PUBLIC LANDS: Wilderness legislation would protect 750,000 acres across Colo.
Scott Streater, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, June 24, 2013
Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette (D) announced today that she will reintroduce a wilderness bill that would protect roughly 750,000 acres across the state but that has been questioned in the past by the Obama administration.
Still, DeGette said the "Colorado Wilderness Act of 2013" is critical at a time when nearly 14 percent of lands in the state that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management are leased for oil and natural gas development, compared with less than 3 percent that are protected wilderness. She plans to file the bill this week.
"As a fourth-generation Coloradoan, I know firsthand that Colorado's beautiful lands are one of our state's greatest resources," she said today during a conference call with reporters. "These special lands not only provide clean air, clean water and critical wildlife habitat, they help drive tourism as our state's No. 1 economic engine. It is critically important we protect these remaining wild areas so that future generations have access to the same benefits we enjoy today."
Today's press call included a presentation by Walt Hecox, an economist and the director of Colorado College's State of the Rockies Project, which earlier this year released public polling results that showed Coloradans are clearly behind increased land conservation efforts in the face of growing oil and gas development along the state's Front Range.
The college's polling revealed that the vast majority of respondents support land conservation efforts whether they're registered Republicans, Democrats or independents, showing that "this is really not a political issue or a partisan issue," Hecox said.
Overall, the polling results "found very strong support for premier public lands as being an essential part of the state's economy and necessary to attract high-quality jobs and employers," he said.
DeGette has filed a version of the wilderness protection bill in every congressional session since 1999.
She last filed the bill in 2011, and that version of the legislation is similar to the one DeGette plans to file this week. That version enjoyed the support of more than a dozen groups in the Southern Rockies Conservation Alliance (Greenwire, Sept. 7, 2011).
The 112th Congress, however, was the first in decades to not pass any wilderness legislation.
Business groups, counties and municipalities statewide have supported the bill over the years. But previous versions of DeGette's bill have received a less than enthusiastic response from Congress and, in recent years, have faced sharp questions from the Obama administration.
The 2009 version of the bill, H.R. 4289, proposed designating 34 areas in Colorado as wilderness, which is the highest level of federal protection.
BLM and Forest Service officials testified at a 2010 House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands hearing that some of the areas proposed for protection in DeGette's bill would be problematic because of conflicts with existing uses such as motorized recreation, mining, and oil and gas leases (E&E Daily, March 12, 2010).
Wilderness designations carry particular implications for BLM and the Forest Service, both of which are required to manage their holdings for multiple uses -- including oil and gas drilling, hardrock mining, timber harvesting, and a variety of recreational uses.
By contrast, wilderness areas are by definition devoid of human impacts, or as the 1964 law that established the National Wilderness Preservation System states, areas "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." That means only the lowest-impact activities are allowed, such as hiking, canoeing and, in some cases, limited hunting and fishing.
Then-Colorado Rep. John Salazar (D), whose district included some of the proposed wilderness areas, also expressed concerns during the hearing about the 2009 version of the bill. "I cannot support simply imposing wilderness on my constituents," Salazar said at the hearing. "I believe it must be negotiated and worked out with all the various stakeholders to reach a consensus."
But the most recent version of the bill has been significantly revised since 2009 to avoid oil and gas conflicts, DeGette said. She also said she has been "integrating public comments on this legislation for 14 years" in an effort to refine the legislation "until we pass it."
DeGette said she has consulted with BLM and Forest Service officials on the proposal, and "they are generally supportive of the bill."
The version of the bill DeGette plans to file this week recognizes the need for balanced use of public lands and, as such, maintains existing grazing, oil and gas, and mineral rights, she said. The areas proposed for wilderness designation are primarily BLM midelevation lands and lower-lying canyons, and most of the land at issue is in areas with wilderness characteristics or is being studied as wilderness.
The bill enjoys support from some of the state's top environmental groups.
"Colorado is world-renowned for its beauty and wilderness. In poll after poll, Coloradans have expressed support for protecting our public lands and understand the link between protected lands and our economic prosperity," said Pete Maysmith, executive director of Conservation Colorado. "There are thousands of acres of unique public lands which have awaited congressional action for too long."
