The History of the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) —> GORP Act

The GPLI originated as a collaborative among the Crested Butte Mountain Biking Association, Gunnison Trails, High Country Conservation Advocates, the International Mountain Biking Association, and The Wilderness Society. Soon after, in 2014, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Trout Unlimited submitted proposals for potential public lands protections to Senator Bennet’s office. The Gunnison County Sno Trackers and the Gunnison O.H.V. Alliance of Trailriders (GOATs) submitted feedback on the GPLI proposal in 2014.

In light of the diverse interests expressed by these groups, the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners and Senator Bennet’s Office encouraged the community to further work together to create a single proposal that would be representative of the community’s vision for the future of public lands in and around Gunnison County. 

Recognizing the need for a collaborative conversation about public lands protection, the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners with the support of Senator Bennet’s office convened the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative (GPLI) Working Group in early 2016.

WORKING TOGETHER

To broaden the community conversation, GPLI was tasked with creating a single collaborative proposal. GPLI met monthly from February 2016 to June 2017 to craft a public lands proposal - based on consensus - that would protect community values, take into account the various needs of user groups, and provide long-lasting stability to important public lands in and around the Gunnison Basin.

Subsequently, the GPLI Working Group conducted extensive outreach within the community, hosting meetings, giving presentations, conducting site visits, and engaging in hundreds of conversations regarding the proposal and what it would mean for the future of our local public lands. This culminated in the release of the GPLI Revised Proposal in 2019. The revised January 2019 report can be found HERE.

DRAFTING & FINALIZING LEGISLATION

Between 2019 and April, 2022, the GPLI Working Group crafted a series of legislative recommendations that were delivered to Senator Bennet’s office to inform their drafting, effectively turning the recommendations in the 2019 Proposal into legislation. This required additional stakeholder meetings, more community conversations, many cases of map refinements, and a great deal of patience. In May of 2022, Senator Bennet’s office completed the process of writing the draft legislation and renamed it the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act to best capture the spirit and intent of the bill. 

Following two years of additional discussion and refinement, the 2022 draft legislation was updated to reflect community consensus and introduced in the U.S. Senate as the GORP Act of 2024 in September of that year.