Letter: Voice your support for the CORE Act
Recent reintroduction of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act in the U.S. Congress is welcome news for Eagle and Summit county residents. But to ensure passage this time, our elected representatives need to hear our support.
CORE would add 20,196 precious acres to our three local Wilderness Areas — Eagles Nest, Holy Cross, and Ptarmigan Peak. I have hiked and skied much of this new acreage, including as a volunteer wilderness ranger for the Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance, and have seen first-hand the wildlife, old-growth forest, resource diversity, and awesome vistas that merit the protection that wilderness designation provides.
CORE would create three new local wilderness areas in the Tenmile Range, Williams Fork Mountains, and Hoosier Ridge, and also establish the Tenmile Recreation Management Area with 10,000 additional non-wilderness acres allowing continued mountain-bike access.
CORE’s designation of Camp Hale as the first National Historic Landscape would honor our World War II veterans, and preserve an important page in Colorado’s outdoor recreation history as many veterans went on to open ski resorts and outdoor recreation businesses.
Overall, CORE will protect 400,000 acres of Colorado public lands from development. Rep. Lauren Boebert has called CORE a “land grab,” but CORE would provide new protections for just 1.8% of Colorado’s existing public lands, enhancing our local recreational economy.
Support Local Journalism
The result of decades of collaboration, CORE will serve as a step towards our national commitment to protect 30% of lands and water by 2030.
Please take a moment today to contact Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Joe Neguse, and thank them for continuing to fight for passage of the CORE Act. And reach out to Rep. Boebert and remind her that the CORE Act is essential to ensuring we invest in the outdoor economy that fuels our state.
Frances Hartogh
Vail
