Dominguez Bill Goes from Canyon Floor to Senate Floor
Monday, September 15, 2008
Washington, D.C. - From the canyon floor to the floor of the U.S. Senate . . . Congress could soon give final approval to a bill giving wilderness protections to the Dominguez Canyonland country near Grand Junction, Colorado.
Steve Smith with The Wilderness Society in Glenwood Springs was in Washington last week to talk with lawmakers about the area. He says the bill would designate 65,000 acres of wilderness and also provide for more than 100,000 acres of adjoining lands for recreation, as part of a larger National Conservation Area.
"You can take motorized vehicles into parts of it, you can ride your bicycle into parts of it. So, this whole package has some attraction for a real variety of people."
Smith says protecting areas like the Dominguez is important, even to those on the Front Range who aren't nearby, because wilderness designation helps make sure that time stands still for our natural treasures by keeping industry and development out.
"It's that confirmation that places in our country are still in the conditions that were there before people showed up. There's something very grounding in that."
The bill could come before the full Senate for a vote as soon as this week. The President has already signed new designated wilderness into law this year, and a number of other wilderness bills are still working their way through Congress.
Opponents of new wilderness designations say they restrict other uses like logging and certain types of motorized recreation.
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