Local Communities, Bennet, Tipton Reach Agreement on Hermosa Creek Bill -- Senate Committee Advances Bill to Full Senate

Press Release

Local communities in Southwest Colorado, along with Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Representative Scott Tipton, have struck an agreement on a bill to protect the Hermosa Creek watershed. The new version of the bill was passed with bipartisan support by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today. Senator Mark Udall, a cosponsor of the bill and member of the committee, spoke and voted in favor of the bill. Passage in committee sets up the bill for consideration by the full Senate. Bennet and Tipton are working together to find a path forward to pass the bill into law before the end of the year.

The bill would protect more than 100,000 acres of the Hermosa Creek Watershed, an area in the San Juan National Forest north of Durango. It would establish a management plan for the watershed based on recommendations from the Hermosa Creek River Protection Workgroup, which included local water officials, conservationists, sportsmen, mountain bikers, off-road-vehicle users, outfitters, property owners, grazing permit holders, and other interested citizens.

"The Hermosa Creek watershed represents some of the best that Colorado has to offer. Whether it's stunning vistas, the solitude of wilderness, backcountry trout fishing, or opportunities for motorized recreation -- this area is one of our state's treasures. Communities in Southwest Colorado have proven they can work together and find common ground to protect this remarkable place," Bennet said. "This bipartisan bill represents consensus among these communities to balance the land's competing uses and will provide certainty for how the land will be managed in the future. Congress should quickly pass this bill to provide a much-deserved victory to Southwest Colorado."

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