# Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act: What You Need to Know

This bill protects and designates several areas of public land in Colorado for outdoor recreation, conservation, and historic preservation. It creates new wilderness areas where motorized vehicles and commercial development are prohibited, establishes recreation management areas with more flexible use rules, and protects wildlife habitat across four main regions of the state: the Continental Divide, San Juan Mountains, Thompson Divide, and around Curecanti National Recreation Area.

The most significant change is the creation of approximately 27,000 acres of new wilderness areas in the White River National Forest near the Continental Divide. These include the Hoosier Ridge Wilderness, Tenmile Wilderness, and additions to existing wilderness areas like Holy Cross and Eagles Nest. Once designated as wilderness, these lands become permanently protected from logging, mining, oil and gas drilling, and road construction. However, existing grazing operations can continue, and the Forest Service can still manage fires, insects, and disease outbreaks. The bill also creates the Tenmile Recreation Management Area—about 17,000 acres where outdoor recreation is encouraged but managed more flexibly than in strict wilderness areas.

In the Thompson Divide region, the bill prevents new oil and gas leasing on about 41,000 acres and allows for an exchange program where the government can trade existing oil and gas leases for other lands, reducing development pressure in this scenic area. The bill also designates Camp Hale as a National Historic Landscape to preserve the legacy of the 10th Mountain Division training site from World War II. For Curecanti National Recreation Area, the bill expands the area's boundaries and authorizes land acquisition to improve public access and recreation opportunities around the reservoirs.

For most Coloradans, this bill means more protected public lands for hiking, camping, and fishing, while ensuring that existing ranching operations and historic uses can continue. The wilderness designations are permanent, so these areas will remain undeveloped for future generations. However, the bill does allow some flexibility—the Forest Service can still use motorized equipment for fire management and range improvements in certain circumstances, and livestock grazing remains permitted where it already exists.

Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act

Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]

Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act This bill provides for the conservation of specified lands in Colorado. Specifically, the bill designates <ul> <li>specified federal lands within the White River National Forest as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System,</li> <li>the proposed Williams Fork Mountains Wilderness as a potential wilderness area,</li> <li> the Tenmile Recreation Management Area, </li> <li>the Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Conservation Area, </li> <li>the Williams Fork Mountains Wildlife Conservation Area,</li> <li>the Camp Hale National Historic Landscape, </li> <li>the Sheep Mountain and Liberty Bell East Special Management Areas, </li> <li>the Curecanti National Recreation Area, and</li> <li>the interpretive site located beside U.S. Route 24 as the Sandy Treat Overlook.</li> </ul> The bill adjusts the boundary of the White River National Forest and the Rocky Mountain National Park Potential Wilderness. The bill provides for the inclusion of additional federal lands in the National Wilderness Preservation System. The bill provides for the cancellation of all Thompson Divide oil or gas leases. The bill establishes the Greater Thompson Divide Fugitive Coal Mine Methane Use Pilot Program to promote the capture, beneficial use, mitigation, and sequestration of fugitive methane emissions to reduce methane emissions, improve air quality, and improve public safety, among other things.