Hickenlooper: “It is time to fully protect this landscape”
Bill comes after local community urged full protection for area
WASHINGTON – This week during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper submitted a statement for the record voicing his support for the Sarvis Creek Wilderness Expansion Act.
The subcommittee heard testimony on multiple pieces of legislation, including Hickenlooper’s bill, which would add nearly 7,000 acres to the existing Sarvis Creek Wilderness, protecting critical watersheds and wildlife habitat.
“Advancing this bill will realize the community’s vision for the entire Sarvis Creek Wilderness area as first proposed by local advocates roughly 50 years ago,” Hickenlooper said in his statement. “The expansion area’s location provides easy public access from Steamboat Springs and Stagecoach for outdoor recreation—including hunting, fishing, back-country skiing, and hiking – that can help boost the local economy and support the ways that Coloradans love to experience our State’s wild places.”
Hickenlooper introduced the Sarvis Creek Wilderness Expansion Act earlier this year with Senator Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse. State, Tribal and local leaders including Governor Polis, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the Routt County Board of Commissioners, and several local towns have expressed their support. The bill also received support from a wide range of conservation and outdoor recreation organizations including the Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited, Friends of Routt Backcountry, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and Rocky Mountain Wild.
More information and a full list of supporters is available HERE.
Full text of Hickenlooper’s statement below:
I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for including my Sarvis Creek Wilderness Completion Act in today’s hearing. This bill would expand the Sarvis Creek Wilderness, located in the Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs in northern Colorado, by 6,817 acres.
Advancing this bill will realize the community’s vision for the entire Sarvis Creek Wilderness area as first proposed by local advocates roughly 50 years ago. The land in this addition was originally intended for designation under the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993, but was excluded due to a past proposal to develop a ski area.
Now, with that proposal long since abandoned, it is time to fully protect this landscape.
The expansion will provide wilderness protection to the Harrison and Green Creek watersheds—rare, pristine sub-alpine regions that feed into the Yampa River – safeguarding those aquatic resources and preserving water quality. It will also protect winter range and spring calving areas for the 250-300 elk that rely on the area, and habitat for other native Colorado fish and wildlife.
The expansion area’s location provides easy public access from Steamboat Springs and Stagecoach for outdoor recreation—including hunting, fishing, back-country skiing, and hiking – that can help boost the local economy and support the ways that Coloradans love to experience our State’s wild places.
We have actively engaged with community members, local governments, and conservation advocates on this proposal, and have incorporated their input in developing the boundaries and language for this wilderness expansion.
The bill includes language recognizing continued access for Tribes for traditional, religious, and cultural purposes. It also acknowledges that the Secretary of Agriculture may continue to carry out activities to control fire, insects, and disease within the expansion area.
I am grateful to Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse for partnering with me on this bill, and for the support of Governor Jared Polis, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the Routt County Board of Commissioners, the City of Steamboat Springs, the Town of Yampa, the Town of Hayden, the Town of Oak Creek, and several other leaders within state government, conservation advocacy, and recreation.
I look forward to working with the Chairman, the Ranking Member, and the other members of this Committee to ensure swift passage of the Sarvis Creek Wilderness Completion Act so we can protect the full Sarvis Creek landscape.
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