NEWS RELEASES
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Coloradoan's website.
Thanks to an astronaut's land donation and bipartisan legislation from Colorado's Rep. Joe Neguse and Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, Rocky Mountain National Park is expected to grow by about 40 acres. The two bipartisan, bicameral bills allowed former NASA astronaut Vance D. Brand to donate 40 acres to the park and resolve an issue related to a family's cabin. Jacy Marmaduke of the Fort Collins Coloradoan relays in her article, "The National Park Service needed congressional approval to accept Brand's land donation. The property is adjacent to the park's eastern boundary and will enhance protection of the park's high-elevation ecosystem. It will also create connectivity through a scenic natural buffer between private lands and the Estes Cone, Storm Pass and Eugenia Mine trails." The other bill will return a 0.18-acre plot to a family whose cabin was transferred to the park after it purchased surrounding land in the '70s. The land addition will bring Rocky Mountain National Park's gross acreage to 265,847.To read more on Rocky Mountain National Park, click here.