Durango Herald: Village at Wolf Creek, Delayed But Not Derailed - 2/15/2014

OK, here we go.

Durango Herald headline February 15, 2014:

"Delayed but not derailed" 

Even as beetles ravage forest, the scale of Red McCombs’ plans to build a mountaintop village hinge on land swap 

By Joe Hanel Herald staff writer | 2/15/2014  

http://durangoherald.com/article/20140215/NEWS01/140219691/Delayed-but-not-derailed-

"A turning point in the three-decade battle over Wolf Creek Pass is expected next month, when the U.S. Forest Service will declare its preference on a land exchange with a Texas developer who wants to build a resort village.

"B.J. “Red” McCombs has been trying since 1986 to build the Village at Wolf Creek at the base of Wolf Creek Ski Area. His latest proposal – now five years in the making – is to swap his private land in a large meadow below the ski area for Forest Service land abutting U.S. Highway 160. 

"Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas expects to make a decision on the land swap in early to mid-March. 

"Much has changed on Wolf Creek Pass since McCombs offered the land trade in 2009. … "

Courtesy of San Juan Citizens Alliance

In summer 2007, the trees of Wolf Creek Pass were still green, 

before a spruce beetle outbreak ravaged the forest.

{read the entire article at the Durango Herald}