Several regional citizen groups including Sheep Mountain Alliance have been working on a wilderness proposal that would protect a number of remaining wild places in San Miguel and Ouray counties. Wilderness proposals like this one normally take years to research, gather support and gain sponsorship from representatives in D.C.

After working closely with many stakeholders to eliminate potential conflicts, and after seeing a huge amount of support from citizens and elected officials in both counties, we presented a proposal for consideration to Congressman John Salazar's office late last year. Simultaneously, staff from Representative Salazar’s local and Washington offices have consulted with local officials, water interests, and U.S. Forest Service and BLM officials, to gauge interest and hear concerns about possible wilderness. This process is critical to a congress member in preparing to introduce legislation.

As a member of the local team creating this proposal, I would like to thank Congressman Salazar and his staff for investing so much energy and diligently taking the steps needed to craft wilderness legislation for these areas. While there is still work to do, we want to extend our appreciation that they have listened to our communities and are moving forward.

In this time of increasing climate changes, the growing need for core and corridor wildlife habitats, significant resource extraction and other developmental pressures, the designation of our remaining pristine public lands as Wilderness is one of the most important legacies we can gift future generations. We would like to thank Congressman Salazar for his leadership and foresight in making the Northern San Juan Wilderness Act a priority for the 111th Congress.