Colorado Officials Celebrate Rocky Mtn. National Park Wilderness

In March, President Barack Obama signed the Act, a package of more than 160 bills, which includes provisions to protect two million acres of wilderness in nine states and a thousand miles of rivers.

The National Park Service first recommended the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness designation in the 1970s but repeated attempts at Congressional passage fell short.

Salazar, who represented Colorado as a senator for years, celebrated the Act's designation of 210,000 acres of federal land on the Uncompahgre Plateau as a conservation area, including 65,000 acres as wilderness area.

The establishment of the South Park National Heritage Area at the headwaters of the South Platte River and the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area in the San Luis Valley were also accomplished by the new law.

Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

"With a single stroke of his pen, President Obama completed the work of so many Coloradans and other Americans who have sought to set aside this wilderness at Rocky Mountain National Park for more than three decades," Salazar said. "He ensured our great-grandchildren and their great-grandchildren will visit a park that is like the park today – a vast and breathtaking landscape crafted by the forces of nature and undisturbed by the hand of humankind."

Protection as a national park was not sufficient to conserve the wilderness values of the area as Keith Keenan of Colorado Trout Unlimited wrote in a letter to the editor of "The Fort Collins Coloradoan" newspaper on July 20, 2005.

"The more educated that we become, the more we understand that the park is under a tremendous environmental attack," Keenan wrote. "Researchers have more than 20 years of data that tell us that exhaust from the autos, heavy equipment, buses, and big rigs locally and on the Interstate 25 corridor threaten our high mountain lakes and the greenback trout that live there."

"The more educated we become, the more we know that there is a real good chance that we will lose Rocky Mountain National Park as we know it today if we do not act," wrote Keenan. "The more educated we become, the more we realize that the window of opportunity for any chance to save RMNP is here and now and rapidly shrinking."

Secretary Salazar was joined at the dedication ceremony by Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, his brother Colorado Congressman John Salazar, Congresswoman Betsy Markey, and former Congressman David Skaggs, all Democrats. Local officials also were there to celebrate, including former Estes Park Mayor John Baudek, Grand Lake Mayor Judy Burke, former Larimer County commissioner Karen Wagner, and many other community leaders who have worked for years to convince Congress to designate the wilderness.

"Exploring this park gives one the sense of the majesty of the west and the solemnity of creation. It embodies the rugged beauty of Colorado, and it deserves to be granted this designation and the protection that comes with it," Senator Mark Udall said.

"I have a personal family connection to this park through my grandfather as an outdoor guide, and I have hiked many of its trails, fished many of its streams, and climbed many of its peaks," Udall said. "It has taken a long trek to get here - and it has taken the work of many people. But today, we have reached the summit, and I'm so proud that the reward is a park that generations of Americans will be able to enjoy."

"Rocky Mountain National Park is home to some of Colorado's most special places," said Bennet. "By designating approximately 250,000 acres within RMNP as wilderness, we're making good on our responsibility to protect, preserve and pass down some of Colorado's most treasured landscapes for the enjoyment of generations of Americans to come."

"This bill represents years of hard work by so many committed stakeholders, from local communities to the federal government," said Markey. "This measure will do much to protect Colorado's public lands and water, which are critical to preserving Colorado's way of life. Wilderness designation for Rocky Mountain National Park will also help bolster Colorado tourism, which is a huge economic driver for our state."

"The Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness area is one of the crown jewels of the public lands package recently signed by President Obama," said Congressman John Salazar. "These bills represent years of work and input from communities across my district and throughout Colorado. I was honored to work with my brother – first when he was in the Senate and now as Secretary of Interior - to do my part to help make these projects become a reality. They will help protect Colorado's land, water, natural beauty for generations to come."

The Act obligates the federal government to pay 65 percent of the cost of building a 130-mile water delivery system from Pueblo Dam to communities throughout the Arkansas River Valley. The Arkansas River has its origin in the Rocky Mountains in Lake County, Colorado, near Leadville, and it flows into the Mississippi River at Napoleon, Arkansas.

"Today is just the beginning. I believe we are at the start of the Obama era of conservation, an era I hope will rival the eras of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy," Secretary Salazar said. "In coming years, we will have many days like today when we join together to celebrate new partnerships and new successes in conserving our treasured landscapes."

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