Statement advocates maintaining water and mining rights, continued grazing, prohibiting fees
The Dolores River rolls through the community of Gateway in Mesa County. The Gateway Canyons Resort on Colorado Highway 141 is the western mouth of the Unaweep Canyon on the left. (Jason Blevins/The Colorado Sun/EcoFlight, File)
Following several forums with communities in Southwest Colorado, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have released a joint statement on the proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument outlining what they want to see in a plan to conserve the area.
The statement alludes to the divisive opinions held by residents and various interest groups about the proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument in Mesa and Montrose counties, some of which the senators heard on their recent tours of the area. While polling shows 92% of Coloradans support the designation, another survey within Mesa County showed 60% of residents oppose it.
“Based on these conversations, it is clear that Coloradans care deeply about this landscape and many want it permanently protected,” the senators said. “We also recognize there are legitimate questions. … We are committed to continuing to work with local leaders, public land users, affected counties, and Tribes to determine the best path.”
They listed a set of points on what a conservation plan should include, saying “No matter the tool we use to permanently protect the Dolores, we will follow these principles”:
-Management: The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service should continue to manage the federal lands in the northern Dolores landscape as they do now.
-Fees: No one should be charged an entrance fee to access designated lands.
-Grazing: Grazing should continue and be managed pursuant to existing laws and regulations.
-Motorized travel/ATVs: The Rimrocker Trail should remain open to motorized and other recreational uses.
-Mountain biking: Mountain biking should continue with opportunities to pursue new trail development.
-Mining: Any designation should protect all valid existing rights.
-Hunting/fishing: Any designation should allow hunting and fishing to continue.
-Water: Any designation should protect existing water rights and should not create a federal reserved water right.
The Protect the Dolores Coalition, one of the main advocacy organizations behind the push for a national monument designation, released a statement thanking the senators for their engagement in the region and reiterating its position that a national monument would be the best way to protect the canyons.
“Community leaders are urging Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper to get to work with local stakeholders and the Biden administration to swiftly deliver a national monument designation for the Dolores Canyons,” the organization wrote in a July 3 news release. “Coloradans should not have to wait another year, another decade, or another five decades for our elected leaders to get the job done.”
Opponents of the designation voiced concerns at a forum in Nucla with Bennet, saying a national monument could cause tourism to spike and overwhelm the area and that grazing and water rights would be curtailed.
In March, Montrose County commissioners adopted a resolution opposing the creation of a national monument, and in May, Mesa County commissioners did the same.
A petition on Change.org, associated with Halt the Dolores, has garnered more than 8,000 signatures against the monument proposal. Started by Sean Pond, the petition cites similar concerns that a monument could limit mining, grazing, hunting and motorized travel on the lands.
“The proposed designation of the Dolores River as a National Monument threatens to impose severe economic hardships on our communities,” the petition reads. “We are not just bystanders; we are people whose livelihoods and way of life stand to be disrupted.”
Efforts to reach Pond for comment about the senators’ recent statement were unsuccessful.
In Congress: Senators’ legislation to protect southern Dolores River awaits further action
In addition to weighing in on the national monument proposal – a proposal only the president can enact via the Antiquities Act of 1906 – the senators in 2022 introduced legislation to create a national conservation area and special management area around the southern Dolores River not covered in the national monument proposal.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who serves Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, in which the Dolores River runs, introduced legislation in 2022 with the same proposal. Though there hasn’t been any action on her bill, the act of introducing it indicates she supports the senators’ bill.
In December 2023, the senators’ bill passed unanimously in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, allowing it to move to the full Senate for further deliberation.
The national conservation area would apply to land along the river in Dolores and San Miguel counties and be administered by the Bureau of Land Management, while the special management area would apply to land in the Dolores and Montezuma counties and be managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Thus, the senators’ legislation covers entirely separate lands from the proposed national monument.
Since the proposals are going through different processes – one via the president and the other via Congress – to potentially become law, there’s differing amounts of information available on each since neither is signed into law.
Because the national monument must be designated by the president, far less information is available about what it would look like. Protect the Dolores lays out specifics for what it wants to see in a national monument designation – such as honoring existing mining, water and private property rights; ensuring grazing can continue; among others – but that doesn’t guarantee those points will be implemented should the president create a national monument.
The national conservation area bill is publicly available, making it possible to see exactly what is included in it, though it is possible some pieces could change through amendments before passage. The legislation honors existing mining leases, water rights and private property rights, and allows grazing to continue. New mining leases are not allowed, and major water construction (new dams, storage facilities, hydroelectric facilities, etc.) is also prohibited.
The legislation also ends the study of the Dolores River for a future wild and scenic designation, which would include a federal reserved water right, but includes other measures to ensure the water is protected.
It also sets up an advisory council of members from the region to work with the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a management plan. That plan would include designated roads for motorized travel to continue.
Since its introduction in 2022, the national conservation area and special management area bill has enjoyed support from members across the region including the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Dolores County, San Miguel County, Montezuma County and a number of conservation groups.
“Southwest Colorado leaders have worked for years to protect and invest in the Dolores River,” Hickenlooper said at the time. “This bill turns their work into common-sense, bipartisan legislation that will pass in a divided Congress.”
Bennet shared a similar sentiment at the time, saying the bill bridges different viewpoints among various parties in the region and would protect the river for years to come.
“For the people of Southwest Colorado, the river is more than just a landmark – it’s the lifeblood of their communities and way of life,” he said. “This bill was written in Colorado, by Coloradans who live, work, and depend on the Dolores River. It represents a balanced, sensible way forward.”
A spokesperson for Bennet’s office said the senators are working to have the legislation signed into law by the end of the year.