Sponsors (2)
Official title: Designate certain special management areas, wildlife conservation areas, protection areas, recreation areas, wilderness areas, and a scientific research and education area in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Michael F. Bennet · Last progress May 15, 2025
The bill secures large-scale, long-term conservation, recreation, and tribal land protections and clearer management rules—benefiting wildlife, researchers, and many outdoor users—while trading off reduced extractive and some motorized recreation opportunities, limits on local revenue/options, and higher federal/local management costs.
Rural communities, recreationists, and wildlife benefit from large-scale, permanent protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of public land (multiple new designations, SMAs, RMAs, and wilderness additions) that preserves habitat, scenery, watershed functions, and outdoor recreation opportunities.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe gains ~19,080 acres placed into federal trust and added to its reservation, strengthening tribal land base, self-determination, and access to federal Indian trust programs and services.
Residents and communities gain clearer authority to conduct active wildfire, hazardous fuels, insect, and disease management (including prescribed fire) on designated lands, reducing severe wildfire risk to people, infrastructure, and natural resources.
Workers, local businesses, and local governments near the designated areas could lose economic opportunities because the bill restricts mining, leasing, timber harvest, oil and gas development, and other extractive uses across many thousands of acres.
Motorized recreation users (OHV, some snowmobile areas) and some bicyclists will lose access where routes aren't designated at enactment, reducing recreation options and potentially lowering tourism income for communities that depend on motorized recreation.
Federal agencies and taxpayers face increased management, administrative, and enforcement responsibilities and costs from new land designations, boundary surveys, trust acquisitions, and ongoing monitoring.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Designates and manages many federal lands in Gunnison County for conservation, adds wilderness, withdraws mapped oil/gas/mineral areas, and places ~19,080 acres into trust for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (no gaming).
Places about 19,080 acres of fee land into trust for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (excluded from federal gaming) and designates many parcels of federal land in Gunnison County, Colorado for long-term conservation and specialized management. It creates Special Management Areas, Wildlife Conservation Areas, Protection Areas, Recreation Management Areas, a Scientific Research and Education Area, expands and adds wilderness, withdraws specified lands from oil and gas leasing and mining activities, and sets management rules and use limits (including OHV and bicycle restrictions and limits on commercial timber harvest). Requires agency map filings and surveys, restricts certain development and extractive uses, preserves specified trail development opportunities, and gives land managers authority to permit only uses that further each area's conservation, recreation, research, or wildlife purposes. The bill includes deadlines for some actions (e.g., trust acquisition and boundary survey within one year; winter travel management plans within three years) and preserves valid existing rights and certain county jurisdictional interests.