This bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday with help from Roberts’ yes vote, and others like it across the West are being shopped around to state legislators by people manipulating rural frustrations in order to serve their own private business interests. These are bad bills and bad ideas that pose a real danger to Southwest Colorado.

As a farmer in Archuleta County, I know first-hand that our national public lands – like the Weminuche Wilderness, Chimney Rock National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park – provide many benefits to our local farming community and rural economy. These lands protect our headwaters and make sure our irrigation water is clean and plentiful. They attract tourists from around the country who shop at local businesses and eat at local restaurants.

My neighbors and I wake up every morning to the sight of our livestock grazing in the shadow of Chimney Rock National Monument, a view that feeds my spirit, both in its beauty and its cultural significance to our tri-ethnic community.

If the Colorado Legislature genuinely wants to cultivate community control of public land this bill isn’t the way to do it. Roberts should not have followed the lead of an industry with profit as its goal, not the quality of our air, water and access to local food.

Anderson Podschun

Pagosa Springs