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KSJD Local Newscast - December 6, 2024

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Efforts to implement new protections on the Dolores River corridor are continuing on two fronts.

At the Nov. 26 Montezuma County Commission meeting, commission chair James Candelaria said there had been “some movement” on legislation to create a National Conservation Area, or NCA, along the river in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel counties.

A stakeholder-driven effort toward that end has been going for more than a decade and has resulted in broadly supported legislation. The bill to create the NCA was introduced in Congress in 2022 and had the support of Colorado senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and the then-U.S. representative for the Third District, Lauren Boebert.

However, the legislation was held up by Boebert’s concerns about how it might affect uranium-mining by Anfield Energy in the Slickrock area.

“The Slick Rock Project was a significant acquisition for Anfield resulting from an asset swap with Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC-US) in 2022,” says Anfield’s website. “This advanced-stage uranium and vanadium project is located in San Miguel County, Colorado, covering approximately 5,333 acres with 315 contiguous mineral lode claims.”

The NCA legislation reportedly protects existing mineral claims, but Candelaria said new language regarding the mining is now being considered.

Meanwhile, more than 200 businesses in Colorado are advocating for protections for the Dolores Canyons area in Montrose and Mesa counties.

A press release from the Protect the Dolores coalition says those businesses include some local ones, such as the Dolores Hostel and Dolores River Brewery.

“The public lands in the Dolores Canyons region, which today are largely open to new mining and industrial development, feature rich cultural and historic sites, habitat for iconic big game and sensitive plants and animals, and unmatched outdoor recreation opportunities. on the state’s Western Slope,” says the press release.

Rica Fulton, advocacy and stewardship director with the Dolores River Boating Association, told KSJD the DRBA is “cautiously optimistic” about the legislation.

Bennet and his staff are “really working hard” to try to get the NCA passed, she said.

“We’re hearing there are a lot of negotiations going on in Washington, D.C.,” she said, adding that the Dolores NCA is a “strong contender” to be included in a public-lands package.

Whether anything will happen soon regarding the northern portion of the river corridor is doubtful, Fulton said.

The Protect the Dolores coalition is pushing for President Biden to designate a national monument on the river corridor in Montrose and Mesa counties, something many locals in those oppose.

Fulton said either a national monument or a separate NCA on the river’s northern end could align well with the NCA legislation in the south.

“If the timing were right, like within five years [of the NCA in the south], it could be very complementary,” she said.

At present, the Dolores River corridor is managed by four different BLM field offices, one of them in Utah, she noted.

“There is a lot of different management going on,” she said. “Having two management plans could help provide better management and lead to more robust protection.”

She said it’s difficult to know what may happen in the north, and there are drawbacks to a national-monument designation, which could be undone by President Trump when he takes office.

“But we’re very excited about the NCA in the south,” she said. “It’s been in the works for so long. Everyone agrees it’s a good move.

“With Mesa and Montrose counties, we think something needs to happen, whether a national monument or other legislation. An NCA wouldn’t need to take as long [as it did in the south] because so much ground has been laid for the NCA bill here.”

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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.