WASHINGTON – Colorado lawmakers from both political parties are watching and waiting to see if President Joe Biden will use his presidential powers to designate the Dolores Canyons a national monument before he leaves office in January.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are moving forward with plans to protect the southern Dolores River through legislation in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who just won election in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, said she is working with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, to create a national conservation area around the southern Dolores River in a public lands bill package by the end of the year.
The national conservation area would include the land along the river in Dolores and San Miguel counties. The legislation would also make the land in Dolores and Montezuma counties a special management area.
“We are currently working on a lands package,” Boebert said. “And in that, I have several bills that will be included, and we're hoping that we see that before the end of the year.”
Boebert said she has been communicating with Bennet on the legislation. A spokesperson from Bennet’s office said in a written statement to The Durango Herald that Bennet is “actively trying” to get the lands package passed by the end of the year.
Boebert and newly elected Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Grand Junction, are against Biden designating the area a national monument through the Antiques Act of 1906.
“I think that the president's authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 is meant to complement local support and buy-in from the people that would be affected most by those federal land-use decisions,” Hurd said. “And I don't think we have that in this case. And I also am concerned about the scope and breadth of that determination.”
According to a survey, 60% of residents in Mesa County said they do not support the designation. Montrose and Mesa county commissioners also have adopted resolutions against the monument designation.
Boebert said she is worried about Biden designating the area a national monument because it could end existing mining.
“The bill that I've worked on with our Colorado senators allows for these multiple-use activities to remain,” Boebert said. “There's a big push to lock up any uranium development and I think that's another reason why they want to unilaterally use the Antiquities Act to lock this area up.”
Boebert said the Department of Interior has not been keeping her informed on the potential designation.
“I've said to keep me informed on any information that you guys have to move forward in this and they have not done so,” Boebert said.
Hurd, who will be joining the Colorado congressional delegation in January, said he is supportive of protecting natural resources and an approach that involves a bill through Congress.
“My concern is where we have these blanket prohibitions that are not driven by local stakeholders and that take these multiple uses off the table completely,” Hurd said. “It's about finding a balance. So balance doesn't mean we're going to mine everywhere. It means that we're going to take a look at it and, pragmatically, look at the ways that we can balance energy production, mining and conservation.”
Bennet and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper have hosted information sessions to release their own guidelines for protecting the area. They said the Bureau of Land Management should continue to manage the area and any existing mining, grazing, hunting and fishing should continue. Hickenlooper also supports the guidelines.
“I know that we've been doing a lot of listening and talking to the community, so a big part of the goal is whether that is going to translate fast enough into a detailed parameter for a monument,” Hickenlooper said.
Maria Tedesco is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at mtedesco@durangoherald.com.
