The Biden administration on Wednesday announced plans to shield roughly 225,000 acres of public land in western Colorado from new mining leases for 20 years.

The proposal places Thompson Divide, which boasts of prodigious elk herds and headwaters to some of the best fishing grounds in Colorado, under a hiatus on new mining and drilling leases while an environmental analysis gets underway, according to the White House.

President Joe Biden travelled to Colorado Wednesday as the White House announced not only the proposed action at Thompson Divide, but the designation of Camp Hale-Continental Divide as a national monument.

Conservation advocates lauded the potential mineral withdrawal as a major step to protecting iconic public lands like Thompson Divide, although conservatives called it politically motivated and badly timed amid high inflation.

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“A coalition of hunters, ranchers, farmers, outdoor enthusiasts and community leaders have worked for decades to ensure the Thompson Divide area is protected,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a the release Wednesday. “Today the Biden-Harris administration is taking an important and sensible step to ensure that we have the science and public input necessary to make informed decisions about sustainable management of public lands in the Thompson Divide area.”

The area is south of Carbondale, west of Aspen.

Haaland has accepted a petition for a mineral withdrawal submitted by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, kickstarting a two-year period in which new mining claims and leases will be prohibited at Thompson Divide.

During that time, the BLM and Forest Service are tasked with conducting an environmental analysis of a 20-year withdrawal’s effects and gathering community input.

The Thompson Divide area has not been available to oil and gas leasing for several years, according to the Biden Administration, and there is not any current or future oil exploration or production in the area.

Existing natural gas leases at Thompson Divide will not be affected by the mineral withdrawal, according to the administration, which said those make up less than 1% of the 3,000 federal leases in the state.

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Thompson Divide is known for its “picturesque ranches, vibrant outdoor recreation economy, and stunning landscapes,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release supporting its preservation.

Thompson Divide comprises some of the land included in the CORE Act, federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper and Congressman Joe Neguse. The CORE Act aims to preserve public land by creating new wilderness, recreation and conservation areas.

Bennet spoke at Camp Hale Wednesday, praising the president’s action on Thompson Divide and Camp Hale-Continental Divide.

Democratic state Reps. McCluskie, Dylan Roberts and Barbara McLachlan and Sen. Kerry Donovan also commended the president’s executive action in a joint statement. This month, 34 Colorado lawmakers signed a letter that McCluskie sent to Biden, urging him to use executive authority to protect lands included in the CORE Act, including Camp Hale and Thompson Divide.

“This executive action to protect thousands of acres of public land, including the Thompson Divide, is a huge win for conservation and historic preservation on the Western Slope,” Rep. McLachlan said in the release.

Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown called Biden’s trip a “political stunt” to support Bennet’s re-election as he faces challenger, GOP nominee Joe O’Dea. The senator “has been an automatic rubber stamp” for Biden’s policies, the chairwoman said in a news release.

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In a news release, Rep. Lauren Boebert dubbed the move a “massive land grab” that will hinder energy and natural resource production, saying it “could not come at a worse time.” according to the release. Boebert asked how halting new oil and gas production on the land will alleviate high gas prices, among other critiques of the mineral withdrawal.

“Rather than working on real issues like reducing inflation and improving the economy, Joe Biden came to Colorado today to unilaterally lock up hundreds of thousands of acres through the stroke of his pen and prevent Coloradoans from using our public lands for activities that we want and need,” she said in the release.