Good for Business: Growing Support for GORP Act
Over 100 Western Colorado Businesses Send Letter Supporting the GORP Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3/23/26 - GORP ACT RELEASES BUSINESS SUPPORTER LETTER
Contacts:
Isabel Lucas, High Country Conservation Advocates, 970-349-7104 x.2
Melissa Newell, Western Slope Conservation Center, 573-864-5504
(Gunnison, Colo. 3/24/2026) Today, the GORP Act coalition released a letter from 112 businesses across the region supporting the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act and affirming that conservation and public lands are an asset for Western Colorado.
Public and working lands of the Gunnison Basin are vital economic drivers for the region. Now area businesses are joining together to make their voices heard. The GORP Act would apply community-led conservation to public lands to safeguard access, watersheds, wildlife and the quality of our environment - something all Coloradans can get behind.
“I’m proud to support the GORP Act. Nothing makes me happier than a getaway into our public lands. Public lands are for everybody, not only the select few that can afford it. Fishing in clean water, riding horses amongst the aspens and pines and sightings of deer, elk and bear are what drives our centennial ranching family to keep making a living in this area. The getaways into the mountains around us are where we have created some of our most favorite family memories. Thank you members of Congress for introducing and supporting it.” – Cynthia Houseweart, Princess Beef
Introduced as bipartisan legislation in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, the GORP Act is sponsored by Colorado’s Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Western Colorado Representative Jeff Hurd.
The business letter serves to remind elected and community leaders what it is that those who live by, work on, and love these lands already know: that Coloradans support smart local solutions to conserve cherished public lands, the opportunities they provide, and the precious resources they safeguard.
The 2026 Conservation in the West poll, for example, found that 89% of voters in Colorado believe issues involving public lands, waters, and wildlife are important in deciding whether to support an elected public official. And 78% of Colorado voters polled prefer that leaders place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining.
These lands are essential for the livelihoods and for the health and well-being of local businesses, their employees and customers.
“As a local artist and outdoor recreation entrepreneur, I’m proud to support the GORP Act, which ensures that both my customers and I can continue to experience miles of stunning, unspoiled cycling. But beyond recreation, I value that the GORP Act strongly emphasizes protecting and enhancing habitat for our inestimable and sensitive wildlife population, with whom we are privileged to share these places." – Arly Landry, Goodday Bikeworks
In addition to joining more than one hundred fellow businesses, supporters join six Western Colorado county governments, several municipalities, numerous organizations, and thousands of area residents who came together to craft and now to advance the broadly-supported legislation.
Read the business letter here.
“Home-grown conservation in and around the Gunnison Basin” - The Gunnison Outdoor
Resources Protection (“GORP”) Act is a locally-derived and broadly-supported proposal that would protect outdoor resources, access, wildlife habitat, watershed health and the quality of the natural environment in and around the Gunnison Basin.
For more information, or to learn how you, your organization or business can support the GORP Act, please visit www.GORPact.org
