WHEREAS approximately 70% of the land in Western Colorado is managed by federal agencies;
WHEREAS public lands have been one of the largest economic drivers in the region and play a critical role as an economic driver in the State of Colorado;
WHEREAS the federal public lands multiple use mandates (Multiple –Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and other applicable laws) resulted in diversified Western Colorado economies;
WHEREAS Western Colorado multiple use values include:
- Healthy forests as managed using appropriate silviculture and fire management techniques, Agriculture (grazing, farming, etc.),
- Recreation and Tourism (motorized and non-motorized recreation, water & land sports, hunting, fishing, hiking, etc.),
- Timbering and grazing,
- Industry (mining, electric power production, natural gas extraction, logging, etc.),
- Water (industrial uses, agricultural uses, recreational uses, and general water resource development and conservation),
- Intangible Values (historical, cultural, and archeological sites, open space values and access to open space, desire for free enterprise, conservation stewardship, wildlife management),
- Special Land Designations which have been through legal and locally supported planning processes. (wilderness areas, wilderness study areas, areas of critical environmental concern, special recreation areas, etc.),
WHEREAS private lands and public lands are co-dependent upon each other in much of rural Colorado (grazing, energy, recreation, etc.).
WHEREAS rural communities within Colorado have documented how federal and state initiatives have at times failed to address impacts to local and regional communities, such as:
- Conflicts within existing federal policy and local land use plans,
- Consideration of what those actions will do to local communities,
- Potentially diminished the economic viability within individual communities,
- Site specific land management challenges,
- Unintended consequences to the state at large;
WHEREAS local communities, their residents and businesses, which are most affected by federal and state land decisions are intimately familiar with the current and historic uses of public lands and have direct knowledge and experience to achieve the best balance of environmental, social, and economic impacts of land use decisions;
WHEREAS there is widespread understanding among Club 20 counties that the activities in one county are often interwoven and interdependent in the economies in neighboring counties;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Club 20’s position is:
- All public land management decisions must be subject to the local planning processes, and include stakeholder participation and review; and
- Local input and site-specific data must be reflected in final management decisions; and
- New mandates must be accompanied with appropriate funding or management resources from the Executive or Legislative Branches of the Federal Government or State government as appropriate; and
- Public land management decisions must follow Colorado water law; and
- Public land management decisions must address the interdependency of diverse economies of the Western Colorado counties; and
- A permanent public land liaison position between the State of Colorado and Western Colorado is critical to evaluate the western slope effects of federal land decisions; and
- Public land management decisions must have participation of representative stakeholder input representing the diversity of multiple use; and
- Club 20 opposes federal and State Land Management decisions that do not duly consider input from locally elected officials.
- We support multiple use as stated in the above guiding principles recognizing that not all lands are suitable for every multiple use and not all uses are possible on individual landscapes.
Adopted 4/12/2019