Friends of Wolf Creek call to action.
Hello to all you Friends of Wolf Creek and Alberta Park, can I share some important thoughts?
After years and decades of mostly being relegated to the sidelines, while promoters made slick presentations and the powers-that-be danced their dance, our time has arrived. On May 19th, Senior District Judge Richard P. Matsch handed down his decision in the Civil Action of 15-cv-01342 - It nullified the land swap agreement between the Rio Grande National Forest / USDA and Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture (Village at Wolf Creek speculators).
The Rio Grande Forest Service and USDA received a stinging rebuke for its one-sided approach and is currently digesting the judge’s decision. The Village at Wolf Creek speculators once again find themselves back at first base with nothing to show for more than three decades of lobbying, beyond lost court battles and endless expenses.
Now is the time when a significant ground-swell of the Friends of Wolf Creek proactively lobbying Red McCombs, perhaps even his McCombs Foundation and certainly the VWC website and the Rio Grande National Forest Administration could well have a resounding impact on their thinking, or at least their decisions moving forward. You never know until you make the effort.
I don’t mean anything belligerent, that would be totally counter-productive! I’m talking about striving to win hearts and minds. Help in a friendly effort to educate and convince the source of the Alberta Park Problem of the error of their ways.
I’m serious. Make your own honest, hopefully fact-based effort to explain why you think Alberta Park deserves to be left alone. Explain to them why it should be left alone, allow it to continue functioning as the biologically productive watershed it’s been for millennia. Down stream Rio Grande River shareholders sure would benefit.
If all you have to offer is simple personal stories, perhaps your photos highlighting the specialness of that place to you, give it your best and make it ring. What’s also needed is the persuasive arguments for why this wild wetland area with it’s fens and wildlife corridors must be protected and left untouched.
Explain to them why they should consider a Nature Conservancy, or land swap with more development appropriate lower elevation land.
There are only small windows of opportunity when your opinion matters. This is one of those. Step up and do your part.
I myself am only one individual unaffiliated friend of Alberta Park and Wolf Creek. To network with the Friends of Wolf Creek organization please visit http://friendsofwolfcreek.org.
Also check out these other organizations and their effort to protect this special parcel of land,
The official Forest Service site for the Village at Wolf Creek Access Project
RGNF Contact information
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/about-forest/offices
Forest Service Regional Press Officer Lujan MPA
Rocky Mountain Regional Office
lmlujan@fs.fed.us
Village At Wolf Creek developers website
http://www.thevillageatwolfcreek.com/contact
Red McCombs Foundation
Forest Service Regional Press Officer Lujan MPA
Rocky Mountain Regional Office
lmlujan@fs.fed.us
Village At Wolf Creek developers website
http://www.thevillageatwolfcreek.com/contact
Red McCombs Foundation
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The Federal Court decision:
The Federal Court decision:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Senior District Judge Richard P. Matsch
Civil Action No. 15-cv-01342-RPM
Plaintiffs,
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILD;
SAN LUIS VALLEY ECOSYSTEM COUNCIL;
SAN JUAN CITIZENS ALLIANCE;
WILDERNESS WORKSHOP,
Defendants
DAN DALLAS, in his official capacity as Forest Supervisor;
MARIBETH GUSTAFSON, in her official capacity as Deputy Regional Forester;
UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE,
a Federal Agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE,
a federal agency within the Department of the Interior,
Intervenor,
LEAVELL-McCOMBS JOINT VENTURE.
___________________________________________________________
ORDER SETTING ASIDE AGENCY ACTION
{The court's forty page document concluded with:}
“… The 900 public comments in the record show this heightened public awareness of the effects of human disruption of the native environment. The Rio Grande National Forest has two designated wilderness areas near the area involved in this action. It has unique features. Notably, responses to the public comments were prepared by the contractors who did the work.
They would not be expected to find that work to be flawed.
What NEPA requires is that before taking any major action a federal agency must stop and take a careful look to determine the environmental impact of that decision, and listen to the public before taking action. The Forest Service failed to do that in the Record of Decision. The duty of this Court is to set it aside.
VII. ORDER
Where an agency action is found to be arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or 39 otherwise not in accordance with law,
Page 40 of 40
the Court must “hold [it] unlawful and set [it] aside.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). The Court finds and concludes that Defendants‟ actions violated the APA in the respects specified in this decision.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the Record of Decision dated May 21, 2015, is SET ASIDE.
DATED: May 19, 2017
BY THE COURT:
s/Richard P. Matsch”
Full Text at:
http://no-villageatwolfcreek.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-mccombs-lmjv-land-swap-nullified.html
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Here is a collection of one man's critique based on the information from many.
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