The Colorado Wilderness Act of 2026 designates approximately 600,000 acres of Colorado public lands as new wilderness areas within the National Wilderness Preservation System, creating 33 new wilderness areas and expanding 5 existing ones primarily from Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands across western and central Colorado. The bill also designates three "potential wilderness" areas that will become full wilderness once existing military and other authorized uses cease. Management provisions allow military helicopter overflights and training exercises to continue, permit competitive running events in specific areas, and establish that activities outside wilderness boundaries cannot be restricted based on their visibility or sound within the wilderness. The legislation preserves all existing water rights and interstate compacts while requiring the Secretary of Interior to secure water rights necessary to maintain stream flows and surface water levels for wilderness ecosystems, though no new water storage or diversion projects may be created within designated wilderness areas. Official maps and boundary descriptions must be filed with Congress and made publicly available within specified timeframes.
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