The future of the Dolores River and its surrounding landscape remains a topic of widespread disagreement. Mesa and Montrose counties last week released a draft proposal for creating a national conservation area, or NCA, along the river in their counties. That is as an alternative to a national monument, something a broad coalition of environmental and recreational groups is advocating. Many people in Mesa and Montrose counties vigorously oppose a monument because it would likely be a top-down protection measure done through presidential proclamation. But supporters of a monument designation say the recent NCA proposal is woefully inadequate. It would protect just 30,000 acres instead of the 391,000 acres in the coalition’s monument proposal. Meanwhile, a separate NCA proposal protecting 68,000 acres at the river’s southern end in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel counties is still up in the air. Legislation to create that NCA was developed through years of discussions among local stakeholders. It was introduced in Congress in 2022 and passed a Senate committee but has not moved forward since then. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert had wanted changes to the language regarding mining, holding up the bill. Congress is now headed into its August break. Monument opponents are worried that President Biden might designate a monument in the last months of his term, as President Obama did for Bears Ears in Utah.
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.