Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act of 2025

This bill sets aside large areas of public land in Colorado’s Gunnison region for conservation, recreation, and research. It creates new wilderness areas and adds land to existing ones, and sets up special zones to protect wildlife and watersheds. It also designates a Rocky Mountain Scientific Research and Education Area to support long-term science and education while protecting the land. Recreation like hiking and biking continues on designated roads and trails, with limits for off‑highway and over‑snow vehicles in certain places to protect nature and safety (for example, rules for the Double Top and Horse Ranch Park areas) .

The bill blocks new mining and oil and gas leasing in the newly protected lands, and applies a “no surface occupancy” rule in parts of the North Fork Valley, while still allowing capture or destruction of leaking methane from coal mines. It bars new roads in protected areas except short‑term roads for fire and forest health work, and it prohibits commercial logging while allowing science‑based forest restoration, like prescribed burning, to reduce severe wildfire risk. Grazing rules stay the same, state wildlife authority is unchanged, and water rights are not affected. It also directs the federal government to take about 19,080 acres of Ute Mountain Ute land into trust (not for gaming), making it part of the Tribe’s reservation. Maps of all changes must be filed and made public .

Key points

• Who is affected: Local residents, visitors, ranchers with grazing permits, outdoor users (hikers, bikers, hunters, anglers), the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and nearby communities that rely on clean water and tourism .
• What changes:
  • New and expanded wilderness and other protected areas; research area created .
  • Limits on new roads and no commercial timber harvest; restoration focused on reducing wildfire impacts .
  • Seasonal closures and travel rules for bikes and motorized use in certain zones; potential for specified new trails if approved .
  • Oil and gas leasing withdrawn in parts of the North Fork Valley; “no surface occupancy” in some areas; methane capture allowed from coal mines .
  • Tribe’s fee land taken into trust within one year upon request; no gaming on that land .
• When: Protections and directions take effect on enactment; some actions have timelines (for example, filing public maps; winter travel plans within three years where not yet adopted) .