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Colorado lawmakers propose Rocky Mountain N.P. wilderness |
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Members of Colorado's congressional delegation this week unveiled a
compromise bill meant to settle a three-decades-long fight over
wilderness in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The bipartisan bill, H.R. 2334, would designate nearly 250,000 acres as
wilderness and direct the National Park Service and Water Supply and
Storage Co. to agree on a plan to operate the Grand River Ditch, which
carries 20,000 acre-feet of water through the park to Weld and Larimer
counties.
Sens. Wayne Allard (R) and Ken Salazar (D) and Reps. Mark
Udall (D) and Marilyn Musgrave (R) on Monday formally announced the
measure during a news conference held at the park, saying it would
generally prohibit motorized activity, commercial timber harvests or
natural resource development in the wilderness area.
President Nixon had recommended the wilderness designation for
the backcountry of the park outside of Denver in 1974, and various
proposals have been floated ever since, including efforts from Udall in
every Congress since 1999. "This bill constitutes a fair and complete
proposal that reflects the legitimate needs of the public," Udall said.
He called it "an obligation" to set aside the lands from potential
development.
The compromise bill seeks to end the impasse over wilderness
by ensuring that water rights connected to the Grand River Ditch and
Thompson Project are not affected by the designation.
The wilderness designation also exempts the portion of the
Grand River Ditch that flows through the park and a 200-foot
right-of-way on each side.
Assuming NPS and the Water Supply and Storage Co. agree on a
management plan for the Grand River Ditch, the company would not be
held liable for damage to park resources by accidental breaches to the
ditch in the future. Last year, the Justice Department sued following
an overflow that closed trails and campgrounds in the park. The bill
would not address that claim or lawsuit.
"The provisions in the ditch portion of the proposal don't
compromise the wilderness," said Steve Smith of the Wilderness Society.
"It was really its own separate issue. The wilderness protection is the
same it's been though all those other proposals."
Management of the ditch was a key sticking point in
negotiations and a feature of a wilderness bill Allard and Musgrave
introduced last fall as Musgrave was in the middle of a tight
re-election campaign.
The Allard-Musgrave bill was a benchmark "to protect farmers
in Larimer and Weld counties that rely on the Grand Ditch," Musgrave
said. "This was a top priority for me, and I am pleased we found an
agreement ... in which both family farms and the park's backcountry
could be protected."
The GOP bill would have included several exceptions for
mechanized activity generally not allowed in wilderness areas, such as
allowing first responders to use helicopter flyovers for
search-and-rescue operations and aircraft for fire suppression.
Among key provisions of the bill:
- About 1,000 acres would be added to the adjacent
Indian Peaks Wilderness Area via changes to property lines for the
Arapaho National Forest and Arapaho National Recreation Area.
- The wilderness designation exempts the portion of the Grand
River Ditch that flows through the park with a 200-foot right-of-way on
each side.
- NPS may continue bark beetle mitigation and fire prevention efforts and will be able to continue emergency rescues.
- A bike trail might be built near Grand Lake.
- Although legal action against the owners of Grand River Ditch
will continue regarding a 2003 breach, the owners will be exempted from
strict liability for unintentional damages in the future.
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