PRESS RELEASE: Over 100,000 people from Colorado and beyond call for the protection of the Dolores Canyons as a national monument

Outpouring of public support underscores profound national significance of the Dolores Canyons

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16th, 2024

WASHINGTON, DC—This morning, Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout delivered over 103,000 petition signatures to the Biden administration from individuals voicing support for protecting the Dolores Canyons National Monument in Colorado’s Mesa and Montrose counties. The outpouring of public sentiment from Colorado and beyond underscores the profound national significance of these public lands.

For five decades, communities in western Colorado have been working to ensure that the Dolores River Canyon Country, which is under increasing pressure from industrial development, habitat fragmentation, and unprecedented growth in recreational use, endures for future generations. The lands proposed for national monument protections would conserve outstanding cultural, historic, and scientific resources, including the Dolores River and its associated riparian zone, Indigenous cultural sites, unique geologic formations and paleontological sites, world-class recreation opportunities, historical sites related to the area’s internationally-significant mining legacy, and habitat for iconic game species and a variety of rare plants and animals.

“The designation of the proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument will protect Colorado’s most vulnerable biodiversity hotspot, while honoring our past, safeguarding our present, and investing in a future where Colorado's rich natural beauty continues to inspire and enrich the lives of all Americans,” said Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout.

The proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument contains public lands with some of the most important natural areas and wildlife habitat anywhere in Colorado. If protected, the monument would safeguard what is now the largest and most biodiverse stretch of unprotected public lands in the state.

“Designating the Dolores Canyons as a national monument will ensure that the number one thing wildlife need – high quality habitat – remains intact, viable and healthy in perpetuity,” said Aaron Kindle, director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation. “That’s something every hunter should want and be proud to pass onto our kids and their kids.”

Mayor Stout was joined today by tribal and community leaders from across the country. Together, they delivered over 800,000 petition signatures from local coalitions calling for the designation of locally-driven national monuments throughout the United States, including Great Bend of the Gila in Arizona; Chuckwalla, Sáttítla - Medicine Lake Highlands, and Kw'tsán in California; Dolores Canyons in Colorado; 1908 Springfield Race Riot in Illinois, Julius Rosenwald & Rosenwald Schools sites in Illinois and Maryland; Bahsahwahbee - Swamp Cedars in Nevada; and Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 grants U.S. presidents the ability to designate national public lands, waters, and cultural and historical sites as national monuments with a presidential proclamation. 18 U.S. presidents, nine democrats and nine republicans, have used the Antiquities Act to protect national monuments. Since taking office, President Biden has used the Antiquities Act to designate five national monuments, including the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado.

For more information, please visit www.protectthedolores.org. Media resources, including photos and B-roll of the proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument are available here.