Poll Shows Westerners Want to Protect Public Land

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Voters in the West care about conservation of public lands and the environment according to a recently released poll

The survey reached 2800 registered voters across the Rocky Mountain west. This was its seventh year. 

Brendan Boepple is the Associate Director of the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project, the environmental advocacy group that developed the poll. He says the results show westerners continue to be interested in protecting land. 

"One of the questions we've asked every year of voters is, 'Do you consider yourself to be a conservationist?' This year we actually saw an 8-point bump across the region of people who consider themselves to be conservationists," Boepple says.

Boepple says the poll also shows a majority of voters in favor of protecting land and water for recreation rather than using it for development of oil and gas resources.

He says the project used two polling firms from both sides of the political aisle in an effort to reach a balanced sample of the public.

Colorado College, which sponsors the State of the Rockies Project, is 91.5 KRCC's licensee.