When Interior Secretary Sally Jewell laid out her conservation strategy in a wide-ranging speech last week in Washington, it included a shot across the bow that could echo in Colorado.
The warning was for Congress and the message was simple: If federal lawmakers don't protect wild lands, President Obama will use his authority to do so.
"There's no question that if Congress doesn't act, we will act," Jewell said at the National Press Club in Washington.
One might have more sympathy for federal lawmakers who want to control this arena if they showed some interest in or ability to get something done.
Truth is, public lands bills have languished in Congress for years. The 112th Congress, which met in 2011 and 2012, was the first in more than four decades to end without protecting a single additional acre of wilderness.
This has resonance in Colorado because it has some of the more beautiful natural places in the world and several are candidates for national monument protection.
Tops on the list has to be Browns Canyon. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall has been working steadily for 18 months to build local consensus behind a proposal to have Congress designate the picturesque stretch of the Arkansas Valley a national monument.
You might be wondering why the president doesn't just designate these areas and others and be done with it. There are, as it turns out, downsides to consider.
If the president were too liberal in designating — as in, he cranked out 30 or 40 before the end of his second term — it might galvanize enough irritated legislators to pass a bill undercutting the Antiquities Act.
Also, some lawmakers harbor hopes Congress can act on designation proposals. For instance, Udall's office told me he is introducing legislation in the coming weeks to designate Browns a national monument.
"Let Congress consider the bill before going the executive route," spokesman Mike Saccone said.
Fair enough. But if it languishes like so many other protection measures, the president shouldn't hesitate.
Another pitfall of widespread executive designations and a cranky Congress has to do with operational money. Sure, the president can designate, but Congress is in charge of purse strings if money is needed to manage these areas.
And yet another potential problem is that a sufficiently aggravated Congress could undo a presidential designation.
The funny thing is, tension over presidential use of the Antiquities Act has been around since it was passed in 1906.
Sixteen of the 19 presidents have used the act since its passage, and there have been persistent lawsuits and legislative efforts to lessen its reach. The lesson is that there is a right way to do these things. Again, Colorado provides an example.
Last year, President Obama designated Chimney Rock, in southwest Colorado, a national monument, but not before exhaustive efforts to gain buy-in from business interests, environmentalists, Native Americans and local politicians.
Even U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, a Republican from Cortez, supported the move — while also backing an effort to curb the president's ability to make the designation.
It's a head-shaker, but it shows that strong local support can help get around a Congress unwilling or unable to act. And that's a message they should hear loud and clear in Washington.
E-mail Denver Post editorial writer Alicia Caldwell at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow her on Twitter: @AliciaMCaldwell