In the News

Last week I joined a diverse group of Coloradoans in Washington, D.C. visiting Colorado congressional delegation offices to express our support for public lands, with a focus on national monuments.

Our group included Sarah Shrader, owner of Bonsai Design and founder of the Grand Valley Outdoor Recreation Coalition; Bradley Noone, with Vet Voice Foundation and a whitewater raft guide; Tom Kleinschnitz, Moffat County Tourism Director; and me: David Lien, Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers chapter co-chair.

We met with U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, as well as Reps. Jeff Hurd and Diana DeGette. We also sat down with staffers at the offices of Reps. Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen, and Jason Crow. They were all welcoming and eager to hear about the public lands issues we discussed. We emphasized both the popularity and economic impact of public lands.

Eighty-four percent of Western voters say that “rollbacks of laws that protect our land, water and wildlife” are a serious problem, up from 68% eight years ago, according to a recent poll by Colorado College’s State of the Rockies project. Last year, a proposal backed by Utah Sen. Mike Lee to facilitate the sale of millions of acres of federally owned land failed to make it through Congress.

Kleinschnitz explained that even though his Moffat County has a population of about 13,000 people, Dinosaur National Monument attracted over 326,000 visitors in 2023. Shrader added that Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction encompasses 20,500 acres and during 2024 attracted nearly 500,000 visitors.

Nationwide, outdoor recreation — from hunting, fishing, and camping to cycling, boating, and more — accounts for $788 billion in annual gross economic output and generates 5.2 million American jobs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculates the economic output of outdoor recreation in Colorado to be $13.9 billion, surpassing industries such as mining, utilities, farming, and ranching.

A new report from Headwaters Economics documents the vital role national monuments play in local economies. In addition, the Antiquities Act — which gives the Executive Branch the authority to establish national monuments — has protected some of the world’s best public hunting and fishing habitat by conserving large and vitally important landscapes.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) and a consortium of outdoor groups and businesses released a report on how national monument designations can sustain important fish and wildlife habitat while maintaining traditional hunting and fishing access. In the report, “National Monuments: A Sportsmens Perspective,” 28 groups and businesses outline a series of tenets for creating national monuments.

For example, Colorado’s Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument was designated on Oct. 12, 2022, providing long overdue recognition to the World War II veterans who trained there in preparation for joining the war in Europe to defeat Hitler’s Nazi regime.

“Valuable wildlife habitat in central Colorado will be permanently conserved following today’s designation of Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument,” BHA stated in a related press release. The monument encompasses “more than 10,000 acres of critical winter range for elk, as well as mule deer habitat, migration corridors and headwaters fisheries … ”

The Antiquities Act is one of our most powerful tools for conserving large landscapes, securing important fish and wildlife habitat, and safeguarding hunting and angling opportunities on public lands and waters. Signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt, it has been used by 18 presidents — nine Republicans and nine Democrats — to protect public lands, waters, and wildlife. “Our national monuments provide some of the greatest hunting opportunities in the world,” said Hal Herring, Field & Stream contributing editor and host of BHA’s Podcast & Blast.

Collectively, Tom, Bradley, Sarah, and I explained that Colorado’s national monuments and other public lands are sustainable economic engines that power rural economies and support our great hunting, angling, and outdoor recreation heritage. We reminded our senators and representatives that we are facing a seminal moment in the defense of public lands, and we are unmoved, undeterred, and unwavering in our commitment to stand up for what’s right.

We emphasized that public lands are not a left or right issue; they’re an American issue. And as Winston Churchill said: “We shall not flag or fail, we shall go on …” Join us!