Two Colorado Democrats in Congress say they’ll introduce legislation to protect about 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado.

The Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act is to be introduced Monday by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Boulder.

It’s described as the biggest Colorado public-lands protection bill in 26 years in terms of total acreage.

The CORE bill (summarized here) would set aside acreage in new or expanded wilderness areas and bar oil and gas development on other lands.

It bundles together a variety of lands proposals that Bennet has tried to get through Congress in recent years.

“Coloradans spent the last decade hammering out compromises to develop reasonable public lands bills with broad support,” Bennet said in a statement Friday. “The CORE Act combines the best of those proposals, reflecting their bold vision to boost our economy and protect our public lands for future generations.”

“The CORE Act brings years of local collaborative input to the preservation of our landscapes, wildlife and recreational opportunities to ensure that Colorado’s public lands remain at the center of our economy and are preserved for generations to come,” said Neguse, who was sworn in earlier this month to replace now-Gov. Jared Polis as 2nd Congressional District representative.

Among the areas that would be off-limits to oil and gas development under the measure would be about 200,000 acres of the Thompson Divide southwest of Glenwood Springs, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports.

The bill would create several new wilderness areas and expand others.

And it would create a new 28,728-acre national historic landscape surrounding Camp Hale, where the Army’s 10th Mountain Division trained for alpine combat during World War II.