Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) last week released a revised proposal for greater protection of local landscapes. The plan includes 452,221 acres of federal public lands recommended by consensus of the group for protection as either special management areas (SMAs) or wilderness.

Colorado’s population is growing, and that places additional pressure on lands currently considered wild and remote but which aren’t offered official protective status. This concept has formed the basis of multi-year work by a coalition of groups in Gunnison County ranging from hunters and anglers to mountain bikers and ranchers.

A lot can happen in 54 years: phones transition from the size of a bread box to the size of a baby’s palm, life can be passed on to another human generation, eight Fido generations, four ungulate generations, and a blue spruce lives one-quarter of its life.

On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state in the nation. Many come flocking to Colorado each season to experience the grandeur of the state’s great outdoors. In Gunnison County we are surrounded by spectacular mountains, valleys, rivers and more; an impressive 80 percent of these lands are public. As we celebrate Colorado Day this week, we also celebrate our incredible natural heritage and public lands.

There is a place, far up a mountain trail in the West Elk Wilderness that most people pass by without a thought. To reach it takes hours on foot or horseback. Most day’s start before dawn - hours of catching, saddling, and loading horses, just to get us to the trailhead. As the pack string hits the trail we cross the wilderness boundary in the first quarter mile.

As our cows work their way back down the East River Valley, I reflect back on the year in this diverse community with gratitude and look forward to the next with hope. Not long ago my family was wondering if we would be pushed out in the name of economic progress. It seems that the Gunnison Valley has been discovered, and for the very reasons that most of us were drawn here or were compelled to remain here, will continue to be impacted as we see more visitors and residents in the decades to come.

Delicious! A word often muttered between bites when having dinner at one of our friends’ houses. The meal often includes waterfowl, small game or big game, but of all of the meats that I have shared in, I think bighorn sheep has been my favorite, and I can see why the first Americans in this area carved its image into rocks.

For months, the working group of the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) has been guided by a simple idea -- that any federal legislation proposing new public lands protections in Gunnison County is far more likely to make it through Congress if the plan enjoys broad public support from the get-go.

In February 2016, the Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners, in collaboration with the office of U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, convened a community-based working group to explore the possibilities of additional public lands protections for Gunnison County.

In the world of crafting policies to protect public land, legislators rarely bring ideas to local stakeholders — it’s usually the other way around. However, in 2016, the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) formed a working group at the urging of Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet — and with support from Gunnison County Commissioners — to help “create a successful legislative proposal for public land designation.”

This coming Saturday, August 13 marks the 23rd Anniversary of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993. The Act was a watershed moment in Colorado history, protecting more than 600,000 acres of some of Colorado’s most spectacular public lands.

It’s easy to feel grateful to be a Coloradan in Gunnison County. We have breathtaking mountains right out the backdoor, high alpine meadows just peaking with wildflower blooms, and miles and miles of trails waiting to be explored. Wildlife is abundant and a trip to the mountains is an opportunity to spot a fox, a Western Tanager, or a herd of deer.

Over the past year, we have been fortunate to talk with hundreds of Gunnison County residents, from hikers to ranchers to motorized users, about our public lands. No matter the person or their preferred activity – nearly all Gunnison County residents expressed just how much this landscape we live in means to them.

We would like to thank Senator Cory Gardner for introducing the Outdoor REC (Recreation Economic Contributions) Act with Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. This legislation would require the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to quantify the impact of outdoor recreation on the national economy. If passed, the REC Act would ensure that outdoor recreation would be quantified as part of the GDP and that the jobs that the industry provides would be counted.

Sitting in my tiny condo on the mountain, working on seemingly endless projects on my laptop, it’s hard not to stare out the window at Mt. Emmons or Whetstone and think about how badly I want to be out there, and how lucky I am to live here. Among many things I am thankful for this year, I feel especially grateful for our public lands in Gunnison County.

On the first warm day of spring last year, I took a drive to the far western border of Gunnison County, near Crawford. Escaping from the snow covered peaks of Crested Butte to the lower elevation and warmer climes of this part of the county, I soaked in the golden rays of sunlight, the chirping birds, and just budding, vibrant green leaves.

We are writing to express support for the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) proposal to designate specific Special Management Areas (SMA) and Wilderness in Gunnison County. After a summer of heavy recreational use and some misuseof public lands as well as the continuing risk of environmental degradation from past or proposed extractive activities, it’s time to permanently protect and fine-tune allowed uses in areas identified as priorities.

In Gunnison County, several entities exist to help protect public lands from development for several reasons. Most reasons include managing development and/or recreation, or striking a balance between the two. Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) is one of those entities, and although only three years old, it is bringing different organizations and stakeholders together at the same table to develop a creative land use plan that it hopes the entire community will support.

On August 23rd, we had the opportunity to explore on horseback a remote, infrequently visited region of the Gunnison National Forest, west of the West Elk Wilderness. We started at Bald Mountain Reservoir, climbed its namesake peak, and then rode along Mendicant Ridge.

A bill introduced by Rep. Diana DeGette at the end of July, if passed, would designate swaths of land throughout Colorado as wilderness — including several parcels in Gunnison and Hinsdale counties.