Colorado Leaders Commend Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse’s Perseverance with their Reintroduction of the CORE Act
Contact: Francis Sanzaro, Wilderness Workshop Communications Director, 315.415.7861 | francis@wildernessworkshop.org
For Immediate Release – February 27, 2025
Denver, CO – Conservation groups, outdoor recreation advocates, and local leaders across Colorado are celebrating the reintroduction of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act in Congress. The bill, led by Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse, builds on over a decade of collaboration among local communities, businesses and stakeholders to safeguard Colorado’s outdoor heritage.
“For years, Coloradans have broadly and consistently rallied around the CORE Act to protect some of the state’s most cherished landscapes, including the Thompson Divide,” said Will Roush, Executive Director of Wilderness Workshop. “In a time where disagreement too often overshadows politics, the CORE Act is a shining example for Colorado, where we can reach agreement across a spectrum of communities and stakeholders to find common ground on our shared love of public lands.”
The bill was again co-sponsored by Senator John Hickenlooper and Representatives Diana DeGette, Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen.
“As a rancher who relies on the Thompson Divide for our summer grazing, I am hoping for the passage of the CORE Act. It will bring needed protection to this area which is so critical to my family and fellow ranchers and also for the entire community, who utilizes these amazing lands for hunting and year-round recreation,” said Bill Fales, Cold Mountain Ranch, rancher in the Thompson Divide. “Protection is even more vital today to safeguard the unprecedented levels of use of these USFS lands by the public. Senator Bennet, Senator Hickenlooper and Congressman Neguse have been fantastic in advancing this bill and while we have secured additional administrative protections for the Thompson Divide, we need to continue to work to get permanent legislative protection through the CORE Act.”
The CORE Act provides long-overdue protections for the San Juan Mountains, Thompson Divide, Curecanti National Recreation Area and the Continental Divide region, balancing conservation, recreation and responsible land management.
The CORE Act would:
• Protect over 420,000 acres of public lands across Colorado.
• Designate new wilderness, including 31,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains and 39,000 acres in the Central Mountains, preserving critical wildlife habitat and alpine ecosystems.
• Formally designate the Curecanti National Recreation Area, which supports Colorado’s outdoor economy.
• Permanently withdraw the Thompson Divide from future oil & gas leasing, protecting more than 200,000 acres for ranching, recreation, and water quality.
Coloradans overwhelmingly support protecting public lands and limiting resource development like oil and gas drilling to high-production areas. According to a recent Conservation in the West poll, 76% of Coloradans want public lands prioritized for conservation, recreation, and wildlife over extraction and oil and gas development, and the majority back the permanent protection of Colorado’s iconic landscapes. Additionally, Coloradans express deep concern over water scarcity, reinforcing the need to safeguard headwaters and watersheds — a key focus of the CORE Act.
Colorado’s outdoor recreation economy generates $65.8 billion in total economic output and supports 404,000 jobs statewide – roughly 12% of the state’s workforce. By protecting public lands, the CORE Act ensures that Colorado’s hunting, fishing, skiing, and outdoor tourism industries continue to thrive for future generations.
“Not a single inch, or centimeter, or acre, or half-acre of our public land has been preserved by accident,” said Senator Michael Bennet in an Instagram Live session with Lily Hermann, announcing the reintroduction of the bill. “It’s only been preserved because dedicated citizens came together and said we want to protect something that our parents and grandparents loved, that we love, we want to keep it for the next generation.”
Thanks to the leadership of Senator Bennet and Rep. Neguse, the CORE Act coalition celebrated the designation of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in October 2022, and the finalization of a 20-year administrative withdrawal for the Thompson Divide in April 2024, but work remains to be done to ensure the CORE Act is signed into law.
The CORE Act previously has passed the U.S. House five times and during the last Congress the bill passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with bipartisan support from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Advocates are urging Congress to act now to pass this long-overdue legislation and secure permanent protections for Colorado’s most cherished landscapes.
For more information, visit COREAct.org.
