GPLI & GORP in the News

After working with residents from the Gunnison community for a decade, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet in May introduced draft legislation that will further protect public lands throughout Gunnison County.

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced last week that he will introduce legislation to protect public lands in Gunnison County after seeking input from Coloradans on the draft bill.

For a decade, Bennet has worked with Coloradans to develop the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act to protect and enhance key portions of the Gunnison Basin and Gunnison County.

It was early that cold morning in late September, 1982, when we approached the Skyline Mine Portal at 11,776 feet of elevation on Treasure Mountain.

I had to rub my eyes at what unfolded in front of us. In a Neanderthal scene, a young man came out of the dark mine tunnel with a smoking, flaming torch held over his head. Implausible? Indeed. I had to ask him what he was doing. He responded sheepishly that he was working for Don Knight of Paonia, the mine owner, and he had forgotten his flashlight.

The collaborative land management bill, more than a decade in the making as the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI), is making its way towards legislative primetime.

On May 20, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet unveiled draft legislation for the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI), a collaborative, locally led effort from a coalition of 10 stakeholder groups. The GPLI efforts are encompassed by the new Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act.

After Working With Community for A Decade, Bennet Will Introduce Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act Following 60-Day Comment Period

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of Colorado Public Lands Day tomorrow, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced today that he will introduce legislation to protect public lands in Gunnison County after seeking input from Coloradans on the draft bill. For a decade, Bennet has worked with Coloradans to develop the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act to protect and enhance key portions of the Gunnison Basin and Gunnison County.

There are worse places to be than above the Slate River near Oh Be Joyful, taking an early morning walk with a big group of people—even if I was the only one wearing flip-flops.

After approximately eight years, a significant proposal that covers Gunnison County’s widely varied land uses is ready for legislative consideration. Gunnison County commissioners signed a letter to Colorado Senator Michael Bennet on Tuesday, August 4 endorsing the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI)

Last Saturday was Colorado Public Lands Day, and it was a beautiful one here in the Gunnison Country. In May 2016, Colorado became the first state in the nation to establish a state holiday for our public lands. Colorado Public Lands Day is a chance to celebrate how our public lands are central to our economy and our quality of life.

Gunnison County is a headwaters community where the waters from the Upper Gunnison River are critical to life in the West. After a winter with a massive amount of snowfall, the rivers were swift earlier this summer. The gauges at the Gunnison River near the white water park west of Gunnison read more than 5,000 cubic feet per second in mid-June, which was double the average for that time of year.

The impressive expanses of sagebrush hills, forests, rivers and mountains in Gunnison County are particularly lush and verdant this summer—especially when viewed from a plane. Three separate flights took off last Thursday morning from Gunnison’s private regional airport and gave high(er) altitude tours of Gunnison County’s numerous landscapes and ecosystems to members and associates of the Gunnison County’s Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) coalition.

Western wouldn’t be Western without where it’s located: Gunnison, Colorado. That means protecting the foothills and forests around campus are a top priority not just for the community, but students and staff as well.

Members of the public mingled Tuesday evening in the Gunnison County Courthouse during an open house in conjunction with County Commissioners devoted to the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI)- a proposal drafted by a consortium of representatives from various local groups.

In every direction our communities are surrounded by public lands, there for everyone to enjoy. Gunnison County has some of the most accessible and diverse federally managed public lands in the country, from rolling sage hills to the summits of 14,000-foot peaks. These landscapes are part of our daily lives, a primary reason we live or visit here.

When I talk about the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI), people ask me many questions. At the root of these questions is often simply "why"? Why is a diverse group of local stakeholders working so hard to protect public lands in Gunnison County?

Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) last week released a revised proposal for greater protection of local landscapes. The plan includes 452,221 acres of federal public lands recommended by consensus of the group for protection as either special management areas (SMAs) or wilderness.

