Supporters Of Wilderness Bill Say Meeting Stacked

Supporters of a plan to expand the San Juan Wilderness area say Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton tried to pack a town hall meeting in Ridgway with opponents to keep supporters from attending a public meeting to discuss the plan. Republicans are accusing environmentalists who back the plan of using the same tactics. The bitter battle over the wilderness area has been going on for years, with each side accusing the other of trying to hold secret meetings. The dispute is over a bill sponsored by Colorado's Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, that would declare about 61,000 acres in southwestern Colorado as federal wilderness and special management areas. The San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act would designate 33,000 acres as wilderness, mostly as expansions of the existing Lizard Head and Mount Sneffels wilderness areas, and establish a new area called McKenna Peak that includes sandstone cliffs rising 2,000 feet above the plain. It would also designate about 22,000 acres as a special management area and withdraw over 6,000 acres within Naturita Canyon from mineral development...more