| Browns Canyon National Monument | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rock outcroppings in Browns Canyon | |
  Browns Canyon National Monument Browns Canyon National Monument, Colorado Show map of the United States Browns Canyon National Monument Browns Canyon National Monument (Colorado) Show map of Colorado | |
| Location | Chaffee County,Colorado,USA |
| Nearest city | Salida, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 38°36′43″N106°03′36″W / 38.6119°N 106.0600°W /38.6119; -106.0600 (Browns Canyon, Colorado)[1] |
| Area | 21,586 acres (8,736 ha) |
| Authorized | February 19, 2015 |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management andU.S. Forest Service |
| Website | Browns Canyon National Monument |
Browns Canyon National Monument is a 21,586 acres (87 km2) national monument inChaffee County, Colorado, that was designated as such by PresidentBarack Obama under theAntiquities Act on February 19, 2015.[2][3][4][5] The site will be centered along theArkansas River betweenBuena Vista andSalida.[6][7] Browns Canyon is the most popular destination forwhitewater rafting in the country, and is also known for its fishing and hiking.[6] The monument will provide habitat protection forbighorn sheep,peregrine falcons,elk, andgolden eagles.[6]
Designation of the monument was requested by numerous Colorado lawmakers, includingSenatorsMichael Bennet andMark Udall,RepresentativeJoel Hefley[4] and GovernorJohn Hickenlooper.[7] It was opposed by RepresentativesKen Buck andDoug Lamborn, who objected to the president's use ofexecutive action in declaring the monument.[7] Lamborn also objected to the effect that the monument's creation would have ongrazing,mineral andwater rights;[8] in response, the White House stated that the designation would honor "valid and existing rights, but withdraws the area from future mineral leasing."[9]
The monument is run jointly by theBureau of Land Management andUnited States Forest Service.[7]
In 1972, the Forest Service completed the original Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE I), identifyingInventoried roadless areas. RARE I determined that all U.S. Forest Service lands within Browns Canyon and surrounding areas, tens of thousands of acres, were suitable to be designated as wilderness.[10] In 1976, the BLM, as directed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, proposed protection of Browns Canyon for primitive values, initiating a review for wilderness designation.[10] In 1979, the Forest Service completed the RARE II process, identifying 23,500 acres of Forest Service land near Browns Canyon as roadless.[10] Also in 1979, the BLM identified 6,614 acres in and around Browns Canyon as possessing wilderness characteristics.[10] The BLM officially designated 7,451 acres as awilderness study area in 1993.[10][11]
TheColorado Wilderness Act of 1991, introduced by RepresentativesWayne Allard andDan Schaefer, would have named hundreds of thousands of acres in the state as wilderness, including the Browns Canyon area, but the bill never passed beyond the committee stage.[12] In 2005, Joel Hefley and six other Colorado lawmakers introduced the Browns Canyon Wilderness Act;[13] a companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Wayne Allard.[14] The legislation failed due to the influence of theNational Rifle Association of America, which claimed that a wilderness designation would limit hunting in Browns Canyon.[12] An attempt to reintroduce the Act by SenatorKen Salazar once again failed to clear its committee.[12][15] Mark Udall and Michael Bennet attempted to introduce legislation designating the canyon as a national monument in 2013,[16] but it, too, failed.[4][12] Udall's bill also contained over 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of wilderness protections,[16] which are not included in the proclamation, as such protections may only be enacted by Congress.[9] The monument as designated otherwise substantially follows the acreage designated in the bill.[9]
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