We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, especially those who call Western Colorado home, strongly oppose the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act.

This bill, sponsored by federal lawmakers under the pretense of conservation, is nothing more than a coordinated land grab that puts Washington bureaucrats and radical environmentalists in charge of land that does not belong to them. It’s an attack on our freedoms, our economy, and our rural heritage. The GORP Act would lock up hundreds of thousands of acres of land across multiple counties in Colorado, removing it from traditional use, undermining local authority, and cutting off access for future generations.

This is not locally led conservation. It’s federal overreach, backed by national NGOs and environmental activists who don’t live here, don’t work here, and don’t understand the land. This bill is being pushed by political transplants, not the people who have lived and worked this land for generations. It was not developed in partnership with local ranchers, loggers, miners, or water users. It ignores the voices of the true stewards of the land, those who already manage it responsibly and have kept it thriving for decades.

This land is already protected through common-sense, local management. The people proposing this bill have no intention of working with our communities. Their goal is simple: control. They want to dictate how we live, how we work, and how we access the lands our families built their lives around.

Here’s what’s at stake:

The GORP Act would strip away oil and gas development, critical mineral extraction, and timber harvesting, crippling local economies that rely on resource development to survive.

It would eliminate grazing allocations and damage long-standing ranching operations that are already heavily regulated.

It would threaten downstream water rights, endangering agriculture, food supply, and rural infrastructure in areas that already suffer from mismanagement and overreach.

It would impose federal land designations without true local input or consent, permanently restricting hunting, fishing, ATV access, camping, and other forms of responsible recreation.

It would increase the risk of wildfires by blocking active forest management and limiting emergency mitigation efforts.

And it would erode our most fundamental right as Americans, the right to manage our own land, our economy, and our future without interference from unelected federal agencies or political insiders.

We call on Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, as well as Congressman Jeff Hurd, to IMMEDIATELY withdraw their support for the GORP Act.

You were not elected to give our land away. You were not elected to trade away our access, our economy, or our Constitution.

We also urge the County Commissioners in Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray, and Saguache Counties to publicly reject and withdraw any support for the GORP Act.

If they support this legislation, or remain silent while it moves forward, they are complicit in the erosion of local control and should be held accountable by the communities they were elected to represent.

This is a line in the sand.

We believe in access, freedom, and the right to steward our land the way we always have, with pride, hard work, and local control. The GORP Act violates that trust. It’s unconstitutional, unjust, and un-American.

This is our land. Not theirs. Not Washington’s. Not the NGOs’.

If you believe in freedom, in self-governance, and in defending rural Colorado from tyranny, sign this petition. Share it. Stand with us.

Together, we can HALT the GORP and preserve the land we love.