The deadline is today to comment on a proposed Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plan.
Under the plan, of the 658,000 acres of land managed by the BLM in the Upper Arkansas Valley, 98 percent would be open to activities such as mining, oil and gas extraction, and new roads.
The new plan would practically do away with Lands with Wilderness Characteristics designations and cut in half land with Critical Environment Concern.
Lands that would lose protections are around Browns Canyon, Bear Mountain, Echo Canyon, Badger Creek, Cotopaxi and Coaldale.
Comments can be submitted online at https://bit.ly/2kJEQuj.
