Colorado Congressman Proposes Bill To Expand Rocky Mountain National Park

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (CBS4) - The Rocky Mountain National Park might be expanded under two bills proposed by a Colorado Congressman. Rep. Joe Neguse's bills were heard on Monday in the Natural Resources Committee.

Former NASA astronaut Vance D. Brand would be able to donate 40 acres to Rocky Mountain National Park under the Rocky Mountain National Park Boundary Modification Act.

"The Rocky Mountain Ownership Correction Act would resolve a longstanding issue regarding a local family's cabin that was erroneously transferred to the park," Neguse's office stated in a news release.

"The National Park Service is working with the Forsyth family to resolve a 1972-73 issue where a 0.18-acre plot containing their family cabin was erroneously transferred to the Rocky Mountain National Park when the NPS purchased a larger surrounding parcel. An error in the bank documents' legal description of the parcel mislocated the family's holding as a 0.18-acre plot of vacant land inside the parcel, not the original cabin site. The Forsyth family, seeking to regain legal ownership of its cabin and the 0.18-acre plot on which it sits, proposed an exchange of properties."

The donated land is located near the eastern edge of the park. Neguse's office says the land would provide a natural buffer between private lands and the Estes Cone, Storm Pass, and Eugenia Mine Trails.