DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday signed a bill that aims at offering more of a voice to local jurisdictions when dealing with federal-land issues.
The governor, who signed a pair of bills in Durango on Tuesday, signed this bill during a ceremony in Rifle.
House Bill 1225 requires that the state assist local governments with coordinating with the federal government over land-use issues. Local governments can apply for a grant through the Department of Local Affairs, asking for technical assistance on such issues as drafting a memorandum of understanding.
The legislation was sponsored by Republican Sen. Ellen Roberts of Durango. She said she introduced the measure to offer local governments a seat at the table when coordinating with federal agencies regarding public lands. Roberts points to critical needs, such as managing wildfires.
“We’ve spent over $100 million just on hard costs out the door on wildfires, and while not all of those are strictly on federal lands, many of those fires started on federal lands,” Roberts said. “I don’t think we can be so dismissive of alternative land-management approaches until we consider all options.”
HB 1225 was viewed as a sort of compromise during a legislative session in which sportsmen and conservationists fought against bills that they felt would have led the state down the road of taking control of federal lands. Fears were raised that those measures would have led to a mismanagement of public lands, resulting in possible closures or sales.
“House Bill 1225 represents the best of state and federal partners working together corroboratively as stewards of Colorado’s incredible national public lands,” said Pete Maysmith, executive director of Conservation Colorado. “Rather than the divisive bills we have seen this session that seek to wrest control of these lands or set a course of confrontation, the bill signed in Rifle (on Wednesday) represents the Colorado way of getting things done – rolling up our sleeves and working together.”
Roberts supported some of the controversial legislation, including an effort to clarify state jurisdiction over federal lands and another that would have implemented a study of transferring federal lands over to the state’s authority. Both those bills failed after Democrats voted against the measures.
“What both bills recognized is that there is an undeniable tension between local government and federal government in trying to figure out how to coexist with shared boundaries,” Roberts said. “Both bills attempted to address that tension.”
