One of Colorado’s least-visited canyonlands could become a national monument — but would that lead to overcrowding?

 

Those who love the Dolores River canyonlands agree — the swath of rugged land along Colorado’s western border is one of the state’s last, best wild places.

The tract encompasses staggering red rock cliffs, broad valleys and rolling hills that burst into green in the spring. Cutting through it all is the beloved river, which sometimes dwindles to a trickle.

Nobody wants to see it overrun with tourists and trash, like so many of the West’s wild places.

But disagreements about whether to designate some of the river and its canyonlands as a national monument have driven a caustic rift between the people who love the area. What those protections look like, and who gets to shape them, are at the center of a fiery debate that, in some instances, has sunk to name-calling and declarations of evildoing.

Recreation and conservation organizations want to designate nearly 400,000 acres, or 625 square miles, of the federal lands along the river as a national monument...more

There is also legislation on this issue:

Colorado’s two U.S. senators last year introduced legislation nearly two decades in the making. It would designate a smaller swath of 68,000 acres along the southern Dolores River as a national conservation area and special management area. The area includes the river and its surrounding lands in Montezuma, San Miguel and Dolores counties.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in December approved the widely supported bill and recommended the full Senate pass it.

Let's look at the setup here.

On the one hand you have legislation where everyone can see the text. Hearings have been held, debate has occurred and a Senate committee has voted in an open and democratic process.

On the other, the enviros did not get what they wanted, so they have turned to the autocratic process. Public hearings are held, but what are they commenting on? What does the grazing language say? We don't know. What about the language on roads, right-of-ways, or hunting? We don't know, and won't know until the president has issued his proclamation.