Letter to the Editor: This outdoor recreation bill needs to be passed by the US Senate
Silverthorne
The White River National Forest, which includes Summit and eight other counties, is the nation’s most visited national forest. This forest and many other public lands across our state are under immense pressure from human use.
To help protect these beautiful landscapes, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act was generated by many local citizens’ groups over the past decade. The act would safeguard 400,000 acres of Colorado’s public lands, including Summit County’s Tenmile Range, with wildlife, wilderness, and recreation protections. Though it has gained the bipartisan support of every county it touches and though it passed the U.S. House of Representatives three times, the act has stalled in the divided Senate.
Recently, Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Rep. Joe Neguse, and Gov. Jared Polis asked President Joe Biden to use his executive power to create the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. This would
immediately protect about 60,000 very special acres of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, including the Tenmile Range from Quandary to Frisco, and the WWII training base for the country’s first mountain troopers at Camp Hale.
As a business owner I feel both the positive and negative impacts of increased population on public lands, the wildlife and especially on the flora, as that is my love and specialty. The act would protect that natural beauty for many generations to come. That’s why I urge President Biden to
designate the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, an awesome first step to protecting all the lands in the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act.
Please go to COREAct.com to see the huge list of supporters and sign a petition to President Biden to make the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act and the national monument a priority.
This is a big win for Summit County and for you! The wildflowers, and I, thank you!

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