House to Vote on CORE Act and Grand Canyon Protections

We’re excited to pass along that the House of Representatives will be voting next week on three valuable protective designation bills, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act (H.R. 823), the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act (H.R. 1373), and the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act (H.R. 2181). These bills, we hope, represent the building blocks for what could become the next big package of public lands protections.

Click to enlarge or view an online interactive web map of the CORE Act here.

The CORE Act, which you can read more about here, encompasses a set of new protections that the outdoor recreation and conservation communities in Colorado have been working toward for more than a decade. The protections include a mix of designations, including Wilderness and National Recreation Areas, and they protect opportunities for paddlers, mountain bikers, climbers, skiers, and more.

The Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act establishes a mineral withdrawal (meaning, the area is “withdrawn” from the possibility of new mining) for key areas in the greater Grand Canyon landscape, working to protect, in particular, against the threat of new uranium mining.

In New Mexico, the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act establishes a mineral withdrawal to protect an area of deep cultural and ecological significance, from the threat of new oil and gas development.

We’re excited that these bills will be coming to the floor, and it’s particularly important, given our bigger ambitions for passing protective designations and recreation policy in this Congress, that members of Congress hear from their constituents about the importance and popularity of new protections.

You can make a difference protecting the outdoors today, please take a moment to send a note to your lawmakers using the tool below: