Wilderness News

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - A Colorado congresswoman who has been pushing for passage of a Colorado wilderness bill for 11 years says she is optimistic she can get a measure through Congress this fall.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette says the bill she expects to carry will be more narrowly tailored than the 1.6-million-acre version she originally pursued.

"We've really tried to focus on areas where we don't have a lot of issues hanging out there," the Democrat from Denver said in an interview.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, will be in Glenwood Springs Tuesday morning for a special meeting of the Garfield County commissioners in which she'll try to muster support for her version of wilderness legislation that she's been trying to get passed in one form or another for a decade or so.

There are about 1,600 acres of federal land in Garfield County - in the Thompson Creek Divide area - that DeGette would like to see deemed wilderness, which means no motorized access or industrial uses. In other words, no oil and gas drilling (but also no ATVs or snowmobiles).