Public lands bills backed by Colorado Dems includes possible housing on USFS parcels

A skier descends Forest Service land near Meadow Mountain, the base of which has long been eyed for a combination of housing and transportation services.

While chaos in the U.S. House of Representatives threatened to trigger a government shutdown just before the holidays, Colorado Democrats and outdoor recreation advocates cheered the passage of a wide-ranging public lands bill in the Senate on Thursday.

The bipartisan Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences or EXPLORE Act was unanimously approved by the Senate after being passed by the House earlier this year. It now heads to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

“Today’s passage of the EXPLORE Act will supercharge the outdoor recreation industry and is a victory for our economy, our communities, our quality of life, and our shared connection to the outdoors,” Jessica Wahl Turner, president of the trade group Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, said in a statement. “By advancing this transformative legislation, Congress has shown its commitment to ensuring every American has access to world-class outdoor experiences, from our backyard to the backcountry, while supporting the businesses, workers, and communities who make those experiences possible.”

The EXPLORE Act includes a variety of measures aimed at protecting certain recreational uses of federally owned public lands, simplifying permitting procedures for federal land management and ensuring equal access for people with disabilities, military veterans and young people.

Among the bill’s specific provisions is language recognizing continued installation of rock-climbing anchors as an “appropriate use” of federally protected wilderness areas, blunting any further attempts by federal agencies to allow them to be prohibited in some cases, as some conservation groups have called for. The climbing protections were a priority for U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, who had repeatedly urged the Biden administration to back off plans for the new guidance.

“Our booming outdoor recreation economy creates jobs and drives local economies across Colorado,” Hickenlooper said in a statement Thursday. “We’re making it easier for our outdoor rec businesses and outfitters to thrive while improving access to our public lands.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Lafayette, touted the passage of four bills he sponsored as part of the package, including measures to encourage the U.S. Forest Service to lease land for affordable housing and to expand opportunities for long-distance biking trails.

The EXPLORE Act also contains a Neguse-led bill boosting efforts to slow the spread of highly invasive aquatic species in waterways across Colorado and the West, following the detection of zebra mussels in several locations on the Western Slope this summer. Zebra mussels pose an “extreme risk” to water ecosystems because they strip plankton, an essential food source, from the water, and can threaten water supplies by damaging critical infrastructure.

The Stop the Spread of Invasive Mussels Act, also sponsored by Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, aims to strengthen coordination between federal and state agencies responding to the spread of invasive species, including by giving the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation the authority to fund response programs, improving data sharing and ensuring that “at-risk basins are eligible and prioritized for watercraft inspection and decontamination funding.”

“It’s as simple as this — in Colorado, the preservation of our public lands and the strength of our outdoor recreation economy is not only integral to the spirit of our state but to the success of our people,” Neguse in a statement. “I am proud to see these bills through to the finish line — and even more excited for the ways in which they will deliver for our communities.”

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on Colorado Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.