Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I have come to the floor to talk about Colorado. This summer, most people have been thinking about the wildfires we have had up there. These fires were widespread throughout the State, and it is still just the beginning of fire season. We have already seen a lot of damage, including the destruction of hundreds of homes, and, most sadly, the loss of life.

I wish to say in this Chamber, to all my colleagues, how much I appreciate their kindness. The knowledge that all of you have been thinking about people at home has been very comforting to the people I represent. Thanks to the heroic work of the firefighters, and with a lot of help also from Mother Nature, the fires are under control. So I wish to remind people, as I have been doing now for months, that Colorado is the best place to visit during the summer. It is the best place to bring your family.

In fact, last week--or during the recess--Susan and I loaded up the minivan and drove across the State with our kids. It takes all the fun out of playing the license plate game when you are driving in Colorado because in about 2 hours the kids saw half the license plates representing half the States in the United States--just 2 hours from Denver, CO. So I would say, as I have said time and time again, over the coming months, if you have plans to come to our State, please do.

Today, I wish to focus on one area that illustrates how special our State of Colorado is.

The Hermosa Creek watershed is a beautiful parcel of land just up the road from Durango in the southwest corner of our State.

Over 4 years ago, an incredibly diverse group of local citizens, mountain bikers, fishermen, outfitters, local elected officials, and others got together to talk about the future of this striking land. Everybody involved likes to visit the area for recreation or to do business there. Their discussion was about how to put together a plan from the local level up to manage the area so everyone could enjoy it and benefit, and so that we could protect it for the next generations of Coloradans and the next generations of Americans.

A little over a year ago, the group invited my family and me to take a hike through the watershed and join the discussion. During a tour over the last Memorial Day weekend, we unloaded at the Hermosa Creek trailhead, we tied up our boots, and my youngest daughter Anne made a hiking stick out of a nearby fallen branch. We started up the trail with 40 or so others from the local community.

As we climbed higher and higher, we were all overcome by the beauty. People stopped talking. I stopped talking largely because I was out of breath. But the people I was with were as awestruck as I was by the beauty of this place. It was a particularly settling walk after being cooped up with my children.

There are forested valleys, crystal-clear streams, and unspoiled views. After about an hour, the group pulled off the Forest Service trail into a meadow. And as Anne, Helena, and Caroline Bennet made themselves and their father and mother dandelion necklaces, we started a discussion about what this area means to the people who live there and the people who visit. The sportsmen come to fish for native Colorado cutthroat trout and for back-country elk hunting. The mountain bikers come to enjoy single-track riding on trails known throughout the United States of America, and actually in other countries as well. The local water districts love Hermosa because it provides drinking water for the great city of Durango. Workers in the timber and mining industries stress that some of the watershed could contribute to extractive development in the future. Some might not know that mining has long been an economic driver in that region of our State.

This is a photograph of the group that hiked that day. The upshot of the discussion we had in that meadow was an agreement to work together on a bill, a balanced bill that managed the watershed so it would contribute to the local economy long into the future. After nearly 14 months of discussions and negotiations since that hike, I introduced that bill earlier today.

The Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act governs the entire 108,000-acre watershed. It includes provisions to allow for multiple uses, such as timber harvesting for forest health; access and trails for off-road vehicle enthusiasts, and for mountain bikers.

It keeps getting better. The bill also adds nearly 40,000 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, lands that provide unique and important opportunities for solitude and reflection, lands that will remain undeveloped forever, so they will always have clear streams of fish and lush forests for a local outfitter to take clients into the wilderness on horseback.

I am proud to report the bill has the unanimous bipartisan backing of the two county commissions involved, the San Juan County Commission and the La Plata County Commission. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a copy of letters of support from both counties.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

SAN JUAN COUNTY,

Silverton, CO, June 27, 2012.
Sen. MICHAEL F. BENNET,
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.

