Colorado Senators propose land-protection bills

Colorado’s U.S. senators moved to protect cultural and environmental resources in the state last week, introducing a series of bills that would designate new wilderness in Rocky Mountain National Park and in the Dominguez Canyon area on the Uncompahgre Plateau. Closer to Summit County, one of the measures, the South Park National Heritage Act, would protect 19 working ranches along 30 miles of stream corridor and 17,000 acres of wetlands and agricultural lands in the headwaters of the South Platte River. Another measure, dubbed the Front Range Mountain Backdrop Act, would protect open spaces and natural resources between burgeoning cities and suburbs. “I have pushed for these important bills since my first days in the U.S. Senate,” Sen. Ken Salazar said in a press release. “They all reflect the input and support of local communities and will help protect the land and water that is fundamental to our way of life. I am hopeful we will have an opportunity to pass them in the coming days.” Salazar, a Democrat from the San Luis Valley, has been tabbed to be President-elect Barack Obama’s Interior secretary and likely will not shepherd the legislation through Congress....