This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
A small group from the North Fork Valley on the Western Slope came to Washington, D.C., to advocate for public lands, conservation and renewable energy.
It’s not the first time Hannah Steven, executive director of the Western Slope Conservation Center, had come to talk to members of Congress. Her first trip was two years ago.
“And it was a real eye-opener just to see how showing up as a constituent from a very rural, small area that doesn't necessarily get a lot of attention and being able to speak to the issues here directly with our representatives was really critical,” she said.
It’s common for associations and big groups to come in and advocate for a cause, but this small delegation from the valley has been taking trips to D.C. for more than a dozen years to talk about issues specific to their area of the state.
Melissa Newell works as the advocacy coordinator for the Western Slope Conservation Center and put the trip together to meet with the district’s senators, Democrats Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and its representative, Republican Jeff Hurd.
“Our objectives are always to address the issues usually of public lands, conservation, agriculture and renewable energy, and kind of explore how those intersect in our community and how they each contribute interdependently to the economic viability of our valley,” Newell explained.
These policies were the group's priorities on this visit.
This year, the group was advocating for the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act, a public lands bill sponsored by Bennet, Hickenlooper, Hurd and Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse, dropping off a letter with more than 110 businesses in support.
It also gave the small group time to give lawmakers their thoughts on agrivoltaics, the Farm Bill and an expected draft amendment to the BLM’s Uncompahgre Field Office’s Resource Management Plan.
As much as constituents try to get their opinions across when lawmakers are in the state, sometimes it’s easier and more effective to get facetime when Coloradans come to D.C.
These visits also help highlight problems people are facing back home.
For example, Danielle Carre, co-owner of Empowered Energy Systems, a solar panel installation company, wanted to make sure lawmakers understand the challenge farmers have accessing funding through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The program was frozen for part of last year and when it opened up again there were no restrictions placed.
“Also that the policies — tariffs and regulations — are placing a huge administration burden, not only on a company like ours, but on farmers who are trying to get solar onto their system,” she said.
Peter Kolbenschlag has helped lead the trip for 14 years, and one thing he wanted to stress in Washington is that people back home are often looking to the Capitol for solutions.
“We’re used to working on issues like renewable land conservation, sustainable farming issues from a purple matrix,” he said. “People on the ground in rural places don't approach these issues for the most part from a political perspective. They approach it from a problem they're trying to solve. And we just want to help bring that sensibility from the ground to all these folks in DC that seem to be having a little hard time remembering that at the moment.”
