Compromise unveiled to protect national park

Deal would seal wilderness status of crown jewel

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 15, 2007 at midnight

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK - It was an unusual site for an unusual moment: Four members of Colorado's congressional delegation, two Republicans and two Democrats, gathered at a campground amphitheater to announce a compromise on a major environmental matter.

On Monday, with the meadows of Moraine Park behind them, the foursome announced proposed legislation to designate 95 percent of Rocky Mountain National Park, nearly 250,000 acres, as a wilderness area, cementing its protected status into law and preventing further development.

U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat who has been pushing for the legislation since arriving in Congress in 1999, called preserving the park an "obligation."

Udall, along with three other members key to the compromise - Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, both Republicans, and Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat - engaged in give-and- take to cut a deal that had to be scuttled last year after the two sides fought over the bill's details.

Udall, for example, wanted about 1,000 acres of wilderness added to the next-door Indian Peaks wilderness. Musgrave wanted a bike path in Grand Lake and certain protections for a company that owns a major ditch through the park that delivers water to her constituents on the eastern plains.

But she wasn't so hot on the idea of adding more wilderness at Indian Peaks. Udall had some worries about the ditch protections. They worked it out.

The National Park Service and owners of the Grand River Ditch will negotiate an agreement on how the ditch will be operated. That agreement would determine how any future breaches are handled, but it would not cover a 2003 incident in which the ditch overflowed, scouring a mountainside and forcing the temporary closure of trails and campsites.

The government sued the water company last year for damage caused by that incident.

Allard called the legislation a complicated undertaking, because of private holdings within the park and other factors. "This park has a lot of aspects to it that other parks don't have to deal with," he said.

Other hang-ups have included concerns that the park would attempt to lock up more water rights and that a wilderness designation would discourage visitors, hurting the economies of local communities. Both concerns were countered by park officials and backers of the bill.

The compromise was considered a major step, even though Congress and the president must still approve the bill. That's because agreement among a state's congressional delegation on wilderness designations typically smooths the legislative road for passage, members said.

The wilderness designation, if approved, might be more symbolic than pragmatic. Visitors wouldn't notice any big differences, park officials say. That's because the park has been managed using wilderness policies since President Nixon recommended the status be given to most of the park in 1974.

Still, officials attending the announcement said the day carried great significance. Estes Park Mayor John Baudek compared it to a September gathering 92 years ago when the area was designated a national park.

People came on foot, by bicycle, horse-drawn carriages and Stanley Steamers, an early steam-powered automobile, to celebrate the news. He suggested they would look on from above, with joy at the new protections.

In heralding the moment, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar read the words of Enos Mills, an early Rocky Mountain National Park naturalist whom some call its father: "In years to come, when I am asleep beneath these pines, thousands of families will find hope and rest in this park."

Keys to the compromise

Four members of Colorado's congressional delegation - two Republicans and two Democrats – played give-and-take on several issues to reach an agreement on a bill that would designate most of Rocky Mountain National Park as a wilderness area.

The members agreed to:

• Add about 1,000 acres to the neighboring Indian Peaks Wilderness Area by adjusting the boundaries of the Arapaho National Forest and Arapaho National Recreation Area.

• Exclude several small pockets of land – including 200 feet on either side of the Grand River Ditch – from the wilderness area.

• Allow possible construction of a bike trail near Grand Lake.

• Allow the National Park Service to continue bark beetle and fire prevention as well as emergency rescue actions.

• Free the privately held Grand River Ditch from "strict liability" for damage to park resources. The owners would remain liable for negligence or intentional acts.

• Allow legal action by the park to proceed against the owners of the Grand River Ditch for a breach in 2003 that washed 60,000 cubic yards of sediment into the upper Colorado River.

What is wilderness?

The Wilderness Act, passed by Congress in 1964, established the National Wilderness Preservation System. The act defines wilderness, in part, as "an area of undeveloped federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions."

For Rocky Mountain National Park, the designation would add an additional level of legal protection that largely prevents future administrations from building roads, hotels, new water projects, mining projects or other works in most of the park. Since the park has long been managed using wilderness policies, the official designation would lock in the protections that exist today.

What's next

Legislation to designate the park a wilderness area was to be introduced Monday in Congress. It must pass the Senate and the House and be signed by the president before it becomes law.

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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