Organizations are rallying around a road trip to support the Mobilizing for Monuments campaign, which seeks the designation and/or expansion of national monuments throughout the West, including Dolores River National Monument.
“We’re hitting the road with our friends at Flickr and Rivian to support our national monuments, and we want you to be a part of it!” the group said.
The Mobilizing for Monuments Road Trip crew and their partners include Colorado Wildlands Project, Public Lands, Osprey, Alpacka Rafts and Dolores River Boating Advocates.
The groups came together in Grand Junction on Nov. 7 to talk about their conservation projects and gather support of the Dolores River National Monument and other monument campaigns before setting off on the road trip.
The event in Grand Junction was hosted by The Conservation Alliance and local partners, and provided information to attendees and those taking part in the road trip about protecting the Dolores River Canyon Country. They also spoke of other national monuments being proposed in the U.S. Southwest.
According to information provided by Verde Brand Communications Director Becca Katz, Mobilizing for Monuments “is a broad coalition of businesses that understand that protecting our public lands directly benefits our economy, culture and way of life.”
Their campaigns include the Dolores River National Monument in Colorado, Chuckwalla National Monument in California, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Expansion in California and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion in California.
During the five-day road trip from Colorado to California, members of The Conservation Alliance will raise awareness and support around Mobilizing for Monuments “while using the power of photography and film to tell the stories behind these special places – and make the case for why it is so important to protect them.”
Rivian will provide vehicles; and Flickr, the film crew, according to Katz.
“We’re part of the Mobilizing for Monuments movement, a broad coalition of businesses supporting locally led national monument campaigns nationwide. ... Because we understand that protecting our public lands directly benefits our economy, culture, and way of life,“ Flickr said.
The road trip will tell stories that showcase newly designated monuments while highlighting campaigns for new monuments and “demonstrating how local businesses benefit from the monuments or proposed monuments.”
Scott Braden, founder of the Colorado Wildlands Project, is working to designate the Dolores River as a national monument through the campaign work done on this road trip.
At the event Nov. 7, Braden told attendees about the importance of protecting wildlands and building the outdoor recreation and tourism economy in the Dolores River Canyon Country.
The Dolores River itinerary of the road trip was Denver to Gateway to Grand Junction on Nov. 7 and Grand Junction to Dove Creek to Page, Arizona, on Nov. 8.
On Nov. 9, the road trip will make its way from Page to Marble Canyon to Flagstaff for Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni; Flagstaff to Avi Kwa Ame to Laughlin on Nov. 10; Laughlin to Indio to Palm Springs for Chuckwalla on Nov. 11; Palm Springs to San Gabriel to Los Angeles for San Gabriel on Nov. 12; and Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to thTCA board meeting on Nov. 13.
“The Conservation Alliance and the Mobilizing for Monument’s coalition’s ultimate goal is to permanently protect the entirety of the Dolores River Canyon Country landscape, consisting of 500,000 acres,” Katz said.
TCA noted that one way to make a national monument in the Dolores region possible would be to pass legislation to designate a 68,000-acre National Conservation Area from the base of the McPhee Reservoir to the San Miguel and the Montrose County line.
This area includes more than 70 miles of the Dolores River, establishes the Ponderosa Gorge Roadless Area and protects special river values, Katz said.
The author of the legislation is Sen. Michael Bennet. Sen. John Hickenlooper is the co-sponsor from the Senate, and Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert has “expressed interest” in supporting the bill in the House.