Colorado’s population is growing, and that places additional pressure on lands currently considered wild and remote but which aren’t offered official protective status. This concept has formed the basis of multi-year work by a coalition of groups in Gunnison County ranging from hunters and anglers to mountain bikers and ranchers.

A lot can happen in 54 years: phones transition from the size of a bread box to the size of a baby’s palm, life can be passed on to another human generation, eight Fido generations, four ungulate generations, and a blue spruce lives one-quarter of its life.

On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state in the nation. Many come flocking to Colorado each season to experience the grandeur of the state’s great outdoors. In Gunnison County we are surrounded by spectacular mountains, valleys, rivers and more; an impressive 80 percent of these lands are public. As we celebrate Colorado Day this week, we also celebrate our incredible natural heritage and public lands.

There is a place, far up a mountain trail in the West Elk Wilderness that most people pass by without a thought. To reach it takes hours on foot or horseback. Most day’s start before dawn - hours of catching, saddling, and loading horses, just to get us to the trailhead. As the pack string hits the trail we cross the wilderness boundary in the first quarter mile.

As our cows work their way back down the East River Valley, I reflect back on the year in this diverse community with gratitude and look forward to the next with hope. Not long ago my family was wondering if we would be pushed out in the name of economic progress. It seems that the Gunnison Valley has been discovered, and for the very reasons that most of us were drawn here or were compelled to remain here, will continue to be impacted as we see more visitors and residents in the decades to come.

Delicious! A word often muttered between bites when having dinner at one of our friends’ houses. The meal often includes waterfowl, small game or big game, but of all of the meats that I have shared in, I think bighorn sheep has been my favorite, and I can see why the first Americans in this area carved its image into rocks.

For months, the working group of the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) has been guided by a simple idea -- that any federal legislation proposing new public lands protections in Gunnison County is far more likely to make it through Congress if the plan enjoys broad public support from the get-go.

In February 2016, the Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners, in collaboration with the office of U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, convened a community-based working group to explore the possibilities of additional public lands protections for Gunnison County.

In the world of crafting policies to protect public land, legislators rarely bring ideas to local stakeholders — it’s usually the other way around. However, in 2016, the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) formed a working group at the urging of Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet — and with support from Gunnison County Commissioners — to help “create a successful legislative proposal for public land designation.”

This coming Saturday, August 13 marks the 23rd Anniversary of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993. The Act was a watershed moment in Colorado history, protecting more than 600,000 acres of some of Colorado’s most spectacular public lands.

It’s easy to feel grateful to be a Coloradan in Gunnison County. We have breathtaking mountains right out the backdoor, high alpine meadows just peaking with wildflower blooms, and miles and miles of trails waiting to be explored. Wildlife is abundant and a trip to the mountains is an opportunity to spot a fox, a Western Tanager, or a herd of deer.

Over the past year, we have been fortunate to talk with hundreds of Gunnison County residents, from hikers to ranchers to motorized users, about our public lands. No matter the person or their preferred activity – nearly all Gunnison County residents expressed just how much this landscape we live in means to them.

We would like to thank Senator Cory Gardner for introducing the Outdoor REC (Recreation Economic Contributions) Act with Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. This legislation would require the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to quantify the impact of outdoor recreation on the national economy. If passed, the REC Act would ensure that outdoor recreation would be quantified as part of the GDP and that the jobs that the industry provides would be counted.

Sitting in my tiny condo on the mountain, working on seemingly endless projects on my laptop, it’s hard not to stare out the window at Mt. Emmons or Whetstone and think about how badly I want to be out there, and how lucky I am to live here. Among many things I am thankful for this year, I feel especially grateful for our public lands in Gunnison County.

On the first warm day of spring last year, I took a drive to the far western border of Gunnison County, near Crawford. Escaping from the snow covered peaks of Crested Butte to the lower elevation and warmer climes of this part of the county, I soaked in the golden rays of sunlight, the chirping birds, and just budding, vibrant green leaves.