Washington, D.C. – Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse urged the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees to include the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The CORE Act—which would protect over 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado and boost the state’s outdoor economy—passed the House for the second time as an amendment to the House version of the NDAA in July. Over the next several weeks, the House and Senate will work to reconcile the differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions.
“In addition to protecting public lands, the CORE Act celebrates our nation’s military by establishing the nation’s first-ever National Historic Landscape at Camp Hale. This designation, covering 28,000 acres surrounding Camp Hale, would ensure that future generations learn about the 10th Mountain Division’s storied history and see where the famed ‘Soldiers on Skis’ trained before leading our nation to victory during World War II,” wrote Bennet and Neguse in a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
The last Colorado wilderness bill signed into law was Bennet and U.S. Representative Scott Tipton’s Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act, which passed in 2014 in the annual NDAA.
“The FY21 NDAA is the best opportunity for Congress to respond to the wish of Colorado,” wrote the lawmakers. “After years of collaboration, careful consultation, and negotiation, the CORE Act enjoys the full support of seven counties, 12 cities and towns, the State of Colorado, and countless outdoor businesses, sportsmen, conservation, and recreation organizations. Given the broad support for this bill in our state, we urge you to include the CORE Act in the final NDAA.”
Earlier this month, Bennet, Neguse, and Colorado U.S. Representative Jason Crow, a member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, convened a group of public lands leaders, veterans, and local elected officials at the Divide Trail in Colorado to advocate for the CORE Act’s inclusion in the final FY 2021 NDAA.
Background
In 2019, Bennet and Neguse introduced the bicameral CORE Act in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives with the support of counties, cities, towns, local leaders, conservation groups, sportsmen, and a wide range of outdoor industry businesses. The CORE Act combines four Colorado public lands proposals that were developed over a decade and builds on longstanding efforts to protect public lands in Colorado by establishing new wilderness, recreation, and conservation areas, including the first-ever National Historic Landscape at Camp Hale.
The CORE Act quickly gained momentum in the House, with a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in April 2019, and later passed out of committee in June 2019. The bill passed the full House of Representatives in October 2019 with bipartisan support, and again passed the House in July 2020 as an amendment to the House version of the NDAA.
Bennet has sought every opportunity to pass the bill in the Senate. In addition to his efforts to include the CORE Act in the final NDAA, in June, Bennet introduced the CORE Act as an amendment to the Great American Outdoors Act, which also included long-standing Bennet priorities to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and invest in our public land management agencies. In February 2019, Bennet urged the Senate to include the CORE Act in the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which permanently reauthorized LWCF and included new protections for millions of acres of public land in other states across the West.
The text of the letter is available HERE and below.
Dear Chairs Inhofe and Smith and Ranking Members Reed and Thornberry:
As you work to finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we write to request that you include the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, and other public lands protections, in the final conference report.
The CORE Act is bicameral bill that was written by Coloradans to protect 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado and has now twice passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis. The bill would designate 73,000 acres of new wilderness, nearly 80,000 acres of new recreation and wildlife conservation management areas, and expand protections for more than 200,000 acres in the Thompson Divide. The public lands protected in the CORE Act are important to sportsmen and ranchers, and help to sustain Colorado’s $28 billion outdoor recreation economy. After years of collaboration, careful consultation, and negotiation, the CORE Act enjoys the full support of seven counties, 12 cities and towns, the State of Colorado, and countless outdoor businesses, sportsmen, conservation, and recreation organizations. Given the broad support for this bill in our state, we urge you to include the CORE Act in the final NDAA.
In addition to protecting public lands, the CORE Act celebrates our nation’s military by establishing the nation’s first-ever National Historic Landscape at Camp Hale. This designation, covering 28,000 acres surrounding Camp Hale, would ensure that future generations learn about the 10th Mountain Division’s storied history and see where the famed “Soldiers on Skis” trained before leading our nation to victory during World War II. This new designation would expand historic preservation and interpretation in the area, prevent future development, and help to cleanup unexploded ordnance. Aside from Camp Hale, we have also worked for years to ensure that the bill does not affect current and future military training in Colorado, including at the Army National Guard High Altitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS). In a December 2019 letter, the Department of Defense confirmed that “the land management designation in S. 241/H.R. 823 (CORE Act) should not affect current or future military overflight in Colorado.” Additionally, in October 2019, Colorado’s then-Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Michael Loh, expressed the support of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs for the CORE Act.
For more than a decade, Coloradans developed the CORE Act and have consistently called on Congress to enact these public land protections. Finally, as stated above, in the 116th Congress, the House of Representatives passed the bill: first as a standalone measure on Oct. 31, 2019 (H.R. 823), and later as an amendment to the House FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2500) on July 21, 2020. In both cases, the measure passed the House with bipartisan support. Coloradans shouldn’t have to wait any longer for Congress to pass the CORE Act into law. The FY21 NDAA is the best opportunity for Congress to respond to the wish of Colorado, and there is ample precedent for new public land protections in the NDAA. In the FY15 NDAA, Congress passed the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act, to protect more than 100,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest in Colorado. We encourage you to use this opportunity in the FY21 NDAA to protect public land in Colorado.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,