|
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 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. The Center for Western Priorities' recent Winning the West poll 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 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.
|
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.”