DEAR SENATOR BENNET: San Juan County is supportive of the collaborative community process conducted by the Hermosa Creek Workgroup. This was an open, inclusive process that has brought together local citizens and organizations that are concerned with protecting the special values of the Hermosa Creek Watershed in San Juan and La Plata Counties in southwest Colorado.

For more than two years the Hermosa Creek Workgroup worked within the framework developed by the River Protection Workgroup whose goal is ``Involving the public in protecting the natural values of selected streams while allowing water development to continue.''

As a result of this process, the Hermosa Creek Workgroup determined that ``The Hermosa Creek Area is exceptional because it is a large intact (unfragmented) natural watershed containing diverse ecosystems, including fish, plants and wildlife, over a road elevation range, and supports a variety of multiple uses, including recreation and grazing, in the vicinity of a large town.''

San Juan County supports the proposed Federal Legislation for the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act of 2012 and respectfully requests that your office initiate a legislative process to achieve the goals set forth by the Hermosa Work Group.

Sincerely,
Ernest F. Kuhlman,

Chairman,
San Juan County Commissioners.

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LA PLATA COUNTY,

Durango, CO, November 3, 2011.
Hon. MICHAEL BENNET,
Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.

DEAR SENATOR BENNET: You recently released draft legislation to protect the Hermosa Creek area just north of Durango, and we wish to express our strong support for that component of the legislation. We have previously supported the work and recommendations of the Hermosa Creek Workgroup, and believe that this draft accurately reflects those recommendations.

The Board of Commissioners has followed the public process conducted by the Hermosa Creek Workgroup since its beginning over two years ago, and we believe that the process has been open, transparent, and effective. Virtually every group with an interest in the Hermosa watershed participated in the discussions, which were constructive and well-facilitated.

The Hermosa Creek watershed is an invaluable resource for La Plata County for a number of reasons. The recreational opportunities the area offers, from hunting and fishing to hiking, mountain biking, and skiing, are world class, and contribute significantly to the County's recreation and tourism economic base. Local outfitting businesses, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and gear shops all benefit from a protected Hermosa Creek region.

With its Outstanding Waters designation by the State of Colorado, Hermosa Creek provides a major clean water contribution to the Animas River, which is the water source for many of La Plata County's residents. As a source of clean air and spectacular scenery, Hermosa Creek also plays a key role in maintaining the natural amenities that make La Plata County attractive to new residents and businesses.

The proposal to protect the Hermosa Creek watershed through a special management designation, containing wilderness and un-roaded designations for portions of the area, is truly a community-based approach to local land management. We commend you for respecting the hard work of the Hermosa Creek Workgroup by including the group's recommendations in your draft legislation. We support the legislation, and stand ready to help in whatever way to see it enacted into law.

Sincerely,

Kellie C. Hotter,

Chair.

Robert A. Lieb, Jr.,

Vice-Chair.

Wallace ``Wally'' White,

Commissioner.

Mr. BENNET. It has the support of the Hermosa Creek Workgroup, ranging from hard-rock miners to wilderness advocates. I am pleased to carry this bill on behalf of the people of Colorado. I am especially proud because this was a community-driven process at its very finest, through and through, from beginning to end. Colorado wrote this bill. This bill wasn't written in Washington, DC. The bill has grown from the grassroots up, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents working together to cement a long-term plan for the community's future.

I also want to thank my senior Senator, Senator Udall of Colorado, for joining me as a cosponsor of the bill, and to thank Senators BINGAMAN and MURKOWSKI for their past help moving Colorado land bills through their committee. I am confident that as we work on this bill together we will find similar consensus.

To bring this back to the beginning, I don't have to convince most people that Colorado is a special place. Many have visited our State over their lifetimes to ski our mountains, run our rivers, or climb a ``14er.'' The Hermosa Creek watershed represents some of the best Colorado has to offer. It deserves to be protected for our outdoor recreation economy, and for future generations.

I want to thank all of the people who have spent countless hours working together to make sure they could overcome their differences and reach a consensus on this bill. As I have told all of them, it makes my work so much easier when people work in such a constructive way together, and for that, they have my deep appreciation.

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