Dolores River Canyon

Proposed National ParkColorado
The Dolores River in its canyonPhotograph: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0
All proposed National ParksDolores River CanyonNo active campaign
Location
Colorado
Current protection
Bureau of Land Management lands, including the Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area
Status
BLM monument campaign; no National Park campaign
Tier
Tier 2 · National Monument
In the book
Not featured in Undiscovered America

Why should it be a National Park?

The lower Dolores River runs through the last big unprotected canyon country in Colorado, red sandstone gorges like Slickrock Canyon and the walls around Sewemup Mesa, with desert bighorn, bald eagles, and old ponderosa pine along the way. In big snow years, boaters run it through canyons few people ever see.

Colorado conservationists call it the state's largest and most biologically diverse unprotected landscape. It is the kind of place Canyonlands was before it became a park.

The history of National Park Campaigns

Protection for the Dolores has moved on two tracks. In 2022, Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Lauren Boebert introduced the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act for about 68,000 acres upstream, which had a Senate hearing in 2023. The same year, the Protect the Dolores coalition proposed a roughly 400,000-acre Dolores River Canyon Country National Monument downstream in Mesa and Montrose counties; it delivered more than 100,000 signatures in 2024 but met strong local opposition, and no designation came before President Biden left office.

Distinct National Park attempts
0
Other designation attempts
2 (2022 national conservation area bill; 2023 to present monument campaign)

Sources

  • The Colorado Sun, "Opposition to national monument along Dolores River grows" (2024)
  • Aspen Public Radio, "Dolores River bill gets a Senate hearing" (2023)
  • Durango Herald coverage (2023–2024)
Know of a campaign? Tell us
  1. 1980

    The BLM creates the 30,000-acre Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

  2. 2022

    Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Lauren Boebert introduce the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act for about 68,000 acres.

  3. Spring 2023

    The Protect the Dolores coalition unveils a monument proposal for the lower canyons.

  4. July 2023

    The conservation area bill gets a Senate subcommittee hearing.

  5. April 2024

    Supporters deliver more than 100,000 signatures in Washington.

  6. June 9, 2024

    Sen. Bennet hosts a listening session in Nucla.

  7. July 2024

    Mesa and Montrose counties counter with a plan more than 90 percent smaller.

  8. November 2024

    Backers vow to keep going after the election; no designation comes.