Preserving the Outdoor Economy and Protecting Public Lands
Local advocates continue to support CORE Act, Colorado Wilderness bill
By Sophie Stuber, Planet Contributor
Everyone in western Colorado can attest to the surge in new recreationists. With longer ski lines, jam-packed 14er summits and rising housing prices, it can be hard to imagine that anyone else can fit in the box canyon.
The rise in outdoor use is highlighted in newly released economic data. Colorado’s outdoor recreation economy amounted to $11.6 billion in 2021 — 2.7 percent of the state’s GDP — according the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. Colorado is the national leader for snow activities, accounting for $1.3 billion of the United States’ total $5.2 billion industry.
“This resurgence in outdoor participation demonstrates an ever-growing appreciation for America’s outdoors,” Kent Ebersole, interim executive director of Outdoor Industry Association, said in a news release.
While outdoor recreation is vital to Colorado’s economy, local activists warn that protections for public lands need to improve on pace with economic growth.
“As we see increased use, it is even more important to protect our public lands,” Mason Osgood, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, told the Daily Planet. “We need to adhere to our current policies and also have stricter policies.”
Increased outdoor recreation also requires more funding to protect local wildlands.
“A key thing is to make sure that public land managers have enough money for adequate staff and to deal with visitors,” Mark Pearson, executive director of San Juan Citizens Alliance, said. “The BLM and Forest Service are scrambling to accommodate growth.”
Currently, BLM and US Forest Service policies do not reflect increased land use and have not sufficiently updated their travel recommendations, which include where people should go for different activities to mitigate conflicts, according to Pearson.
This is particularly essential with the development of new motorized vehicles, such as timber sleds, that people use to explore the backcountry.
“Motorized tech is displacing other users and wildlife. The Forest Service, for years, has refused to deal with that,” Pearson said.
The best solutions are still national public lands bills, such as the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act and the Colorado Wilderness Bill, both of which are stuck in Congress. The CORE Act would protect 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado, with 61,000 acres of land in the San Juan Mountains, including Mount Sneffels and Wilson Peak. The Colorado Wilderness Bill proposes protections for 600,000 acres of land across 32 different regions in Colorado, including the Grand Hogback vistas, the Little Book Cliffs and the Dolores River Canyon, focusing more on mid-level elevation BLM lands than the CORE Act’s mountainous regions.
Part of the CORE Act did recently become law, thanks to President Joe Biden signing an executive order to enshrine Camp Hale as a National Monument. Camp Hale honors the legacy of 10th Mountain Division soldiers who trained in the area and protects nearly 54,000 acres.
Any hopes of passing public lands legislation likely relies on the current Congress, before Republicans retake the House in 2023.
“At Sheep Mountain Alliance, we continue to promote legislative and executive actions that protect our public lands,” Osgood said. “Conservation groups need to go through any and all paths to protect our public lands, including executive actions and grassroots support on both sides of the aisle. But if we keep building grassroots support and nothing happens, it says something about our national government.”
From 2000-10, Congress protected 9.5 million acres of land through legislation, according to a recent Center for Western Priorities report, but just 3.3 million acres from 2011-21, despite the introduction of many robust bills.
“We have our fingers crossed for the CORE Act so that by the end of the year, there will be a big public lands bill passed, but we’ve had our fingers crossed for years,” Pearson said.
While waiting for legislation, local advocates are investing in solutions to protect public lands. In Durango, San Juans Citizens Alliance is developing local trails, such as Junction Creek, that are close to town to allow for easy access, while steering clear of wildlife corridors and key habitats. There are similar planning efforts all over western Colorado, including BLM land west of Telluride, according to Pearson.
Around Telluride, Sheep Mountain Alliance helped design an amendment to the BLM management plan that will protect the Gunnison sage grouse with the support of San Miguel County commissioners.
“This is an important satellite population in San Miguel County, so we’re pushing for increased protections. It’s not at the front of the mind for people in Telluride, but it’s an amazing and threatened bird,” Osgood said.
Other strategies for public lands protections include developing a collaborative stakeholder group in San Miguel County to openly discuss the relationship between increased recreation and protecting public lands, and applying for more funding to develop and improve trail infrastructure.