Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have introduced a new bill, nicknamed GORP. And no, it has nothing to do with trail mix.
The Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act is a public lands bill that would protect and enhance areas of the Gunnison Basin in and around Gunnison County using different designations and management tools.
Bennet said the bill comes from years of work on the ground, including building a broad coalition of public land users from local governments and tribes to hunters and ranchers to snowmobilers and conservationists.
“All the way back to 2012, I've heard from the Gunnison County community about the need for more public lands protections. The effects of climate change, drought (and) increased visitation and development have put unprecedented stress on Gunnison County's economy and on its natural resources,” said Bennet. “This bill carefully balances Gunnison’s diverse needs through a variety of public lands protections with carefully crafted boundaries.”
Other supporters of the bill stressed the grassroots work — around kitchen tables, in coffee shops and at open houses — that went into crafting the bill.
“We sit down and we have hard discussions about hard issues. We learn how to attack issues without attacking each other,” Gunnison County Commissioner Jonathan Houck explained. “And for people to stay at the table for over 10 years shows how important public lands are, what that commitment looks like, how valuable these lands are to not just our economy and not just our way of life, but these are the roots of our values as Coloradans, as citizens of Western Colorado.”
Supporters of the bill are broad and diverse, including the Delta and Hinsdale counties, the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District and the Access Fund, a nonprofit rock climbing group.
The protections include 214,650 acres of Special Management Areas, 18,247 acres that would be designated Recreation Management Areas and 12,250 acres of Rocky Mountain Scientific Research and Education Areas.
The bill would also continue to permit motorized boat use in the Gunnison Gorge and secure public access to a boat ramp at the Gunnison Forks Day Use Area.
Additionally, the bill transfers the Pinecrest Ranch, owned by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe from fee ownership to trust ownership. Bennet said that the switch is a priority for the tribe, which is also backing the legislation.
But the path through Congress could take as long as crafting the bill.
Bennet said he had spoken with Sen. Joe Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee about getting a hearing on the bill to help other senators, “understand the broad, bipartisan support there is for this legislation in Colorado.”
But Bennet also acknowledged, “it has been hard to get a public lands bill across the finish line over the last decade or so in Washington.”
The last major public lands package that became law was the 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. The Colorado delegation watched numerous conservation bills stall out in recent years, including Bennet’s CORE Act.
“There are people in Washington who have a bias against public lands. There are people that are ideologically opposed to adding one more acre of public lands,” Bennet said. But he thinks those lawmakers are out of step with the broad public sentiment when it comes to public lands.
Commissioner Houck said he and the others know that there are still big lifts that need to happen in Washington, D.C., but they are in it for the long haul to get the bill through Congress.
“We’re going to keep our voices heard and we’ll continue to do the work that’s necessary,” he said.
