Local Rights of Nature in the Rocky Mountains
By Emma Hynek
In recent years, three communities in Colorado have prioritized environmental protection by recognizing the inherent rights of their surrounding natural ecosystems. Crestone, Nederland, and Ridgway, Colorado, have all created resolutions with the collective goal to give Nature a voice in local government and, eventually, result in statewide action to permanently protect and restore Colorado’s ecosystems.
Rights of Nature in Colorado
With the help of Earth Law Center and others, Crestone, Colorado, passed a resolution in 2018 to recognize the Rights of Nature in the town. The resolution acknowledges the role Nature plays in Crestone’s deep spiritual culture and explains the responsibility humans have to act as environmental guardians. By recognizing the Rights of Nature, the community collectively invested in protecting its ecosystem. Specifically, the recognized Rights of Nature with the goal of protecting the North Crestone Creek and Burnt Gulch aquifer, the source of the majority of Crestone’s water. Crestone is also a Dark Sky community, with its successful application emphasizing the Rights of Nature as a motivation to protect dark skies. Dark skies are necessary for many species and ecosystems to flourish.
In July of 2021, the town of Nederland, Colorado, became the first in the state to recognize the rights of a body of water: Boulder Creek and its accompanying watershed. ELC partnered with Save the Colorado (which has a rights of rivers program), Boulder Rights of Nature, and others to make the resolution possible. According to a Daily Camera article, while the resolution is not legally binding, it does allow for guardians of the creek to be appointed so that it has representation in legal decisions. Ensuring Boulder Creek has the ability to flow and be pollution-free was a major goal in the resolution, as was preserving the creek’s cultural significance.
Ridgway, Colorado quickly followed in Nederland’s footsteps, recognizing the rights of the Uncompahagre River just a few months later. The Uncompahagre River is located on the border of downtown Ridgway and according to the resolution, provides the town with clean water, cultural connections, a diverse array of plants and animals, and more. The resolution outlines a plan to consistently ensure the river is adequately protected, a plan that includes implementing effective policies and programs, appointing a legal representative of the river, and opposing actions that would violate the river’s rights.
How Does Recognizing the Rights of Nature Help Conservation Efforts?
There are many places around the world that have recognized the Rights of Nature in some capacity. The Magpie River in Canada was granted legal personhood and basic rights and protections in early 2021, animals in Spain gained legal protection this year, and the Atrato River in Colombia gained legal rights in 2017, to name a few. The hope is that as we see these efforts more often, they will expand into additional cities, states, and countries, giving us a new way to adequately protect Nature.
Each of these three Colorado communities has acknowledged the fact that in preserving Nature, we are also preserving the health and wellbeing of humans. The two are intricately connected. By ensuring that the ecosystems we depend upon are protected, we are protecting our own livelihoods in more ways than one. Our physical and cultural wellbeing depends on nature.
A special thanks to Save the Colorado and Boulder Rights of Nature for their work in this field! They are essential partners to ELC and are amongst the most dedicated supporters of the Rights of Nature in the world.
Next Steps
The common goal in passing these resolutions is to mobilize other communities in Colorado to do the same, instilling the Rights of Nature into the local community and eventually leading to support at the state level. For example, the fifth section of Ridgway’s resolution is a call to action that asks the state government of Colorado to implement legal policies that would further protect Colorado’s bodies of water. Currently, ELC is working closely with Save the Colorado in conversation with over ten other communities who envision passing similar resolutions to those passed in Crestone, Nederland, and Ridgway.
How Can You Help?
Sign up for the ELC Newsletter
About the Author
Emma Hynek lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the Marketing Manager at North Media, a strategic communications and consulting firm. She has a passion for all things animals and nature, and you can often find her running the trails of North Carolina or reading a good mystery novel.
