Advertisement

Source: Obama to declare Chimney Rock a national monument

By Journal Denver Bureau
|
Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 11:12 PM

President Barack Obama will use his executive authority to declare a national monument at Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, sources confirmed to the Journal.

The decision bypasses Congress, which has not been able to pass a bill for Chimney Rock despite bipartisan support.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, both sponsored bills to establish a national monument.

“Coloradans have made a great case for national monument status, which will be an extraordinary boost for the region and the state. For the last three years we’ve been making that case to Congress and more recently to the Administration to use its authority under the Antiquities Act,” Bennet said in an email. “Making Chimney Rock a national monument will preserve and protect the site and drive tourism, drawing more visitors to the region and the state and bringing more dollars into the local economy.”

Tipton’s spokesman, Josh Green, said the Cortez congressman is happy to hear the monument will move forward.

“Congressman Tipton above all else believes that Chimney Rock National Monument would be better for the local community than the current designation, and that’s what he’s been pushing for all along here. It’s going to be a benefit to tourism and to preservation efforts around the Chimney Rock area,” Green said.

The U.S. Forest Service manages Chimney Rock, with help from the volunteers of the Chimney Rock Interpretive Association.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, presidents have the power to establish national monuments, which have similar protections as national parks.

The time frame for Obama’s impending action was unclear, although it could happen in a matter of a few weeks. Obama will be in Colorado next Wednesday and Thursday for campaign stops in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Grand Junction.

One source said Obama’s team was trying to schedule a stop in Durango, but they have not been able to make it happen. Additionally, Ron Dent, director of aviation at Durango-La Plata County Airport, said he had heard rumors that the president might be coming, but no one from the White House has contacted him about an Air Force One arrival.

The airport’s runways are large enough to handle a 747, although the heat and altitude might affect aircraft performance, he said.

“You can do it. It’s a little tight,” Dent said. “We’d have to take down our runway lights before they took off.”

The designation for Chimney Rock has been years in the making.

Former Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, sponsored a bill in 2009 to turn Chimney Rock into a national monument.

Bennet took up the issue in March 2011, and Tipton introduced a bill in the House in July 2011.

Tipton’s bill passed the House in May, but it has stalled in the Senate, along with most other public land bills, amid squabbling by the senior Democrat and Republican on the Natural Resources Committee.

Frustrated with the congressional delays, Bennet, Tipton and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., sent a letter to Obama urging him to consider designating a monument.

“We feel the future economic benefits of a National Monument designation are significant for the region, and those benefits shouldn’t be forestalled because Congress can’t act in a timely manner,” the trio said in their letter.

Business groups and officials in the area also lined up solidly in support of a designation by Obama. Pagosa Springs Mayor Ross Aragon, Archuleta County commissioners and chambers of commerce in Pagosa Springs and Durango all sent letters to the White House, urging Obama to act.

Chimney Rock’s 4,700 acres contain the ruins of about 200 Ancestral Puebloan structures, some of which are 1,000 years old. They include a great house that archaeologists believe could be the most remote outpost of the powerful Chaco culture of New Mexico.

Every 18.6 years, the moon rises between the two spires that give Chimney Rock its name.

A study prepared for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has lobbied for Chimney Rock, predicted that within five years, monument status would bring an additional $1.2 million a year into the area’s economy.



joeh@cortezjournal.com

Designation creates a political conundrum for Tipton

Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, will get what he wants when the president declares a national monument at Chimney Rock Archaeological Area.
Then again, he won’t.
Tipton sponsored and passed a bill through the House to establish a national monument. But he also backs a bill that take away President Barack Obama’s authority to declare national monuments — the very authority Obama will rely on to give the designation to Chimney Rock.
Obama’s staff did not notify or consult Tipton, said Tipton’s spokesman, Josh Green.
Green said Tipton is happy, though, that Chimney Rock will be upgraded to a monument.
Still, Tipton would have preferred to see Congress pass his bill. He blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
“Given that we were able to pass it through with the full support of every member of Colorado’s delegation to the House of Representatives, I think it would behoove the president to pick up the phone and call Harry Reid and say, ‘Why don’t you go ahead and schedule this vote?’” Tipton said Saturday in an interview.
However, public land bills have not even made it to Reid’s desk in a long time. They have been bottled up in the Natural Resources Committee thanks to a spat between the panel’s two senior members.
Tipton is one of 12 co-sponsors of H.R. 817, which makes the president’s power to declare national monuments under the Antiquities Act subject to approval by Congress.
However, Tipton also joined Colorado’s two Democratic senators in writing a letter to Obama, urging him to consider using his power to declare a monument at Chimney Rock. The letter called for Obama to adhere to Tipton’s House Bill, which specifies that the Forest Service will get no new money to manage Chimney Rock.
Tipton’s main opponent, Democrat Sal Pace, said if it were left to Tipton, the national monument never would have happened.
“If the Administration designates Chimney Rock a national monument, it’s despite the roadblocks Congressman Tipton has put in the way,” Pace said in an email. “Tipton has impeded the process by voting to strip the Administration of the very authority that our senators have asked to be used, and attaching a poison pill to the legislation he sponsored in the House that would cut off funding to make Chimney Rock a national monument.”
Green said Tipton’s bill is the responsible way to go, given the country’s deficits.
“It forces the Forest Service to work within their existing budget,” Green said.

joeh@cortezjournal.com

Advertisement
Ballantine Communications, Inc.
The Journal Durango Herald
Adventure Pro DGO
Southwest Scene Directory Plus Four Corners Expos
Contact Us
News Tip/Feedback Letters to the Editor FAQs
Suspend/Report Missing Paper Advertise with Us Staff/Contact
Find Us

© 1999–2024 The Journal | Ballantine Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy