A message from the Friends of Wolf Creek. I encourage you to visit their website and check out the petition they're circulating - sign and add your concise thoughts 250 words or less.
SanJuanCitizens.Org/village-at-wolf-creek
THE VILLAGE AT WOLF CREEK
HAS REARED IT'S UGLY HEAD ONCE AGAIN
Nearly four decades ago, Billy Joe “Red” McCombs – the Texan billionaire who built an empire spanning car dealerships, media, and sports – teamed up with Mineral County landowner Charles Leavell to form a real estate venture. Red owned three parcels of sagebrush in the San Luis Valley (SLV) near Saguache, but his sights were set on Wolf Creek Pass.
Wolf Creek Pass straddles the Continental Divide between the SLV and the San Juan Basin, spanning the unprotected saddle between the Weminuche Wilderness and South San Juan Wilderness. Highway 160 crests the pass at 10,857 feet, with steep grades on either side that scared CW McCall enough to pen a country song about it in 1975.
The remote terrain provides critical habitat for threatened lynx, calving grounds for elk, and is a favored spot for wolverine reintroduction. The pass has some of the highest annual snowfalls in Colorado, supporting a laid-back ski hill and excellent backcountry recreation. When the snowpack melts, it yields water resources for communities downstream, including irrigators on the notoriously over tapped Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande National Forest is responsible for managing all of these resources on behalf of the public.
