I attended the John Fielder photography event on Oct. 6 in Cortez,sponsored by Conservation Colorado, San Juan Citizens Alliance, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness. The photographs were stunningly beautiful and a powerful reminder of the awe-inspiring place we live. Topics discussed were as moving and inspiring as the photographs. Fielder eloquently presented the importance of preserving wilderness for the beauty, but also for critical issues such as mitigating climate change and the economic prosperity of our beloved Colorado. He pointed out that tourism brings in more money to Colorado than oil and gas, provides more jobs, and will continue indefinitely whereas the extractive industries are inherently time-limited and will, if expanded, ruin the very thing we love about Colorado and that brings visitors here: the vast beauty.
On a local level, the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act was carefully crafted through an inclusive local consensus process and then it was drastically changed by members of the House Natural Resources Committee, including Rep. Scott Tipton. The changes included opening up wilderness areas to roads and power lines and opening a whole section to extractive uses when all – including those from these industries – had agreed to protect that area from oil, gas and mining! The changes betrayed the community consensus process and those involved need to redeem themselves by getting the original language back in the bill. I certainly hope Tipton will join Sen. Michael Bennet in his efforts to get the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act back to what was agreed upon by the people.
As for climate change: It’s real, it’s happening and it’s gaining speed. Preserving and expanding protection of wilderness slows this reality whereas continuing, or worse, expanding the extractive industries of oil, gas (especially methane), and mining adds to the rampant speed of climate change. We need to instead speed our movement toward renewables – solar and wind – and do all we can to slow climate change through conservation behaviors: Drive less, bike or walk more, and turn off the lights!
Lisa Allee
Mancos
