President Joe Biden has not created a national monument since taking office. A group of top Colorado Democrats want that to change.
Two senators, a congressman and the governor sent a letter to Biden on Friday, pushing him to declare a ninth national monument in The Centennial State. It would be located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, a preserve centered on Camp Hale near Vail, where the legendary 10th Mountain Division trained for alpine warfare during World War II.
If Biden takes action, Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument would become the country’s 130th national monument and the first since then-President Donald Trump declared Camp Nelson National Monument in Kentucky in 2018.
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“The history of this area, including the role that it played in preparing the 10th Mountain Division for some of the most difficult moments of World War II, makes it the ideal candidate for a national monument designation,” Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse wrote in their letter to Biden.
The request comes as a massive conservation bill including Camp Hale has stalled in Congress. The CORE Act was introduced by Bennet, Hickenlooper and Neguse and Democrats contend the act would grow the state’s outdoor recreation economy and protect public lands
But Colorado Republicans have called it a federal land grab that would restrict development of critical mineral and energy resources.
“I don’t support the efforts of extremist environmentalists who are seeking to hijack this historic place to create a new land designation,” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said in a statement Friday. Her western Colorado district would be home to most of the new limits of energy exploration if Camp Hale was declared a national monument.
The history of U.S. national monuments dates to the early 1900s, and protected areas are now located in 32 states, the District of Columbia and four American territories.
- Devils Tower, the almost otherworldly rock formation that juts nearly 900 feet skyward from the ground in Wyoming, was the first national monument. It was declared in September 1906 by then-President Theodore Roosevelt.
- California and Arizona have the most national monuments, with 18, according to the National Park Service.
- The last national monument declared in Colorado was Browns Canyon in 2015, by then-President Barack Obama. It was one of 26 created by Obama during his two terms, the most of any president.
- The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, the world’s largest marine conservation area, is the country’s largest national monument, encompassing 583,000 square miles of ocean.
- Among the smallest national monuments are the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality in Washington, D.C., the African Burial Ground in New York, and Pullman in Illinois.
Contributing: The Associated Press
