August 1st is Colorado Day—celebrating the admission of the Centennial State into the union in 1876.
140 years ago, the people of Colorado, as a condition of statehood, agreed that all unappropriated land in the state would belong to all Americans. Every Western state agreed to similar language in their enabling acts. Today, the value of those national lands can be seen in stark contrast along the 109th meridian (more or less): Colorado is proud to celebrate its outdoor legacy, while Utah continues its misguided attempt to take those lands away from the American people.
In 2017, Colorado will celebrate its first-ever Public Lands Day, recognizing the contribution national lands make to the state’s economy and way of life. When Colorado voters are asked to describe what makes the state great, this is what they say:
Everything that Coloradans value is made possible because of our national public lands. Access to hiking, camping, and hunting would be severely limited if these lands belonged to the state. The tourism economy that depends on visitors to Colorado’s national parks would wither without that access. Colorado’s newest national monument, Brown’s Canyon, will be protected for generations because it belongs to all Americans.
So get in your wagon this week, and thank President Ulysses S. Grant for being a champion of Colorado’s statehood, then thank all the presidents and members of Congress that followed who made it a priority to protect Colorado’s spectacular lands over the next 140 years.
Photo: Maroon Bells, White River National Forest, by US Forest Service