President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a proclamation that protects an area in Colorado where Army troops trained during World War II from development.
More than 53,000 acres of land was designated as the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument as a result of Biden’s action.
“The rugged landscape serves as a living testament to a pivotal moment in America’s military history, as these peaks and valleys forged the elite soldiers of the famed 10th Mountain Division — the Army’s first and only mountain infantry division — which helped free Europe from the grip of Nazi control in World War II,” the proclamation reads.
The area is also “foundational to preserving and interpreting the story of 10th Mountain Division veterans who, after their return from World War II, applied the skills they learned in the Camp Hale and Tenmile Range area to establish America’s skiing and outdoor recreation industry,” the proclamation continues.
The 10th Mountain Division played a pivotal role in the European theatre of the war by weakening Axis forces from their position in the Italian Alps, thanks to their specialized training acquired at and around Camp Hale. At Camp Hale and in the surrounding mountains including those of the Tenmile Range, soldiers learned winter survival techniques and to snowshoe, to climb, and most famously, ski.
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, joined Biden at the ceremony. In August, they wrote a letter to Biden pushing for the designation.
Related
The U.S. Forest Service will manage the 53,804-acre national monument and develop a management plan for the area. The designation of Camp Hale – Continental Divide is Biden’s first use of the Antiquities Act to create a new national monument.
President Theodore Roosevelt first used the Antiquities Act in 1906 to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Since then, 18 presidents of both parties, including Donald Trump, Barak Obama, G.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have used this authority to protect unique natural and historic features in America, including the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, and Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
Related
