We must protect Gunnison County public lands

Have you ever traveled hours to a beautiful natural attraction only to find it swarmed with other tourists? Maybe there was litter on the ground or humans had hiked off the designated path? 

Colorado has some of the most beautiful scenic areas, and that comes with a lot  of visitors and  tourists which can result in degradation of the environment. Senator Michael Bennet introduced the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act (GORP Act) to address this issue in Gunnison County. 

As tourism has increased in Gunnison County, community members formed the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative in 2014.  This group is composed of local stakeholders with a collective goal of protecting public lands, keeping the economy strong and sustainable and supporting historical land use. 

The coalition developed the GORP Act to categorize some of the 1.7 million acres of public lands in Gunnison as wilderness areas and Special Management Areas. But what makes these lands so important to protect? Why do we need the GORP Act now?

Photo by Kira Harris | CC-BY-2.0

Gunnison County lands are threatened by growing visitation, worsening stresses from climate change, drought and human development. The lands vary from dry steppe to alpine tundra meadows, with forests in between. Within this landscape live many critically threatened animal and plant species such as the Canada lynx, cutthroat trout, and boreal toad, as well as Gunnison milkvetch and willow carr. The Gunnison sage-grouse, is designated as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.  The GORP Act will provide the protections necessary to ensure these species are around for future generations to enjoy. 

The GORP Act will eliminate commercial timber and mining in protected areas, keeping the trees and landscape for the animals who call it home. The many hiking trails will remain open for recreational use, and for the most part no new trails will be developed to stop any fragmentation of land for deer and elk grazing. The wilderness area designation will ensure that threatened animals like the sage grouse are the top priority when considering land uses. 

Photo by Bob Wick, BLM | CC-BY-2.0