US HB1728

H.R. 1728 - Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act

• Designates approximately 31,255 acres of new wilderness areas in Colorado, including Hoosier Ridge Wilderness (5,235 acres), Tenmile Wilderness (7,624 acres), Williams Fork Mountains Wilderness (8,036 acres), McKenna Peak Wilderness (8,884 acres), and additions to existing wilderness areas like Holy Cross, Eagles Nest, Lizard Head, and Mount Sneffels

• Creates three Wildlife Conservation Areas totaling approximately 14,489 acres (Porcupine Gulch, Williams Fork Mountains, and Spraddle Creek) to protect wildlife migration corridors and ecological resources, with restrictions on motorized vehicles and commercial timber harvesting

• Establishes the Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Area, withdrawing approximately 225,000 acres from mineral leasing and mining to protect agricultural, ranching, wildlife, and recreational values, while offering lease credits to existing oil and gas leaseholders who voluntarily relinquish their leases

• Creates the Greater Thompson Divide Fugitive Coal Mine Methane Use Pilot Program to inventory and promote capture, beneficial use, or destruction of methane emissions from active, inactive, and abandoned coal mines in Garfield, Gunnison, Delta, and Pitkin Counties

• Establishes the Curecanti National Recreation Area as a new 50,300-acre unit of the National Park System, transferring lands from the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service to National Park Service management, while allowing continued boating, hunting, fishing, and existing grazing operations