[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 2731]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          INTRODUCTION OF THE COLORADO WILDERNESS ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 1, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join as an 
original cosponsor of this legislation being introduced today by my 
colleague, Representative DeGette.

  Representative DeGette has been a leader in the Colorado delegation 
in connection with the issue of wilderness designations of lands in our 
State managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and I am hopeful that 
the bill will serve to advance the debate on that issue. Conclusion of 
that debate is long overdue, and I am hopeful that we can get on with 
it.

  I am sure some will object to this bill and find reasons, both 
philosophical and technical, to oppose it. I am also sure others will 
argue for its intact passage without change or amendment. I expect that 
the legislative process will produce results that are not completely 
satisfactory to either of those groups.

  In my view, the bill outlines a good way to make progress--that is, 
through comprehensive legislation to address the majority of the BLM 
areas that have been proposed for wilderness. Of course, members of the 
delegation may also want to explore legislation dealing just with one 
or more of these areas, and I am ready to work with them on that 
approach as well.

  All wilderness bills eventually are about compromise and map-drawing. 
Introduction of this bill obviously is not the end of the wilderness 
discussions in Colorado, and I look for-ward to working with the rest 
of my colleagues in the delegation to seek the maximum feasible degree 
of consensus that can result in wilderness designations for BLM lands 
in our State.

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