Tell Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper – Let’s Pass the CORE Act!
After decades of hard work and collaboration by ESWA members and so many others, it’s time to make sure the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act (CORE) passes the U.S. Senate and becomes law. CORE will protect 400,000 acres of Colorado public lands from development (less than 2% of the state’s public lands). Locally, the benefits of CORE are tremendous:
- Adding 20,000 acres to our three local Wilderness Areas
- Creating three new local Wildernesses
- Designating Camp Hale as the first National Historic Landscape, honoring our World War II veterans.
- Establishing the 10,000-acre Tenmile Recreation Management Area
The U.S. House of Representatives passed CORE as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), currently being considered by the Senate. ESWA insiders say NOW is when Senators need encouragement to do everything possible to ensure CORE isn’t removed from the NDAA.
IMPORTANT: Since CORE is part of the NDAA, please include this point in your communication: Preserving our natural lands plays a critical role in combatting climate change, and may well be the least-expensive tool in our climate-protection arsenal. Climate change is an existential threat to all life on earth. The Defense Department recognizes this threat in their recent Defense Department Climate Risk Analysis, stating “To keep the nation secure, we must tackle the existential threat of climate change.”
So please reach out in the next two weeks to Senators Bennet here and Hickenlooper here. Even a one-liner is helpful: “Dear Senator, I urge you to ensure that the CORE Act is passed this session as part of the NDAA.”