Coloradans Applaud Senate Hearing of the CORE Act
Movement in the Senate marks significant step forward for community crafted bill

July 12, 2023 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Erin Riccio, Advocacy Director, erin@wildernessworkshop.org; 720-470-7580 (Cell)

DENVER, CO –Residents, business leaders, hunters and anglers, and local governments across Colorado are applauding a Senate Subcommittee for holding a hearing on the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act on July 12, 2023. Re-introduced by Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in May of this year, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining will listen to views on the broadly supported bill. A companion bill sponsored by Representatives Joe Neguse, Diana DeGette, Jason Crow, Yadira Caraveo, and Brittany Petterson is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill would permanently protect nearly 400,000 acres of public lands in areas including the Continental Divide, San Juan Mountains, and the Thompson Divide; it will also officially define the boundaries of Curecanti National Recreation Area. These areas include some of Colorado’s most iconic, historic, and ecologically significant places, and their preservation will bolster world-renowned outdoor recreation opportunities, support local economies, and preserve critical wildlife habitat. This legislation is the most significant and broadly supported effort to protect Colorado’s most cherished lands, waters, and forests in a generation.

The CORE Act has passed the U.S. House five times with bipartisan support in the 116th and 117th Congresses and received a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing and mark-up (aka committee vote) during the 117th. In October 2022 President Biden designated the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument and also initiated a process to protect the Thompson Divide from oil and gas development for the next 20 years.

“We took a great step in honoring our veterans and protecting wild outdoor places that provide solitude when President Biden designated the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument last fall,” said Josh Jespersen, former U.S. Navy SEAL. “Thankfully, Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse have joined us in saying that it’s time to finish the job and pass the CORE Act in its entirety. The Act has so much local support, including from veterans like me, that Congress should find a way to pass the bill this year and send it to the President’s desk.” 

On Oct. 12, 2022, President Biden utilized his executive authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the roughly 53,800-acre Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. The current bill recognizes this designation and no longer proposes the creation of the Camp Hale National Historic Landscape but maintains the proposed Tenmile Wilderness Area within the national monument.

“We’re still celebrating the designation of Colorado’s newest National Monument at Camp Hale – Continental Divide. Congress should build upon this success by passing the CORE Act,” said Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Julie McCluskie. “Coloradans overwhelmingly support this effort to conserve nearly 400,000 acres of our beautiful public lands and preserve outdoor recreation access for future generations. Our central mountain communities strongly support the effort to protect more of our lands as wilderness and safeguard critical wildlife migration corridors. Senator Bennet, Senator Hickenlooper, and Representative Neguse have my gratitude for their persistent work to pass this important legislation.”

Also in October, President Biden announced his administration would begin the process for a 20-year mineral withdrawal for the roughly 225,000-acre Thompson Divide area, stopping any new oil and gas leasing, as well as mining. The process is underway with the BLM and USFS undergoing an environmental review. The administrative withdrawal is an incredible opportunity to secure protections for 20 years while the local community and the CORE Act coalition continues working to secure a permanent, legislative withdrawal as proposed by the legislation. Today’s hearing reaffirms broad support for permanently protecting the Thompson Divide.

“For 15 years, we’ve worked to help protect nearly 225,000 acres of public land and I know our community is Unified for the Thompson Divide! The CORE Act is about protecting healthy habitat for all the animals that live there. Whether you are a hunter, hiker, fisherman, snowmobiler, bird watcher, mountain biker, skier, or rancher, everyone wants to see this landscape permanently protected,” said Thompson Divide rancher Judy Fox-Perry. “I’m excited to see the bill get a hearing and hope the committee passes this long overdue legislation soon with bipartisan support.”

The legislation is a product of a decade of collaboration and compromise by sportspeople, local elected officials and municipalities, outdoor recreationists, community members, small business owners, and veterans. Polling has consistently shown strong support for passing the CORE Act; both a Bridge Strategies poll and the 2020 Conservation in the West poll found about two-thirds of those surveyed supporting the legislation.

“Through eight different councils, the City of Glenwood Springs has continued to support protections for the Thompson Divide,” said Ingrid Wussow, Mayor of Glenwood Springs, CO. “We’re excited to see the CORE Act receive a hearing in the Senate, bringing us one step closer to permanent protection for an area that is critical to what makes Glenwood Springs such a special place to live, work, and play.” 

The outdoor recreation industry is an economic powerhouse in Colorado, contributing $62 billion annually, and is responsible for a half million jobs, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. There is increasing awareness of the importance of public lands and waters as more and more people turn to the outdoors for their physical, emotional, and mental health, especially in Colorado. However, with that increased attention and visitation comes the awareness that we need more protected lands and waters, not less.

“Among the many good things that the CORE Act will bring to Colorado, it will be so important to finally have authorizing legislation for Curecanti National Recreation Area for the first time since it was established in 1965,” said retired National Park Service superintendent for Curecanti National Recreation Area Bruce Noble. 

The bill would preserve healthy wildlife habitat by protecting key areas from road building, new mines and oil and gas drilling, and other activities that would degrade wildlife habitat and watershed values. It would also safeguard backcountry hunting opportunities and would protect habitat for black bear, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, moose, deer, elk, lynx, sage grouse, and wild turkey. And it would preserve the land bridge and critical wildlife migration corridor over Interstate 70 at the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels.

“Hunters and anglers have seen first-hand how degraded wildlife habitat is negatively impacting the health of wildlife and our sporting traditions. Passing legislation like the CORE Act is imperative to conserving healthy wildlife habitat and restoring lands that have been degraded by impacts from climate change,” said director of sporting advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation Aaron Kindle. “The CORE Act protects some of the finest fish and game habitat remaining in Colorado. I’m grateful that Senator Bennet and Representative Neguse have listened to local community leaders, who have long advocated for the conservation of these very special areas.”

Given the broad support, decades-long collaboration, and the increasing impacts of climate change, the CORE Act coalition urges Congress to swiftly move and pass this legislation.

For additional statements of support, please see this page.

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Wilderness Workshop is a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Carbondale, CO, whose mission is to protect the wilderness, water, and wildlife of Western Colorado’s public lands. Learn more at WildernessWorkshop.org