Canaly creates Sangres Wilderness Group to extend public lands protections

PRESS RELEASE

On Friday evening of June 20th, Crestone/Baca citizens gathered at POA Hall to discuss the public lands issues that threaten their wild backyards.

Mediated by Christine Canaly, the local attendees learned about the potential sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands across 11 Western states, including Colorado, in the recent Senate Reconciliation Bill. Canaly is a self-proclaimed ‘public policy nut,’ backed by decades of experience as the director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council.

SLVEC shared this June 18 post on X by Senator (R-Utah) Mike Lee, who introduced the public land sales provision, along with three revisions over 10 days due to backlash.

“The Senate bill does not authorize the sale of national parks, monuments, or wilderness. It identifies unused, garden-variety federal parcels for potential disposal — nothing more,” Lee wrote. Attendees disagreed with his sentiment.

The meeting was held before the Senate parliamentarian cut the larger version on June 23. After this decision, Lee downsized the sale to up to 1.2 million acres of only BLM lands within 5 miles of population centers, which could increase the threat to cherished recreational sites near communities. The measure has since been removed from the bill.

“Just to clarify, this whole massive sell off of lands…, questioned a concerned attendee. “This is only one little extra poison pill in the Big, Beautiful bill?” “Yes,” Canaly replied. “That’s just a travesty,” another attendee replied, among many shaking heads.

A map by the Wilderness Society shows administrative designations are eligible for sale, which include Penitente Canyon, Trickle Mountain, and San Luis Hills. The map showed clear, linear lines that excluded the former Baca Ranch along Willow Creek, only separated by barbed wire. The lands north of the ranch were eligible for sale.

Liza Marron, Saguache County Commissioner, explained that the loss of BLM lands is a major community concern because “we are a hunting economy in that part of the valley.”

Current language still does not include public lands dedicated by Congress, such as wilderness areas, national monuments, and parks.

A map of the northeast San Luis Valley that shows the various management agencies. The light green from Poncha Pass to Crestone will be the focus for the wilderness working group. Credit: Congresswoman Diana DeGette

The discussion concluded with the creation of a new wilderness working group to protect the “ribbon of the Rio Grande National Forest from Poncha Pass to the Preserve,” Canaly proposed. “We would like to see this whole area become designated wilderness.”

In May 2020, the National Forest’s management plan listed these remaining forest lands as a recommended wilderness area. This could also include the remaining 1,000+ acres of the Black Canyon WSA, currently under BLM management.

A half mile from the Forest Service border to the wilderness area was not included in the 1992 designation due to unresolved mining claims that dotted the Sangre foothills. These claims have since closed.

A wilderness designation, enacted by Congress, would permanently protect the entire western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the lower sagebrush to the alpine tundra.