While Colorado is not widely known for having a host of “firsts” to its state history, it will be known as the state where President Joe Biden designated his first monument as president. On Oct. 12, Biden traveled to Leadville, Colorado to announce the designation of Camp Hale, a World War II training camp, as a national monument.
To combat German forces in the mountains of Europe, the United States designated a division of 14,000 soldiers to train in harsh winter conditions that were similar to those of the Alps in Italy. The training at Camp Hale for the 10th Mountain Division included working at around 9,000 feet above sea level in the snow laden Rocky Mountains.
In addition to its military significance, the Camp Hale region has helped multiple groups cope with past traumas, historical and mental. The region was home to multiple Ute tribes before being forcibly removed in the mid-19th century. Present day members of these tribes still continue to make journeys to this region to pray and hold traditional ceremonies and rituals, as well as to hunt and fish to honor ancestors that resided in the region centuries before.
For military veterans like Bradley Noone, a former member of the modern iteration of the 10th Mountain Division from 2006 to 2007, the region has served as his “therapist,” “gym” and “playground.” Camp Hale has helped him recover from the combat trauma he sustained during his deployment in Afghanistan. Veterans like Noone see the region, in addition to other federally protected parks and monuments, as places where they can feel at home and separated from the traumatic events that occurred overseas. Noone encouraged Biden to designate Camp Hale as a national monument back in late Sept., citing the economic and mental health benefits of the site, as well as a poll that measured 86 percent of 1,995 likely voters in four western U.S. states supporting the designation.
The Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument will also serve to protect 50,000 acres of land that many species of wildlife such as elk and lynxes call home. The announcement of the monument also coincided with a proposal to withdraw any form of mineral and oil drilling in the region that includes 200,000 acres of land. Colorado Republicans, including U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert, has criticized the move, arguing that it would harm the mining and logging industry in Colorado and do damage to the state economy.
Despite the criticism, Camp Hale has been a significant location for environmentalists, indigenous groups and veterans alike, and will remain influential as a result of its “monumental” designation.
