Sponsors (2)
The bill protects large stretches of the Dolores River and adjacent lands—securing recreation, habitat, tribal uses, and limits on new extraction—while tradeoffs include reduced resource development and timber opportunities, tighter limits and reviews on water infrastructure and uses, and added administrative costs and coordination burdens.
Residents and recreationists in rural communities gain long-term protected public access to large stretches of the Dolores River and adjacent lands (tens of thousands of acres) for boating, fishing, hunting, and scenic recreation.
Native fish, wildlife, and watershed values are conserved across the designated areas, supporting biodiversity, healthier fisheries, and ecosystem services.
Local stakeholders — counties, water users, tribes and the public — gain formal roles, consultative processes, and transparent planning (Advisory Council, public maps, management plans) that increase local input into land and river management.
Restricting mining, leasing, timber harvest, and development on withdrawn/protected lands could reduce local jobs, timber and mineral revenues, and economic opportunities for nearby rural communities.
Broad definition of 'water resource project' plus the 'unreasonably diminish' standard and limits on altering flows could subject water infrastructure to new reviews, constrain future water projects, limit downstream water uses, and delay or raise the cost of upgrades.
Interagency allocation of authority, multi-stakeholder consultation, and added planning requirements create administrative complexity and coordination burdens that can delay actions and raise compliance costs for agencies, permittees, and stakeholders.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area, limits road construction and mineral development, requires management plans, and removes these areas from Wild & Scenic Rivers study.
Official title: Establish the Dolores River National Conservation Area and the Dolores River Special Management Area in the State of Colorado, to protect private water rights in the State, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Michael F. Bennet · Last progress May 15, 2025
Creates a Dolores River National Conservation Area (about 52,872 acres of BLM land) and a Dolores River Special Management Area (about 15,452 acres in the San Juan National Forest) in Colorado, directs federal management and planning to protect native fish, whitewater boating, recreation, cultural, scenic, and ecological resources, restricts road-building and motorized access to designated routes, withdraws covered lands from many public-land and mineral disposal/leasing laws, and removes these areas from further consideration under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The law requires management plans within three years, preserves existing treaty and water-rights obligations (including the Colorado Ute settlement and Dolores Project operations), limits land acquisition to willing-seller transactions, and authorizes certain resource-protection activities such as wildfire and pest control and easement acquisition for access and utilities.