The national monument was designated by President Barack Obama on Feb. 19, 2015, to much applause from sportsmen and the business community for providing permanent protection of this scenic landscape and the important Arkansas River corridor that runs through Browns Canyon.

Rather than arguing the details of conservation efforts in the halls of Congress, they strapped on life jackets and helmets and jumped into rafts to see the river and national monument firsthand.

The U.S. Forest Service completes a 5-year Roadless Area Review and Evaluation process (RARE I), which found that all the USFS lands within Browns Canyon and surrounding areas, tallying tens of thousands of acres, are suitable to be designated as wilderness.

As with any management plan for public lands, the first step in that process will be a series of scoping sessions for public comment.

An effort that spanned several decades was concluded with a commemoration ceremony for Browns Canyon July 18 to celebrate its national monument status.

Set up has started in ‪BuenaVista‬ for ‪‎Browns Canyon‬ national monument celebration.

The ceremony will be held at the soccer field at BV’s River Park on July 18 at 3 p.m. Baker hopes that BV residents will walk or ride bikes in order to keep traffic flow down at the river park.

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Park Manager Rob White said he expects river management to be business as usual despite the inclusion of the Arkansas River – specifically the land under the river – in Browns Canyon National Monument.

“Without the help and willingness of these volunteer groups, these projects would be nothing,” Brett Beasley, rec planner for the Forest Service, said.

Myers said the goal of the trip was to lobby representatives of the US government to protect the Antiquities Act in its current state, which has been a useful tool for 16 presidents – 8 Republicans and 8 Democrats – in protecting over 130 national monuments.

Search and rescue crews recovered the body of the missing 11-year-old boy Friday from the Arkansas River in Browns Canyon.

Search and rescue crews continued combing through Browns Canyon June 11 looking for a missing 11-year-old boy from Golden, but they had found no sign of him by press time.

Emergency responders scoured Browns Canyon Wednesday after receiving calls at about 3:40 p.m. that a commercial rafting customer, an 11-year-old boy from Golden, had gone into the river and had not been found.

Chaffee County commissioners considered a resolution at their meeting Tuesday that would allow the county to participate in management of federal lands within the county.

In the Springs, he worked construction and sold furniture, but also discovered that he was spending most of his free time in Chaffee County, enjoying what it has to offer.

Heinlein said part of the interim management plan is working on signage to direct visitors to the monument area through Ruby Mountain and Hecla Junction.

The proposed legislation has been criticized by advocacy groups as a backdoor attempt to put federal public lands in state control, claiming the move may lead to the land being sold off and placed in private ownership.

Responses were quick following a statement Thursday from Rep. Doug Lamborn regarding Browns Canyon.

Executive director Keith Baker and board president Bill Dvorak met president Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Feb. 24 to recognize the recent designation of Brown Canyon National Monument.

Paying guests on the upper Arkansas River spent $23.7 million last year, for a total estimated economic impact of $60.7 million, according to the Colorado River Outfitters Association. Outfitters expect the national monument will lure more clients to the already-popular river.

President Barack Obama has signed a proclamation establishing Browns Canyon National Monument, the culmination of a two-decade effort to protect the popular whitewater destination. The Times has compiled its coverage of the issue, dating back to U.S. Sen. Mark Udall's original proposal.

A look back at The Times' coverage of the most recent efforts to permanently protect Browns Canyon.

The Times has compiled news of Obama's Browns Canyon National Monument proclamation, from the preliminary announcement to the official signing.

First came the announcement, then the reaction. Read responses sent to The Times in the wake of President Barack Obama's establishment of Browns Canyon National Monument.

Efforts to protect Browns Canyon aren't new – they date back to the late 70s. Now that Browns Canyon National Monument is official, learn how the popular whitewater corridor earned the distinction.

Browns Canyon has been formally declared a national monument.