By Ashley House

“The horizon is a perfect line between sky and water.” I heard this line of dialogue waft through my parents’ living room recently as they tuned into one of the newest Taylor Sheridan TV dramas, “The Madison.” As I lingered to admire the cinematographic qualities of the show (shot within the Madison River Valley in Montana), I couldn’t help but think about the breathtaking landscapes in Colorado and the industries that make them possible — and the pending issues that threaten them.

If you’ve seen the show, Michelle Pfeiffer is the lead actress and “gorgeous griever” who becomes indelibly tied to the place (and river valley) her late husband enjoyed so much. This kind of connection to place — places that offer therapeutic reprieve, recreation and support family livelihoods — is appreciable, and we certainly have no shortage of analogues to places of this kind in Colorado. I count my time fishing down in Deckers along the South Platte and on a private ranch along the Big Hole as some of my own most cherished memories with my father. The river is host to some of life’s most beautiful experiences. 

But if our state legislature takes action to afford broader public access to riverbeds within our state boundaries, I feel future generations will be left to “ghastly grieve”  the significant erosion of private property rights and mourn the loss of historical ecosystem services investment.

In Colorado, we have nearly 60 species listed as threatened or endangered. Many of these species are dependent on our myriad of streams and riparian systems — many systems which are under the stewardship of private landowners. They rely on the personal investments of private landowners who are conserving and restoring critical habitat, something no one is making more of.  According to an analysis commissioned by Western Landowners Alliance and conducted by Southwick Associates, 59% of surveyed landowners reported intentionally forgoing income-generating opportunities to benefit wildlife or other natural resources.

Landowners have made these investments in conserving and caring for the land in good faith, based on longstanding laws and regulations. Permission of the landowner is a tenet of engagement held between our many state outfitters, sportsmen and recreationalists. Just look at the public-private partnerships managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife that offer voluntary easements and other mechanisms for expanding public access to stream-adjacent lands. 

CPW’s Fishing is Fun Grant Program awards $650,000 in annual grants for perpetual access easements for anglers, aerators, boat ramps, etc. This model is working well. In a recent Common Sense Institute study, of the 107,000 to 110,000 miles of rivers and streams in Colorado, roughly half of those are on private land and nearly 1,700 miles of those are floatable. Here, our existing stream access laws and programs are working to usher wide public enjoyment opportunities. 

We have a healthy balance of programmatic recreational support and private investment into the spaces and places so critical to our future. In my view, our lawmakers should be wary of future attempts to upend this balance and pull the rug out from under a system that is working well for public recreationalists, private landowners and the wildlife that also need access to streams.

The parts make up the whole here in Colorado. Outdoor recreation is paramount and so, too, are the opportunities afforded to us by our farming and ranching families. The best examples of recreation and conservation happen in collaboration with each other and with respect and concessions for each’s value and rights. Let’s be mindful to move beyond the rhetoric and acknowledge that Colorado already sets the gold standard for that understanding. 

Ashley House is the Colorado Farm Bureau’s vice president of strategy and advocacy.