ACTION ALERT! San Juan Wilderness

Proposal needs your opposition!

Senator Bennet has reintroduced the San Juan Wilderness legislation that would close a lot of important OHV and Snowmobile areas in the Durango/Telluride/Ouray area of the state. We are asking for your comments against the Proposal as again there a claims of broad community support for the Proposal.

A complete version of our 32 pages of comments including maps of trails in most areas is available here

http://www.coloradotpa.org/2018/03/28/san-juan-wilderness-proposal/

More information on the Proposal

https://www.bennet.senate.gov/?p=release&id=4205

The outline of our position is:

1.     Almost every new Wilderness area would close opportunities to multiple use recreation and sever trails that cross these areas, and result in the loss of hundreds of miles of routes that have been highly valued for more than 50 years.   

2.     There is not broad community support for the Proposal and the Proposal overturns the broad community support there was for the Hermosa Watershed Legislation that was only recently finalized in planning.  Despite the broad community support for the Hermosa Legislation, the San Juan Proposal would remove much of the balance achieved in the Hermosa Legislation.

3.     The Proposal would designate many areas as Wilderness that were specifically excluded from further review for designation as Wilderness in the 1980 Colorado Wilderness Legislation. Congress specifically reviewed these usages and excluded these areas due to the high levels of recreational usage in these areas.  The 1980 Colorado Wilderness Act clearly stated it was Congress intent to close discussion of possible designation of areas reviewed and not designated as Wilderness in that Legislation.  The recreational usage of these has never stopped in these areas and is now more valuable than ever before and has occurred without major conflict.  Why would we change a consensus position from the 1980 Colorado Wilderness legislation?

4.     Some areas of the San Juan Wilderness (Smith Mtn. and Uncompahgre Primitive Areas) were identified for possible protection prior to the establishment of the Wilderness Act itself and have been found unsuitable for designation for more than 50 years by USFS, USGS, and Bureau of Mines.  These areas were released from further management in the 1980 Colorado Wilderness Act.  How many more times do we need to look at these areas….. The conclusion has always been the same? The area is not suitable.

5.     Many of these areas were also found unsuitable for Upper Tier Roadless area management in the 2012 Colorado Roadless Rule development.  If they are unsuitable for Upper Tier management, why would they ever be the basis for Wilderness Management?

6.     We continue to struggle to understand what the management need for this Legislation even is.

7.     Forest Health impacts must be addressed as many of these areas have been hugely impacted by beetle outbreaks.  Rather than streamlining the management response in these areas, the Legislation makes any response more difficult. This simply makes no sense.

8.     The benefits to local communities from recreation economics would be greatly reduced as the Dept. of Commerce recently concluded that motorized recreation almost outspends all other user groups combined. 

Written Comments

Electronic Comments:

Brian.Meinhart@mail.house.gov

John_whitney@bennet.senate.gov

Betsy.bair@gardner.senate.gov 

Comment Deadline

Sooner rather than later