- Montezuma County Commissioners are adamantly opposed to a national monument designation along the Dolores River corridor.
- National Fire Protection Association has awarded four $500 grants for wildfire projects in southwest Colorado.
The Montezuma County commissioners are adamantly opposed to a national-monument designation along the Dolores River corridor. They expressed that message in a letter to Congressman Scott Tipton dated March 21st but only now released to the public. As President Obama nears the end of his term, local government officials are holding their breath to see if he will designate new national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The commissioners tell Tipton a national-monument proclamation would be “a serious breach” of local-federal collaboration, and might cause an increase in recreational use that would pose new threats to the landscape. They also say a national monument would carry implied federal reserved water rights. The letter states that the county is committed instead to a collaborative stakeholder process that has been working for six years to develop locally written legislation for a national conservation area on the Lower Dolores.
The National Fire Protection Association has awarded four $500 grants to Southwest Colorado counties to do projects on May 7th. La Plata County received two awards, Archuleta and Montezuma one each. In Montezuma County, the FireWise Chapter will be retrofitting a house on the campus at Mancos Community College to be used for regional firefighter and EMS training.
