EAGLE, Colo. -- Congress has an opportunity to preserve 400,000 acres in Colorado, after the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy, or CORE, Act was attached to a key defense spending bill that cleared the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
Kathy Chandler-Henry, chair of the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, says the CORE Act, which would protect historic sites, recreation areas, wilderness, waterways and wildlife habitats, is critical for the state's economy.
"The outdoor recreation sector of the economy is big in Colorado -- it's big in Eagle County," she states. "So it's protecting the goose that laid the golden egg. We've got to keep those landscapes, so that people can come and get out in the wilderness."
The CORE Act passed the House this past fall, but did not get a floor vote in the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado is a strong supporter of the CORE act. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado has not yet taken a position on the bill.
If passed, Camp Hale -- where World War II soldiers trained for alpine combat, and the birthplace of Colorado's ski industry -- would be designated as the nation's first National Historic Landscape.
Chandler-Henry says Coloradans have turned to nature for their physical, emotional and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, which she says underscores the need to protect access to wild spaces on lands owned by all Americans.
"There is strong scientific evidence showing that being in nature is healing," she points out. "So you can get out in the mountains, you can get some solitude and some space."
The CORE Act was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, which supporters hope will improve its chances of clearing Congress.
The last major Colorado public lands bill to become law, in 2015 to protect the Hermosa Creek Wilderness, and watershed, also was attached to defense spending authorization.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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Visitor spending in and near national parks contributed to the U.S. economy at a record high level last year.
Grand Teton is one park looking at how to manage increasing visitation. Lodging, meals and other 2023 visitor spending in communities near national parks contributed more than $55 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 400,000 jobs, according to the National Park Service. Grand Teton National Park ranks fifth for visitor spending, at nearly $750 million. The park said visitor numbers are increasing and the trend is expected to continue.
Jennifer Newton, social scientist at Grand Teton National Park, said they have been collecting public comments this summer.
"We're really at a phase and a point where we're interested in getting public feedback on what our desired conditions are in the park and what we should be managing for," Newton explained.
After some fluctuations during the pandemic, Newton pointed out visitation rates in 2023 were similar to 2019, though how and when those visitors used the park shifted. According to a July report, 43% agreed Grand Teton National Park was "too crowded."
The visitor spending report also tallies the labor income, value-added and economic output based on each national park and each state. Wyoming ranks high in several of these categories. Newton noted the information is helpful at the local, regional and federal levels.
"That's really helpful whenever you think about things, too, like for every dollar that Congress invests in national parks, there is a greater than $10 return on that investment," Newton emphasized.
In the 2025 federal budget, the Biden administration requested $3.6 billion for the National Park Service, an increase of more than $250 million from the 2024 budget.
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A Montana conservation group is holding a photo contest, with a focus on dogs and social media to promote the state's vast trove of public lands.
The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund wants photos of people with their dogs enjoying Montana's 30 million acres of public lands.
Kearstyn Cook, program director for the fund, said those lands are one-third of the state and featuring photos of dogs with their humans in the "Pups for Public Lands" photo contest is an effective way to encourage people to experience Montana's crown jewels.
"With our best friends, our dogs," Cook explained. "Because it seems like dogs are also a way of life here. Everyone has them. So, with this contest we are kind of hoping to inspire Montanans to get outside with their dogs in a responsible way that respects our public lands."
People enter the contest on Instagram by following Montana Conservation Voters, tagging them and using the hashtag "pups for public lands" in their post. The contest winners will be featured on a calendar and the top dogs will get what's described as a "prize pack of goodies."
Kim West, professional pet photographer for Missoula-based Lint Roller Productions, is a contest judge who will potentially scroll through thousands of dog photos after the contest closes Monday.
"It's a tough job looking at cute dog photos but I'm up to the task," West joked. "One of the easiest ways that people can improve their pet photos is to get low when they're taking that shot, and to photograph from the dog's eye level. It really invites the viewer into the dog's world."
West added the best time to snap a photo is in what she called the "golden hour," either early in the morning or just before dusk.
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This month, the federal government announced funding for next year's wildfire management, totaling $236 million and experts hope threatened communities in Wyoming receive some of the funds.
Money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be used to help reduce wildfire risk, improve firefighter training, rehabilitate burned areas and advance research, according to the Interior Department. The focus areas are partly based on a report last year by the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, with 148 recommendations on how the U.S. can approach fires more effectively.
Kimiko Barrett, wildfire researcher and policy analyst for the nonprofit research group Headwaters Economics and a member of the commission, said the recommendations build off one another but the federal government has focused on some more than others.
"It's not surprising that some of the policy is cherry-picking those recommendations that seem to be easiest or more reasonable, given the time constraints of the current administration," Barrett asserted.
The U.S. House of Representatives will consider a bipartisan bill this month, called the "Fix Our Forests Act." It could adjust permitting under the National Environmental Protection Act to make wildfire prevention projects happen faster, among other changes.
Most wildfire management is supported at the federal level, through agencies that manage public lands, as well as state foresters and natural resource managers.
Barrett notes communities are often the first line of defense when a fire ignites.
"Communities and counties need to be additionally empowered and provided the funding, the resources, the technical assistance, to be able to have more ownership over becoming more resilient," Barrett contended.
Barrett added the protection of the built environment is especially important to communities, including home and neighborhood infrastructure.
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