The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy, or CORE Act, out of committee Tuesday.

The CORE Act would protect more than 400,000 acres of land in the state through new wilderness, recreation and conservation areas in the Thompson Divide, the Continental Divide, the San Juan Mountains, and the Curecanti National Recreation Area.

It would also establish new protections for historic Camp Hale, where the storied Tenth Mountain Division trained during World War II.

The bill is sponsored by Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. Bennet, who has been working to pass the elements in the bill for years, said if it passes, it could be the “most significant public lands bill for Colorado in a quarter of a century.”

“I think there’s a high probability we’re going to get it done this year,” said Hickenlooper, who ran for Senate promising to pass the bill. “I think this is the year that the logjam breaks.”

He and others at a news conference in advance of the committee hearing stressed that the elements of the bill were drafted by Coloradans.

“This is exactly the kind of local, carefully constructed agreement that you’ll find throughout the CORE Act,” Bennet said. “And it’s more evidence, I think, to our Senate colleagues that this bill wasn’t written in Washington. It was written in Colorado from the ground up to ensure that every line in this bill reflects local values and local interest.”

And Bennet announced another example of the on-the-ground compromises that have shaped the bill – an agreement between the town of Crested Butte and the mining company Freeport-McMoRan to include about 19,000 acres of land in the Thompson Divide portion of the bill to prevent future mining, while the mining company gets a beneficial land exchange. It is expected to be offered as an amendment to the bill during the committee markup.

Over a decade ago, Rancher Bill Fales was one of many Coloradans who gathered and talked about how to protect the lands outside his backdoor.

“Frankly, we’re struggling and we need some certainty, and that’s what this legislation will give us,” Fales said. “I really hope this Senate committee ... can move it to the full vote of the Senate so we can get some final resolution to this. After, what? Thirteen years.”

But not all local officials support the bill. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, like her predecessor, has opposed the bill, describing it as “a partisan land grab.”

The CORE Act has passed the House a number of times, but this is the furthest the bill has come in the Senate, something many supporters of the bill cautiously celebrated.

If the bill clears committee, the next stop for the bill could be the Senate floor. But in a 50-50 Senate, that could still be a hard lift, especially as the Senate calendar fills up and election season gets into full swing.

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