WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet celebrated unanimous passage of their Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which Hickenlooper sits on.
“Southwestern Coloradans care deeply about the Dolores River,” said Hickenlooper. “Leaders on the ground have spent years deciding how to best protect and invest in the Dolores. We worked with them side by side to design a bipartisan bill to preserve this landscape.”
“For the people of Southwest Colorado, the Dolores River is more than just a landmark – it’s the lifeblood of their communities and way of life,” said Bennet. “This bill was written by Coloradans who live, work, and depend on the Dolores River. It represents a balanced, sensible way forward to resolve many long-standing disagreements, protect the river for all parties, and provide long-term certainty for generations. I am glad to see that it has once again passed out of Committee unanimously, and I will keep pushing to ensure this becomes law.”
The Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act would protect over 68,000 acres of public lands in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel counties.
The bill follows nearly two decades of local discussion and collaboration on the Dolores River and twelve years of work to find a legislative compromise. In 2004, the Dolores River Dialogue began as a forum for all stakeholders to discuss their perspectives on Dolores River management. In 2008, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management requested that the Dolores River Dialogue – a coalition of diverse interests in the region – convene a broad-based community group to study pressing management issues in the Dolores River corridor from McPhee to Bedrock, including the possibility of a Wild and Scenic River federal designation. Through consensus agreement, the working group, known as the Lower Dolores Plan Working Group, decided to explore the possibility of an NCA and appointed a Legislative Subcommittee, which included counties, water managers, conservation groups, landowners, recreationists, energy companies, and staff from federal elected officials’ offices, to draft a legislative proposal for further vetting.
The bill text is available HERE. A summary of the bill is available HERE. A map of the proposed National Conservation Area and Special Management Area is available HERE. You can find additional information, including support letters and answers to frequently asked questions on the bill’s webpage HERE.
This bill is supported by: the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; Montezuma, San Miguel, Dolores, Archuleta, and La Plata Counties; the city of Cortez; the towns of Dove Creek, Norwood, and Dolores; Dolores River Boating Advocates, The Wilderness Society, American Rivers, Conservation Lands Foundation, American Whitewater, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Conservation Colorado, Sheep Mountain Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation Alliance, Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor Industry Association, Jagged Edge Mountain Gear, Trout Unlimited, San Miguel Watershed Coalition, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Colorado, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and the Southwestern Water Conservation District.
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