Recently, dozens of academics and economists sent President Obama a letter encouraging him to continue to protect public lands in the western United States. The letter states that protected public lands, especially in the West, are helpful in growing the economy, not only through the recreational activities that take place on the lands, but also in attracting new companies and employees to a region. Ray Rasker of Headwater Economics, who organized the letter and its signers, states, “If you have a community that is surrounded by spectacular landscapes, wilderness areas and parks, companies can move to those areas. One of the things we’re seeing is that’s how they are recruiting really talented employees.”
The letter includes the signatures of three Nobel laureates and recommends that the president continue to protect public lands and even establish new wilderness areas, national parks and monuments- claiming that a high quality of life has become a strength in the West and significantly encourages economic growth.
While some law makers and free-market organizations, such as the Cascade Policy Institute, encourage selling public lands to help solve the federal budget issues, Colorado College professor Walt Hecox strongly advocates otherwise. According to Hecox, “It’d be like having a discussion about selling off the Washington Monument because it doesn’t make money.”
Read more here: http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20111205/NEWS01/712059948/0/API/Economists-to-Obama:-Public-lands-can-be-major-job-creators
Colorado counties are trying to encourage more transparency from oil and gas companies regarding a process called hydraulic fracturing. This process, also referred to as fracking, has been around for several decades, but people are becoming more concerned with the potential health effects of the process. Fracking involves forcing high pressured water, sand, chemicals, and occasionally gases into rock formations to push out oil and natural gas.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has suggested that oil and gas companies publically disclose the chemicals they use on FracFocus.org (a website administered by the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission). However, chemicals that are considered “trade secrets” do not have to be published on the site, and are instead only available to state regulators, county officials and health professionals on request.
Pitkin County commissioners are pushing for full disclosure of the chemicals used, claiming that the proposed rule essentially allows the oil and gas companies to pick and choose which chemicals to disclose. On the other side of the argument, Shell Exploration and Production Co., believes that information should remain confidential, as it is protected under state and federal laws.
A hearing is scheduled for today, December 5, to discuss these suggestions.
Read more about this at: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20111125/NEWS11/111125020/Colorado-counties-weigh-proposed-fracking-rule
On November 22, 2011, the Longs Peak Council of the Boy Scouts of America and The Conservation Fund announced that the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch would be permanently protected from development, due to a conservation easement secured by a partnership of the two groups. The Conservation Fund is also currently partnering with the Colorado Conservation Trust and several other land conservation groups to help protect Colorado’s most fragile lands. The Scout Ranch is a 3,201-acre property located northwest of Fort Collins and has been used as an outdoor classroom for boys’ and girls’ groups since it was established in 1958.
Both past and current members of Congress played a vital role in securing the funds necessary to purchase the easement. Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, and former Congresswoman Betsy Markey were integral in procuring the $4 million needed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Legacy Program. In Colorado, this program is administered by the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service to help protect environmentally fragile forests within the state. Great Outdoors Colorado also provided $1.5 million, which came from Lottery proceeds.
The Conservation Fund in Boulder negotiated a land preservation agreement between the Longs Peak Council of the Boy Scouts and the Colorado State Forest Service that forever protects the Scout Ranch from development and allows the Boy Scouts to continue their youth programs on the land.
While the U.S. economy has been struggling recently, land conservation in the country has been on the rise. Since 2005, ten million new acres of land have been converted into urban parks, family farms, forests, gardens, and farmers’ markets. In fact, the amount of land protected from development has increased by 27% in five years. According to a report issued by the Land Trust Alliance, 37 million acres were protected in 2005, and this number has increased to 47 million acres protected in 2010.
The Alliance’s president, Rand Wentworth, attributes this increase to the strong ties most land trusts have to their local communities. Even while the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund lost money, most local land trusts drew huge increases in both volunteers and endowment funding.
Open-space initiatives have also been very well received at the ballot box, even when these measures include tax increases. For example, Congress passed the Pension Reform Act in 2006, which gives larger tax deductions to those who donate the development rights to their land.
Even despite our weakened economy, it is clear that U.S. citizens value their open space and are willing to work to protect it.
