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Montezuma County Pulls Support for National Conservation Area Below McPhee

Cawright2007
/
Creative Commons

The Montezuma County commissioners on Monday withdrew their support for an effort to create a national conservation area along the Dolores River below McPhee Dam.

The county had been part of a group that has worked for six years on legislation intended to avoid a Wild and Scenic River designation on the river while protecting the environment and private rights. However, Commissioner Keenan Ertel said a local grassroots group called the Montezuma Water Protection Work Group told him the latest draft of the legislation did not include enough water protections. The commission then voted 3 to 0 to pull its support for the effort.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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