This month I joined a diverse group of Coloradans in Washington, D.C., visiting Colorado congressional delegation offices to express our support for public lands, with a focus on national monuments.

Our group included Sarah Shrader, owner of Bonsai Design and founder of the Grand Valley Outdoor Recreation Coalition; Bradley Noone, with Vet Voice Foundation and a whitewater raft guide; Tom Kleinschnitz, Moffat County Tourism director; and me, Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers chapter co-chair.

Our first meetings were with U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. Additional meetings followed with U.S. Reps. Jeff Hurd and Diana DeGette. We also met with staffers at the offices of Reps. Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen and Jason Crow. They were all welcoming and eager to hear about the public lands issues we discussed.

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For example, Kleinschnitz explained that even though Moffat County has a population of about 13,000 people, Dinosaur National Monument attracted over 326,000 visitors in 2023. I noted that Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument west of Colorado Springs encompasses a mere 6,300 acres but attracts over 60,000 visitors yearly. Noone said the 21,500-acre Browns Canyon National Monument attracted over 180,000 visitors in 2024.

Shrader added that Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction encompasses 20,500 acres and during 2024 attracted nearly500,000 visitors. A new report from Headwaters Economics documents the vital role national monuments play in local economies. In addition, the Antiquities Act — which gives the executive branch the authority to establish national monuments — has protected some of the world’s best public hunting and fishing habitat by conserving large and vitally important landscapes.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and a consortium of outdoor groups and businesses released a report on how national monument designations can sustain important fish and wildlife habitat while maintaining traditional hunting and fishing access. In the report, “National Monuments: A Sportsmens Perspective,” 28 groups and businesses, including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited, outline a series of tenets for creating national monuments aligned with the intent of the Antiquities Act. Also featured are profiles of existing national monuments where hunters and anglers played a supportive founding role.

Colorado’s Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument was designated on October 12, 2022, providing long overdue recognition to the World War II veterans who trained there in preparation for joining the war in Europe to defeat Hitler’s Nazi regime.

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“Valuable wildlife habitat in central Colorado will be permanently conserved following today’s designation of Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument,” BHA stated in a related press release. The monument encompasses “more than 10,000 acres of critical winter range for elk, as well as mule deer habitat, migration corridors and headwaters fisheries.”

The Antiquities Act is one of our most powerful tools for conserving large landscapes, securing important fish and wildlife habitat, and safeguarding hunting and angling opportunities on public lands and waters. Signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt, it has been used by 18 presidents — nine Republicans and nine Democrats — to protect public lands, waters and wildlife.

“Our national monuments provide some of the greatest hunting opportunities in the world,” said Hal Herring, Field & Stream contributing editor and host of BHA’s “Podcast & Blast.”

Nationwide, outdoor recreation — from hunting, fishing and camping to cycling, boating and more — accounts for $788 billion in annual gross economic output and generates 5.2 million American jobs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculates the economic output of outdoor recreation in Colorado to be $13.9 billion, surpassing industries such as mining, utilities, farming and ranching.

Collectively, Tom, Bradley, Sarah, and I explained that Colorado’s national monuments and other public lands are sustainable economic engines that power rural economies and support our great hunting, angling and outdoor recreation heritage. We reminded our senators and representatives that we are facing a seminal moment in the defense of public lands, and we are unmoved, undeterred and unwavering in our commitment to stand up for what’s right.

We emphasized that public lands are not a left or right issue; they’re an American issue. And as Winston Churchill said: “We shall not flag or fail, we shall go on.”

Join us.