorado up with the rest of the West when it comes to protecting public lands.
Quick hits


** Castner Range supporters return from DC visit optimistic
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El Paso Times ([link removed])


** Bipartisan legislation would expand Maine's Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
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Bangor Daily News ([link removed])


** Clock ticks down to Tuesday deadline on Colorado River cuts
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Last-minute push on climate bill added $4 billion to address Western drought
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Why the Inflation Reduction Act passed but cap-and-trade didn't
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Washington Post ([link removed])


** America's biggest lithium mine could open on a site sacred to Native Americans
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NBC News ([link removed])


** How think tanks model carbon cuts in the climate bill
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Yellowstone tourists walk up to fighting bison to get a better view
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Cowboy State Daily ([link removed]) | USA Today ([link removed]) | Weather Channel ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” In that prayer, I spoke of this walk. I said, ‘I’m going to do this walk to D.C.’ I felt my aunt’s presence in there. I didn’t want to bury her; I wanted people to continue to hear her story, even though I didn’t know the rest of it. I wanted everyone to know how important she was, what she meant to us and why we needed to find her.”

—Navajo Nation member Seraphine Warren, who is walking across America to draw attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, to the Joplin Globe ([link removed]) . Warren's aunt, 62-year-old Ella May Begay, disappeared in June 2021.
Picture this


** @mypubliclands ([link removed])
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Your California public lands are the perfect place for some stargazing! 🌠🔭🌟⭐

Located about 10 miles northeast of Nevada City, California, the South Yuba Wild & Scenic River Recreation Area and National Trail is is open to hiking, horseback riding, trail running and mountain biking. This scenic 15-mile trail takes visitors through historic foothill river canyons where you might even see evidence of California's rich gold rush history.

📸 Jesse Pluim, BLM

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