Western Colorado officials present alternative to controversial national monument idea

Officials in western Colorado have offered an alternative to a controversial national monument proposal surrounding a legendary riverscape.

Mesa and Montrose counties have presented a map covering 29,806 acres closely following the Dolores River — proposed acreage for a national conservation area, a designation floated in recent years. Local and national conservation groups have more recently proposed a Dolores Canyons National Monument, what they see protecting nearly 400,000 acres of canyonlands and drainages beyond the river corridor.

One of those groups, Durango-based Conservation Lands Foundation, called the counties' much smaller national conservation area proposal "wholly inadequate." Dolores River Boating Advocates called it "grossly inadequate."

The advocates' statement went on: "The long-term sustainability of this region requires a cohesive management strategy for not only the narrow river corridor, but also for immediate tributaries and surrounding landscape."

Protect the Dolores, the coalition spearheading the national monument proposal, counted itself "glad to see the counties signal the importance of protecting this incomparable place." But a statement pointed to the national conservation area leaving out "countless Indigenous cultural sites" and "important big game wildlife habitat" across Unaweep Canyon, the Uncompahgre Plateau and Roc Creek, which is home to the Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Protect the Dolores added: "Mesa and Montrose county commissioners are leaving open these public lands to new mining and industrial development, a win for developers and a loss for conservation and recreation."

Critics see the national monument proposal blocking the potential for a mining economy that historically prevailed in this part of the state known as the West End. The proposal covers rock known as the Uravan Mineral Belt — what some local officials see as boasting potential for minerals key to nuclear development and clean energy.

In a previous statement to The Gazette, Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel said the national monument "would unnecessarily put our national security, economy and ally nations at a significant disadvantage at a time when pivotal resources must be readily available to ensure security and stability domestically and abroad.”

Just as much, critics see the national monument's broad protections compromising long-held grazing and water rights. They've expressed worry, too, in a national monument sending waves of tourists to unprepared towns like Nucla and Naturita.

"We don't want to be a Moab, Utah," a leading opponent, Sean Pond, previously told The Gazette.

The "draft map" for the national conservation area was born "in an effort to balance resource conservation with multiple-use principles and economic vitality," according to the Mesa County webpage outlining the proposal.

The proposal resembles one that previously gained bipartisan support from Colorado lawmakers. In 2022, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert backed a vision of some 68,000-plus acres around the Dolores River being set aside as a national conservation area.

Locally, there has been support for something like a national conservation area that would accompany a legislative process over a national monument designation that could come from a presidential proclamation through the Antiquities Act.

“Gridlock in Congress makes legislative protections for public lands — like national conservation areas — unreliable," read the statement from Conservation Lands Foundation. "Coloradans should not have to wait another year, another decade, or another five decades for Congress to act.”

Mesa and Montrose counties' national conservation area proposal was posted with a comment form. It represented "another starting place for conversation," the webpage read, adding: "We invite all residents to the table to determine the best path forward for Western Colorado."