The Dolores Canyons National Monument Proposal
In 2023, the Protect the Dolores Coalition released a national monument proposal for approximately 400,000 acres of public lands surrounding the Dolores River in the western portions of Mesa and Montrose counties to conserve the region’s outstanding ecological, cultural, historical, and recreational resources. This proposal is complimentary to the national conservation area proposal to the south.
The coalition is currently supportive of conversations about a national conservation area for the lands in Mesa and Montrose Counties, and believes that either designation would have comparable conservation outcomes.
A national monument or national conservation area would provide unified management, create opportunities for public input, protect against encroaching development, and promote restoration and ecosystem health. A designation also brings more resources and management attention.
Western Colorado community members, businesses, and elected leaders have coalesced around a vision for a Dolores Canyons to assure that these incredible values, wildlands, and wildlife are preserved.
National monuments are flexible conservation tools with similar outcomes to national conservation areas. They can be created by Congress or by the president using the Antiquities Act of 1906. Since Congress gave the president the authority to conserve “objects of historic or scientific interest” as national monuments in 1906, 18 of the 21 intervening presidents have used the Antiquities Act to designate or expand 161 protected areas.
Both a Dolores Canyons National Monument or national conservation area would provide dedicated management, promote ecosystem health, and preserve public access for hunting, dispersed camping, hiking, climbing, biking, and off-roading, while also allowing “existing rights” like rights-of-way, mining claims, and livestock grazing. Details about ongoing and future land uses in the Dolores Canyons would be refined in a Monument Management Plan for the national monument that invites robust community input and expertise. Community members can inform monument management planning by attending public meetings, submitting public comments, and supporting others to participate in the public process.
Please note, this map is a starting point for discussion. As we get input from stakeholders we will continue to adjust the proposal.
Building on fifty years of work to protect Dolores River Canyon Country, a national monument is a flexible protection mechanism, comparable to the conservation outcomes of a national conservation area. A national monument in Montrose and Mesa counties would complement the Dolores River National Conservation Area proposal to the south, which we also strongly support.
Why designate a national monument?
TO CONSERVE SPECIAL VALUES AND HISTORICAL OBJECTS
The public lands surrounding the Dolores River contain nationally significant special values that warrant conservation and protection. These values include the Dolores River and its riparian zone of life, historical sites related to the area’s internationally-significant mining legacy, Indigenous cultural sites, outstanding geologic formations, paleontological sites, world-class recreation opportunities, and high biodiversity. In fact, the proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument in Mesa and Montrose counties spans the largest and most biodiverse stretch of unprotected public lands in Colorado.
TO BOOST LOCAL ECONOMIES
A national monument designation would ensure that these public lands are managed in a manner that balances the needs of protecting nature and sustaining local economies, while preserving public access to this incredible place. Protected public lands help local communities to diversify economically, attracting new visitors, businesses, and residents drawn to the quality of life that comes along with new opportunities to recreate. We’ve seen the positive economic impact that protecting public lands can have in places like Buena Vista and Salida near Browns Canyon National Monument. In 2016, recreation and grazing within the monument directly contributed over $10 million to the local economy.
TO PRESERVE ACCESS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
Between 2001 and 2011, natural areas in the West—including forests, wetlands, deserts, and grasslands—were disappearing at the rate of one football field every 2.5 minutes. We’ve all seen the impacts of development on our state and know how fast Colorado is changing. It’s important that communities come together to determine where access to our outstanding public lands and natural resources should be preserved for future generations.