Colorado: Babbitt Endorses Sand Dune Park Proposal
12/19/99
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Title: Babbitt endorses park proposal
Source: The Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 19, 1999
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Saturday endorsed a proposal to
make the Great Sand Dunes National Monument a national park and
pledged up to $40 million to make it happen.
Noting the bipartisan and grassroots support for the change, Babbitt
said it was not often he could sum up a proposal with one word:
``Amen.''
But members of Colorado's congressional delegation who toured the
monument with Babbitt said the transformation to a national park is
not definite yet.
Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., said he plans to introduce a bill to
make the change in the next congressional session, just months after
President Clinton signed legislation in October changing Colorado's
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument into a national park.