Advocates seek to build on momentum from Biden’s first national monument designation

Advocates and lawmakers are hoping to build on momentum from their successful push to get President Biden to designate the former U.S. Army training site at Camp Hale as a national monument.

It’s the first national monument designated in Biden’s nearly two-year presidency, and those who backed it hope it will lead to the passage of legislation that would protect nearly half a million acres of public Colorado land.

The Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act, sponsored by Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D), would protect more than 400,000 acres in the state, including about 73,000 as new wilderness and about 80,000 as recreation/conservation management areas.

The measure previously passed the House in 2019 and was added to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but later removed. Previous versions also included the national monument designation for Camp Hale.

“Our focus now is on the implementation of this particular designation [in] Colorado, and of course also continuing to pursue our efforts that could get the CORE Act across the finish line in in Congress,” Neguse told The Hill in an interview Thursday.

Neguse said Colorado lawmakers are also hopeful to continue the work started by the monument designation through funds in the Inflation Reduction Act. In particular, he cited $4 billion in Colorado River drought resiliency funds Bennet helped ensure made it into the final bill.

“You can feel the energy out here, and I suspect that more folks will, over the coming months and years, be able to appreciate the public land protections that this president working with this Congress has been able to accomplish,” he said.

Aaron Weiss, deputy director at the Center for Western Priorities, expressed hope the designation will be the first of many in Biden’s presidency.

“I think the president saw firsthand at Camp Hale the kind of support for various national monuments and for executive actions specifically,” Weiss said. “The welcome that he got in Colorado is what he will get wherever he lands to do the next national monument.”

Weiss also said the reception to the move will likely make a case for finally passing the CORE Act as well.

“The fact that the whole rest of the Senate can see the support here for the administrative parts of it … I would hope would clear in a way for the rest of the bill, because the other parts of it have been purely the wilderness designations,” he said. “That’s a big deal for Colorado, and there’s no reason, especially given that much local support, [that] the Senate shouldn’t take action on the rest of the CORE Act, whether it’s in the lame-duck session or next session.”

In the meantime, he added, there are other Western conservation measures on the table, including the Dolores River Protection Act, which would protect another 68,000 acres of public land along the river. While Bennet and Hickenlooper are behind that bill as well, it also has an unlikely backer in Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

“What I’ll be keeping an eye out for is what other areas there are where there’s a need for protection [and] local advocates may look at what happened to Camp Hale and say, oh, you know what? Asking for a monument make here makes sense,” Weiss added.

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