GORP Act would protect 730,000 acres. A private ski club wants some of them.

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun

A landowner above the Crystal River wants to trade acreage on the valley floor — including around the iconic Crystal Mill — for steep terrain above the river to build a private, exclusive ski area. 

But those steep slopes are included in an expansion of a wilderness area in the Gunnison Outdoors Resources Protection Act, or GORP. 

A representative of the landowner said it’s not a big deal because the GORP Act is “aspirational” and the ski area land exchange plan would immediately transfer 1.75 miles of riverfront along the Crystal River — land that sees as many as 30,000 visitors a year — to the White River National Forest. 

“This is using private recreation to fund conservation,” Phillip Supino, a representative of Treasure Mountain Ranch along the Crystal River, told a Gunnison County committee in August. 

Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet spent close to a decade working with the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative to craft the legislation. It is one of the most ambitious public lands bills ever for Colorado, with fellow Democrat Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper joining Bennet in unveiling the plan in 2024 and last year, Colorado U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican, cosponsoring the bill.

The act would increase protection for more than 730,000 acres in the Gunnison River Basin while protecting existing water rights and public access. It has the support of six counties, five towns and 16 diverse advocacy groups that include motorized users, anglers and hunters, ranchers and river users. 

It also proposes expanding several wilderness areas in the Gunnison River Basin by nearly 123,000 acres, including land on Treasure Mountain where the Crystal River landowners want to develop a snowcat-accessed ski area for a handful of owners. 

It’s one of two proposed land exchanges in the region. And both involve Colorado’s first-term Congressman Hurd, who has met with the owners of Treasure Mountain Ranch and drafted a bill for another. 

Hurd, who is a cosponsor alongside Colorado U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat, says his support for the GORP Act has not changed since he introduced the legislation in May 2025. 

But after hearing comments from Supino, who said his talks with Hurd staff suggested the congressman’s support for GORP was waning, the legislation’s cheerleaders are wondering if the congressman is as eager a supporter of the land bill as his Democratic peers in D.C. 

Gunnison County Commissioner Jonathan Houck, who helped form the GORP Act, listened to the comments at the STOR Committee meeting and called Hurd. Supino, citing Hurd staffers, suggested Hurd support for GORP was “a very strategic response.”

“He unequivocally said those statements about his position are absolutely false,” Houck said. 

Houck said Hurd is meeting with groups that have concerns about the legislation “and he wants to work through those with us.”

Houck said Hurd told him he was not delaying the legislation. 

“He said maybe we need to do some town halls and get people together to talk about this,” Houck said. “I am absolutely on board with that.”

A proposed land swap at the Crystal Mill  

The owners of about 700 acres around the Crystal townsite and the photogenic Crystal Mill want to give the White River National Forest a little more than 300 acres along nearly 2 miles of the Crystal River on the valley floor in exchange for 367 acres of steep terrain above the valley for a small, private, snowcat-accessed backcountry ski club. 

It’s a bit of a reversal of typical public land swap proposals, which typically involve developers who want valley land and they offer remote, hard-to-develop parcels up high for trade. Supino, with Treasure Mountain Ranch, presented the plan to the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee — or STOR Committee — in late August. 

Jon Hare with the STOR Committee was expecting the update from Supino, the owners’ representative, to discuss how the Treasure Mountain Ranch group had adjusted its proposal to accommodate the GORP Act. 

Instead, Supino lobbed a bomb that has resonated across the conservation community. 

A meeting with the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee 

Supino, the former community development director for the city of Aspen, told the committee at its Aug. 27 meeting that the Treasure Mountain Ranch owners are not too worried about conflicts with the GORP Act.

Supino told the committee that staff at Hurd’s office made it clear the congressman was not pushing too hard on the GORP Act. He even suggested that Hurd was not planning to introduce the legislation he is cosponsoring.

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“That was a punch in the stomach,” said Hare, the advocacy director for High Country Conservation Advocates, which has been working with lawmakers to get the GORP Act in front of a committee in Congress. “We wondered if Phil was hearing something from that office that we were not hearing. It raised a red flag.”

Since Hurd introduced the bill, advocates for the GORP Act say they have not heard much from the Grand Junction lawmaker. The bill was introduced the same day by Bennet in the Senate, but has not moved forward in either chamber.

Congressional hurdles for public lands

The legislation requires a lot of scrutiny by lawmakers — especially in a Republican-controlled Congress negotiating public lands legislation around permitting reform, geothermal energy and wildfire mitigation work.

A spokesperson for Hurd, who is running for reelection against former Aspen city councilman Dwayne Romero, emailed a statement that said the congressman “recognizes the years of work that local communities, businesses, and stakeholders have invested in the GORP Act, and he takes that work seriously.”

“Legislation of this scope requires careful consideration, particularly when it affects public lands, local economies, and the communities that depend on them. He is continuing to engage with stakeholders and his colleagues in Congress to ensure the legislation reflects local priorities and has the strongest possible path forward,” the spokesperson said.

Supporters cheered when Hurd came on board, noting the decade of work to foster bipartisan support for the GORP Act across the region. Hurd, in a statement, said he was “honored” to join Bennet in sponsoring the legislation and said “this legislation reflects strong local support for the responsible stewardship of our land.”

A Republican sponsoring legislation that increases federal protection of lands diverges from current party positions that question whether the federal government should be expanding its role in public lands. Even if the GORP Act passes the House, it faces a Republican-majority in the Senate. Even if the Senate switches to a Democratic majority next month, the GORP Act would need a two-thirds majority to break a filibuster.

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