Camp Hale and the Tenmile Range, which produced the 10th Mountain Division with alpine soldiers who busted through German lines and changed the course of World War II, are in dire need of sturdier protection.<\/p>\n
Camp Hale is included in the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, but CORE stalled in Congress, no matter its bipartisan and public support, and historical, conservation and cultural values. Fortunately, top Colorado Democrats have taken swift, direct action by asking President Joe Biden to designate this special place as the Camp Hale \u2013 Continental Divide National Monument under the Antiquities Act.<\/p>\n
This would be Biden\u2019s first national monument.<\/p>\n
Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse were right to prioritize Camp Hale last month. A monument that honors veterans is not only a nod to those who trained at Camp Hale, but in a sense, to all veterans.<\/p>\n
Critics say it\u2019s a federal land grab that bars development, including mineral and energy extraction. But Camp Hale is too worthy to leave unprotected. It\u2019s on the National Register of Historic Places, but this doesn\u2019t protect it in perpetuity. Camp Hale\u2019s setting is an alpine wonderland. Its landscape is too unique, too precious. Its beauty makes it vulnerable to misuse.<\/p>\n
Showing signs of wear, Camp Hale and its surrounding 28,000 acres are threatened by unmanaged recreation, vandalism and irresponsible four-wheeling.<\/p>\n
Camp Hale turned out nearly 17,000 soldiers, pushed to limits while training in mountain warfare in high, steep terrain in temperatures that dropped to 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, in nearly 3 feet of snow and strong wind, stinging and relentless. Later, when conditions were especially rough in the northern Appenine Mountains of Italy, soldiers there said they weren\u2019t as bad as Camp Hale, about 5,000 feet higher in elevation. Camp Hale\u2019s terrain was colder and more expansive, too.<\/p>\n
That training paid off. In February 1945, the division\u2019s first offense included 10 hours of climbing \u2013 equal to a day\u2019s work at Camp Hale \u2013 toward the Gothic Line battle zone. Soldiers took Riva Ridge, a frozen fingerlike mountain range with snowy peaks and a river below. Next, they began the uphill assault on Monte Belvedere and Monte Gorgolesco. Commandeering German outposts and communications, and controlling mountains gave the division ground control.<\/p>\n
To build Camp Hale, a valley was leveled, the Eagle River straightened and white structures constructed. Alongside U.S. Highway 24, the area is visually stunning. Shrubs, grasses and forbs, and forests of aspen, Douglas fir, spruce and lodgepole pine stand below sharp mountain peaks. Naturally, wildlife is abundant. The meadow is a developer\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Forest Service manages most land within Camp Hale\u2019s boundaries. And the Forest Service can trade parcels. It\u2019s happened before. Even if it\u2019s unlikely, the Forest Service could exchange Camp Hale for something else. This might seem outrageous now, but who knows in 20 years?<\/p>\n
Like other modern battlefields, Camp Hale has hazardous material dumps and unexploded ordnance. A monument designation would initiate cleanup and remove hazards. It would prohibit future mining, too.<\/p>\n
Soldiers from the division built Colorado\u2019s ski industry. But this monument isn\u2019t homage to that. It\u2019s to the power of this place and what the 10th Mountain Division\u2019s success meant around the world.<\/p>\n
President Biden, please pick up your favorite pen and designate the Camp Hale \u2013 Continental Divide National Monument. It means a lot to a lot of people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hale and the Tenmile Range, which produced the 10th Mountain Division with alpine soldiers who busted through German lines and changed the course of World War II, are in dire need of sturdier protection. Camp Hale is included in the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, but CORE stalled in Congress, no matter its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38303"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}