The San Miguel Basin Forum estimates that as many as, or more than, 550 people attended Senator Michael Bennet’s listening session at the Nucla school June 9, regarding the proposed national monument along the Dolores River. There, 400 chairs were stationed and filled, and people lined the sides of the gym walls; others stood in the lobby.
Many of the advocates wore blue T-shirts; most of the opposition wore black.
John Reams moderated the session, drew numbers for ticket holders to speak and ran the three-minute timer.
Sen. Bennet said the large turnout meant democracy wasn’t dead. He thanked the crowd for coming and said he wanted to listen to as many opinions as possible.
Not all ticket holders were afforded a chance to speak, since the meeting stretched to two hours and was finally cut.
Katey Herland, of the West End, voiced concerns about grazing rights being bought back or expiring under monument status. She said water improvements could be disallowed, and thousands of acre feet for ranchers has already been cut in the Great Basin.
JJ Fletcher, Mesa County Commissioner candidate, said his family came to the region in the 1880s when the Utes and buffalo were here.
“See how well it went for them when the federal government took control?” Fletcher asked. “If we designate, we lose local control. … We define conservation in so many ways. If we designate, wait and see how many will come and erode what we have. … Leave it alone, or support the NCA (national conservation area).”
Aimee Tooker, of the West End, said there’s a house bill declaring a moral commitment to the local community for a “just and inclusive” move away from the coal industry. She said there’s an action plan and a committee, so the West End can drive itself.
“We don’t want to be force-fed a single-recreation economy,” she said. “Or wiped off the map. … Please honor the commitment the state has made to this community.”
Ron Hanks, Colorado Republican Representative, said the area will stay better protected and preserved if it’s not a monument.
“Nobody locks up land better than the federal government,” he said. “Like the timber, they lock it up and watch it burn. … It’s a 30x30 globalist land grab.”
African-American Michael Graves, who grew up in the West End, said no locals want a monument.
“These monuments destroy,” he said. “Monuments direct people with a big neon sign to come here in masses.”
He suggested if advocates want to protect or save something, they should do work on the Front Range, where urban sprawl is creeping into the plains and development is out of control.
“The Front Range consumes everything,” he said.
Paul Koski, of the West End, asked for the senator not to turn the area into another Moab.
“Put a pause on the monument proposal,” he said.
Curtis McCracken, candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, said the Antiquities Act should be repealed. He said monuments should be designated by Congress, rather than the president.
Tony Daranyi, of Norwood, said he’s confused.
“I don’t really understand how it is we even got here,” he said. “There’s been no planning involved in the designation of this monument. … Bennet, you’re at the tail end of a process that never existed.”
He added the monument proposal should be looked at like a development proposal. He said the infrastructure — highways, EMS and water — can’t support a national monument.
Many from the advocacy were from places like Cortez, Durango, Montrose and the Front Range. Jim Ramey, a wilderness advocate, said he’s worried about the landscape and wants to bring permanent protections.
Tia Lato, a self-described “Gen Z” voter and who said she worked to get Bennet elected, said the Dolores River Canyon is a special place. She wants to see all people have the opportunity to enjoy it. She wants Bennet to help create a sustainable future for young people like her.
A representative from the Great Old Broads for Wilderness said that the people of the West End would have the ability to write their own alternative management plan under monument status. She said the existing BLM management plan is outdated anyway, possibly from 1995, and needs updated.
Charlie Seevers, of Montrose but a Nucla graduate, said people are coming to the West End — regardless. He said crowds will find the local area.
“What made this place so great is that it was so isolated,” he said about his childhood in West Montrose County.
Seevers said the land needs protected now. He also said he’ll have to see how many West End friends he has left, after coming out as an advocate, but he does support a national monument.
Others advocating for a monument said that the BLM is seeing increased use and that a monument could help plan with signage, resources, ecological monitoring and thoughtful planning for recreation, along with managing visitors.
Several people living in close proximity to Canyon of the Ancients said they were pleased with their local monument. They said over-development hadn’t happened, and that the area is mostly used by locals.
Bennet ended the session after two hours. He told the crowd he didn’t want the West End to turn into another Moab. He said he wouldn’t support a monument that affected grazing or people’s water rights and that he was on the agriculture committee in Washington, D.C. He complimented the beauty of the new Nucla school and said he was pleased that a rural area was able to see such improvement.
Regarding a national monument, he suggested seeing “where we can get” and “how far it can go.”
He said it’s about finding "a way to do our job together, what this all ought to look like, if we work together … or leave things as they are.”
