Photo: Great Smoky NP - National Park Service
Ken Salazar had an easy time from a friendly and supportive U.S. Senate committee hearing yesterday. The Denver Post reports: "Few of the Republican members even showed up for the hearing, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joked at one point that it was turning into 'a full-fledged bouquet-tossing festival.'"
Salazar laid out his agenda during the hearing saying:
"In many ways, the Department of Interior is, quote, the real Energy Department. I want to move this department to a whole new level of activity in the 21st century.”
Meanwhile, the Senator -- a big supporter of wilderness and land conservation -- helped get the public lands omnibus bill through the U.S. Senate yesterday which includes wilderness protection for Rocky Mountain National park. Here's a report report from the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
"From the pinnacle of Long's Peak to the crystal clear flow of the Big Thompson River, Rocky Mountain National Park is one of our nation's most treasured places," Salazar said. "This bill represents years of work by a broad range of stakeholders, by local communities and by the Colorado congressional delegation to find a sensible way to permanently protect the park's backcountry while protecting water rights and water infrastructure."
Also included in the bill is wilderness protection for the Dominguez-Escalante Conservation Area on the Uncompahgre Plateau. The bill will establish the South Park National Heritage area and Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area while funding the rehabilitation of the Jackson Gulch irrigation canal in Montezuma County.
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