Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Chair, I want to thank my colleague from Colorado and laud him for taking on the mantle of supporting the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act.

Our State has some of the most remarkable outdoor landscapes in the country. As a fourth-generation Coloradan, I understand how important our public lands are to our livelihoods, our health, and, yes, our identity.

Like many Coloradans, I have personal memories of camping and hiking with my family and using our public lands to teach my daughters about the importance of environmental stewardship and conservation.

But preserving our public lands is not important just to those of us who enjoy exploring the outdoors; it is important to our State's economy.

We can't allow ourselves to sit back and assume that the places we cherish today will be there for future generations to experience as well. Every 30 seconds, our Nation loses the equivalent of a football field of natural area due to human activity.

Let me say that again. Every 30 seconds, our Nation loses a football field of natural area due to human activity. We are seeing this right now in our home State with the pressures of population growth.

That is why, for more than 20 years, I have been working with my colleagues in Congress, with local elected officials, and with citizens across the State to protect the very few remaining special areas that we have left. That is why I am so honored that we are now beginning to see the fruits of all of this action.

The legislation that we will vote on today will protect an additional 400,000 acres of public lands in our State, including 70,000 acres of wilderness. It is part of our overall effort to preserve 1 million acres of public lands in our State, not just for wilderness, but also for multiple use, which is so critical for our State.

Together, the CORE Act and the Colorado Wilderness Act, which I am the prime sponsor of, will help boost Colorado's multibillion-dollar outdoor recreation industry, which supports more than 220,000 jobs in our State. They will also help increase our Nation's tourism industry, lift nearby property values, and improve residents' overall quality of life.

Our constituents have been clear on this issue: they want to protect our public lands. As Congressman Neguse noted, one recent poll found that as many as 90 percent of Colorado's residents believe that protecting our outdoor recreation economy is important to the future of our State.

Our State has changed. Our economy is dependent on the preservation of our special remaining wild places. I know many of us in the congressional delegation would agree. That is why we are so united in this effort. That is why we are eager to take on this fight.

Madam Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to give the people of our State what they want and to vote for this important legislation.

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Ms. DeGETTE. Will the gentleman yield?

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Ms. DeGETTE. I would just note--and the gentleman and I have actually discussed this--as we have been preparing the maps for my bill, which we are going to be seeing in the Natural Resources Committee in the next few weeks, we have seen, even in areas that are protected as wilderness study areas or other BLM Federal lands, we have seen a steady erosion by people who are over loving these lands, and that is why we need these protections.

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