Protecting our Outdoor Heritage
I am in the midst of a collaborative, community-driven process that I hope will ultimately allow Colorado to create legislation for wilderness and national monument designations in two very special places in our state – the Central Mountains (236,000 acres Summit, Eagle, and Pitkin counties) and Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River (20,000 acres in Chaffee County). By hearing your comments from the outset, I hope to develop a plan that a majority of the community agrees will support their interests and further develop Colorado’s booming recreation economy. If we do it in the right way — with a bottom-up rather than top-down approach — protecting public lands will support jobs, our economy, and the quality of life that makes Colorado the envy of the world. In order to facilitate the conversation with these communities, I've developed draft maps of possible wilderness boundaries, which will give us a firm base to compare notes and ideas. All of the maps are online at http://markudall.senate.gov/outdoorheritage, along with an e-mail comment form. I encourage you to share your thoughts about the maps, how the land is used today and your vision for the future of these special places.
If you have further questions about this or any other issue, please contact me with your concerns.
What I'm Working On: