North Fork DC Fly-In 2025

The Western Slope Conservation Center once again partnered with the Colorado Farm and Food Alliance (COFFA) and the Valley Organic Growers Association (VOGA) to bring a delegation of North Fork Valley and western Colorado voices straight to our policymakers in Washington, DC.Chris Rackens and Mike Burkley of WSCC, Pete Kolbenschlag and Elizabeth Agee from COFFA, Candice Orlando, Owner of Rock n’ Roots Farm (VOGA), and Sarah Peterson, Founder of the Paonia Local Food Movement led this year’s “DC Fly-In” and spent several days in our nation’s capital meeting with our representatives and NGOs. 

The North Fork  delegation met directly with Congressman Hurd, Senator Hickenlooper, and Senator Bennet. While meeting with Sen. Bennet, we were lucky to be joined by Steve Ela of Ela Family Farms who was in town advocating for National Organic Coalition priorities and North Fork producers. 

We also met with staff from Representative DeGette’s office, House Natural Resources, The Wilderness Society, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, American Rivers, American Whitewater, and Conservation Lands Foundation. Our top issues included federal funding and staffing and impacts in our valley, protection of public lands, support for  the North Fork Valley watershed mineral withdrawal and the GORP Act, agriculture, climate change resiliency, and renewable energy programs.  

In our meeting with Representative Hurd, we shared concerns about delays and cuts in federal funding that directly impact important water infrastructure and climate resiliency projects, our concerns about cuts to the federal workforce which will impact the management and health of millions of acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands throughout western Colorado, and the broad community support for protecting the North Fork Valley from oil and gas development. Representative Hurd expressed concern about local funding cuts and staff firings, and was interested to learn more about the GORP Act and the North Fork Valley Watershed mineral withdrawal. Our delegation was clear in stating that fracking is not compatible with the existing economy and way of life  in the North Fork Valley. We also discussed local clean energy and agricultural initiatives.

Both Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet kindly took time for their very busy schedules to meet with us and talk about our shared concerns related to how this Administration’s policies are impacting Western Slope communities. We thanked them for their leadership on public lands, clean energy, and local food programs, and encouraged them to rise to the challenge of being an effective check and balance against the chaotic policies coming out of the White House. 

We hope that Congressman Hurd and both Senators will accept our invitation to visit the public lands, farms, and federally supported projects in our area, and meet directly with those being impacted by policies supported by this Administration and Congress. 

We thank our community for supporting this annual trip. We hear time and again how valuable it is for constituents to make the effort to show up in DC to discuss the issues most important to us.

WSCC encourages you to reach out to your representatives to share your own concerns about how federal policies are impacting our area. You can even call to thank them when taking important votes or actions that support our communities. (Contact information below!)

Congressman Jeff Hurd (CO-03)

Senator Michael Bennet

Senator John Hickenlooper