Read the full article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/story/2011-11-15/land-trusts-conservation-public-use/51226566/1
Colorado’s lax rules regarding oil and gas drilling are leaving residents in a difficult situation. Homeowners are uncomfortable with the increased drilling in municipal limits, and both environmental groups and sportsmen are displeased with the drilling near mountain streams.
Currently, the only water bodies that receive protection are “gold meal” trout habitats or ones that are located within five miles of an intake to a drinking-water treatment plant. Oil and gas companies can drill as close as 150 feet to residential buildings.
As the oil and gas industry becomes increasingly focused on the Front Range’s Niobrara shale formation that is believed to hold 2 billion barrels of oil, Colorado citizens are becoming more worried. Residents in Longmont have minimal ground to stand on in opposing a potential drill site next to Union Reservoir, which is used by more than 250,000 people for recreational purposes each year.
While many people recognize that oil and gas drilling brings money into communities, people are also passionate that this drilling be carried out responsibly, and not jeopardize the quality of drinking water and riparian habitats. There is currently a coalition building of concerned homeowners, environmental groups, and sportsmen that are calling on their representatives to implement some regulations about oil and gas drilling.
For more information, read the full article at: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19252203
The Obama administration and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar are pushing for an expansion of protected areas in the western United States. In a report released November 10, 2011, Salazar indicated that the administration aims to create 18 new wilderness and conservation- area declarations in nine Western states.
In Colorado, these proposals will expand protection in the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area of the San Juan Mountains, the Castle Peak Wilderness Study Area, the Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area, and the Bull Bulch Wilderness Study Area. Salazar claims that these areas were chosen because they are not only important ecosystems to protect, but also because there is broad local support regarding conservation of these areas.
However, these proposals do require Congressional support, and there are Republican critics who don’t believe that these proposals have significant local backing. For instance, U.S. Representative Denny Rehbery of Montana stated, “Land-use decisions should be based on consensus with the local community, not the collaborative efforts of unelected bureaucrats and big-money special-interest groups.”
For the second consecutive year, the Toyota Motor Corporation has donated a brand new Prius to Colorado Conservation Trust’s annual event, the Q for Conservation. In this video, Q guests express their excitement and thanks for that amazing donation!
Thank you to everyone who supported our fifth annual Q for Conservation! Check out photos from the event on our facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoConservationTrust
Special thanks to Aron Ralston and Lise Aangeebrug for the inspiring and informative discussion!
Guest Commentary: Colorado and America’s Great Outdoors program – By Lise Aangeenbrug
I had the honor last week of attending President Obama’s announcement of the initiative “America’s Great Outdoors (AGO): A Promise to Future Generations.” The overall goal of the initiative is to strengthen protection of our shared land, waters, wildlife and recreational, cultural and historic places. As executive director of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and as a citizen of this wonderful state, I took enormous pride in the President’s announcement because it is the example that Colorado set through GOCO that helped form many of the priorities and approaches outlined in the AGO plan. Read more from the Denver Post here.
Ditmer: State parks and wildlife merger is a bad idea
What the governor calls “streamlining” Colorado state government has some people fearing it’s a “steamrollering” that will flatten Colorado state parks to a shadow of themselves.Gov. John Hickenlooper would merge the department of State Parks with the Colorado Division of Wildlife within a year. It’s been done before. State Parks, created in 1959, was combined with the Colorado Division of Games, Fish and Parks in 1963, which was then returned to two agencies in 1972. Both deal with the great outdoors, natural resources and wildlife, but the missions are considerably different. Read more from the Denver Post here.
Guest Commentary: BLM wild lands policy deserves praise
If a misleading statement is repeated often enough, some people will begin to believe it. That appears to be the strategy of those working to overturn the Bureau of Land Management “wild lands” policy that was introduced in December by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Read more from the Denver Post here.
Conservation easements and water law seminar slated for March 29
A water rights and land conservation educational seminar, “Water on the Land, Keeping Water Local: Protecting Water Rights through Land Conservation,” is scheduled for March 29 from 12:30-5 p.m. at the Silverthorne Pavilion. Read more from the Summit Daily here.
