When Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964, it simultaneously designated wilderness in Colorado's high country, and it has done so repeatedly since, most recently with the designation of the James Peak Wilderness. Missing from this 3.2 million-acre wilderness estate are the splendid, lower elevation canyon lands with which Colorado is also blessed. The Wilderness Society and its conservation partners mean to rectify that with the Colorado Canyon Country Wilderness Bill.
One area of this bill, Browns Canyon, has also been proposed for protection in separate legislation introduced by Congressman Joel Hefley and Senator Wayne Allard, and is likely to move through Congress this year.
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Wild Country
In Colorado's wild canyon country, you can gaze at glowing redrock, discover hidden canyons, and walk for miles across windswept plateaus of ancient piñons and gnarled junipers. It is here that native civilizations etched the sacred symbols of their cultures. It is in this country that coyotes howl, eagles soar and elk calve. But human pressures threaten to strip these lands of their wild, pristine character.
In response to these threats, Colorado citizens launched a major effort to protect the wild places of the state's unique canyon country, the largely undiscovered wild lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Their own wilderness inventory of Colorado BLM lands led to the drafting of a Citizens' Wilderness Proposal.
The Proposal recommends that Congress designate 1.6 million acres of Colorado BLM wild lands and adjacent Forest Service lands for wilderness protection. Congresswoman Diana DeGette introduced legislation in 2003 and 2005, that, if passed, would protect some or all of the areas identified.
About the Citizens’ Proposal
Most of these identified wilderness-quality lands are wild canyon country on Colorado's West Slope. Like many public lands, they are threatened by the Bush Administration's plans for oil and gas drilling in the West. The Citizens' Wilderness Proposal makes it clear which BLM lands in Colorado are just too special to drill.
The oil and gas industry already has access to 90 percent of Colorado's BLM lands, and the Bush Administration's energy plan proposes to give them the rest. The Citizens' Wilderness Proposal offers a different vision, one in which around 20 percent of Colorado's wildest BLM lands are preserved for wildlife, watershed protection, and for the use and enjoyment of citizens now and in the future.
Protecting a portion of Colorado's lower-elevation canyon lands, now grossly underrepresented in the National Wilderness Preservation System, is key to preserving essential wildlife wintering habitat and outstanding year-round backcountry opportunities. The Citizens' Wilderness Proposal offers a balanced alternative to the growing threats to these special places from increased oil and gas development, mining, logging, and unregulated off-road vehicle use.
The Congress has never passed a comprehensive wilderness bill to protect BLM lands in Colorado. Today, only 1.7 percent of BLM lands in the state is permanently protected as wilderness. The Citizens' Wilderness Proposal recommends that an additional 16 percent of Colorado BLM lands with wilderness values be set aside in their unspoiled state to secure wildlife habitat and non-motorized recreation. That would still allow for energy development and motorized vehicle use on a majority of public lands.
County Economic Profiles
View economic profiles for counties where the proposed wilderness areas are located. Profiles provide details of trends and components of the local economies.
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