SLVEC presents public land issues to SLV commissioners
- Kaitlyn Fletcher
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
29 July 2026
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) highlights the importance of the Local Input Act in restoring public voices to public lands for SLV County Commissioners.
ALAMOSA, Co. - On the morning of Monday, July 27, the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) presented to the SLV County Commissioners on the critical issues plaguing America’s public lands, with a focus on the newly introduced Local Input Act (H.R. 9924, S.5118). SLVEC was represented by Executive Director Christine Canaly and Project Manager Anna Lee Vargas.
The Local Input Act (LIA) protects the right of the American people to provide input on proposed oil and gas lease sales on national public lands and restores the Secretary of the Interior’s discretion to respond to public comment by deferring nominated parcels that conflict with the public interest.
“We are seeing a shift in priorities for the management of these significant landscapes,” Canaly said. “The Local Input Act is a way to reestablish local voices in the public process, specifically for oil and gas development.”
Spearheaded by Senator Ben Ray Luján (NM) and Representative Joe Neguse (CO-2), this bipartisan bill comes at a critical moment as a solution to address the limited opportunities for community input on the management of public lands. It is rooted in the principle that all Americans should have a seat at the table.
SLVEC prompted the county commissioners to pass a resolution, individually or jointly, in support of the Local Input Act. This joint session represents all six Valley counties: Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache.
Catherina A. Garcia-Winder, the Regional Director for Representative Jeff Hurd, was present on Zoom, along with Senator Cleave Simpson.
To provide context that spurred this legislation, SLVEC detailed the major regulatory changes that began with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in July 2025. OBBBA launched the internal movement to dismantle the foundational policies intended to protect these public lands. It reshaped the federal oil and gas leasing program administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Rapid mandatory lease sales began on BLM lands. These sales can be adjacent to national monuments, vital water sources, and private lands. There have since been record lease sales in Colorado, including near Dinosaur National Monument, with nearly 155,000 acres up for grabs in June alone.
Framed as efficiency, the Administration neutered the public process that uses local input to guide land management. Polls show that a majority of Coloradans oppose “reducing opportunities for nearby communities and local residents to give input regarding decisions on their national public lands.”
SLVEC rallied the resistance to oil and gas for over a decade, with no new developments in the Valley for nearly 20 years. Eighty-eight parcels were nominated between South Fork and Del Norte in 2008, encompassing 144,000 acres to the north and south of the Rio Grande. With success, SLVEC challenged five proposals in court through the protest process.
“With these new regulatory changes, this [protest] process would not be available to us to fight oil and gas development on our landscapes,” Canaly said.
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