Washington – A nasty spat among four members of Colorado’s congressional delegation over how to protect Rocky Mountain National Park from development ended Monday, but it isn’t clear which side gave in.
Sen. Wayne Allard of Loveland and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan, both Republicans, and Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Denver and Rep. Mark Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, said they had reached a compromise on a wilderness bill.
Legislation on the park will be introduced next week, but none of the lawmakers’ offices would say what it would contain.
The rare public split over legislation for Rocky Mountain National Park was the biggest among the lawmakers since Salazar came to Congress in 2004.
In July 2005, Salazar introduced a bill to give wilderness protection to 225,000 acres in the park, which is the most visited national park in the state. Udall has offered similar bills in the House every year since 1999.
In September, Allard and Musgrave filed their own bill. That ended movement on the legislation because of the delegation split.
Salazar accused Allard of breaking an agreement they had to work together on wilderness status for the park.
“I feel violated,” Salazar told reporters in September, after walking to Allard’s office to deliver a letter of complaint.
Salazar said he had allowed Allard to take credit on projects where he had done much of the work and listed a litany of legislative efforts.
Allard responded then that he did not know of any times when he had taken credit for Salazar’s work.
The four lawmakers have been discussing their difference for months, said Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz. He would not say what broke the logjam.
The key difference between the Allard-Musgrave and Udall-Salazar bills hinged on whether the bill would give the park shelter under the Wilderness Act. The Democrats wanted that, saying it offered permanent protection. The Republicans omitted it, contending it would be harmful if the Wilderness Act were ever rewritten.
Republicans also wanted to exempt more land from the wilderness designation, adding 200 feet on either side of the Grand Ditch, which carries water through the park.
Allard and Musgrave’s bill allowed for “prospecting, for the purpose of gathering information about mineral or other resources, if the activity is carried on in a manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment.” They said they were trying to lay down a marker with how they thought the park could best be protected while also addressing the interests of groups that still had concerns.
Last fall, Salazar said that Allard, by introducing a new bill instead of working with him to amend the Democrats’ proposal, had hurt efforts to pass legislation this year.
