July 2nd, IDTV report - Wolf Creek Opponents File Lawsuit

Wolf Creek Opponents File Law Suit 

July 2, 2015

The battle against the village at Wolf Creek, 

escalates into a full blown law suit.

http://www.durangotv.com/video-detail.php?ID=449

InsideDurangoTV

Update 6/26/15 - citizens task force visits Washington D.C.

Village at Wolf Creek faces hurdle

http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20150624/NEWS01/150629803//article/20150624/NEWS01/150629803/Village-at-Wolf-Creek-faces-hurdle-

By Peter Marcus  | June 24, 2015 |  Herald Denver Bureau

… A coalition of conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday after the U.S. Forest Service gave the land swap the go-ahead in May. Developers would offer 177 acres of private land to the Forest Service in the Rio Grande National Forest in exchange for about 205 acres of federal land.

...

The nearly 30-year effort has been overshadowed by several previous lawsuits, all of which sought to stop the ambitious development. Developers crossed a major hurdle last month, but they fully expected additional roadblocks. That delay was realized Wednesday.

“This land exchange was completed without the full and transparent analysis of the impacts that is required by law,” said Matt Sandler, an attorney for Rocky Mountain Wild, who filed the lawsuit. “These laws are in place to protect the public interest; this Forest Service decision protects the interests of big business and billionaires.”

...

They considered a 1980 law called the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which contains a provision that requires owners of in-holdings to be given reasonable access to their property. That means year-round access for developers, officials say.

Concerns have revolved around wildlife – such as migration routes for lynx – and maintaining the integrity of the scenic treasure that surrounds Wolf Creek.

Opponents recently organized a coalition to travel to Washington, D.C., to speak with lawmakers and federal officials about the matter. ...

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Report From Our Wolf Creek Trip To DC
By Jimbo Buickerood  |  June 26, 2015
http://sanjuancitizens.org/report-from-our-wolf-creek-trip-to-dc/

Last Friday night I camped on our national forest lands to the east and just below Wolf Creek Pass. Before snuggling into my sleeping bag, I bid a goodnight to the couple dozen elk grazing amongst the ponds and wetland fens nearby. The next morning I roamed the meadows, streamsides and forest while appreciating the thrush’s song harmonizing with the morning light.

On Monday night my pre-bedtime walk switched to bidding a stone-faced George Washington (on horse, not elk) goodnight before climbing into my bed in a Washington, DC inn. My morning walk the next day was a strident and timely effort to hop onto the Metro’s redline to arrive in time for our first meeting of the day in the Ford House Office Building – no time to listen for a bird’s song. Later that day we entered the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture – there were no elk to comfort me, but the wildlife photos on the walls assured me the agency had some interest in backcountry habitat.

There were five of us on our team – a diverse collection of conservations from Colorado and beyond who journeyed to Washington to Stop the Pillage.

Our objective was to inform administration officials and members of the Colorado federal delegation of the current status to develop (and profit from) a private inholding set amidst our public lands on the east side of Wolf Creek Pass – the one owned by that out-of-state billionaire. We were also there to listen to the experts on possible avenues to save the Wolf Creek Pass fens, forest and their resident creatures from the developers.

Most of the high level managers and elected officials (and their staff) we talked with were to some degree aware of the long and twisted history of the effort (conspiracy?) to airdrop a city of 8,000 people on the east side of Wolf Creek pass at the foot of the ski area. All were interested in an update of the situation that includes the recent signing of the Record of Decision (ROD) by Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas to approve the proposed land exchange. 

You probably already know that the land exchange would give the developer direct access to Highway 160 for the first time since the private inholding “miraculously” appeared in the middle of our national forest in 1986, enabling vehicles to fill the envisioned 4,000+ parking spaces. Just thinking (and digressing) about 4,000 parking spaces in a location with an average of more than 400 inches of snow per year – perhaps “Shoveling at Wolf Creek” is the envisioned tagline for the development…..

Meanwhile, back in Washington – we emphasized our observations that the approved Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was flawed to the core as we had noted in our official 96-page Objection to the FEIS and is detailed again in the legal complaint we filed this week in federal court. If you derived two lists from the FEIS, one listing “Important Issues Analyzed” and the other “Important Issues Ignored”, the second list would be longer – much longer. The so-called scope of the FEIS was very narrow, basically it looked at the exchange of real estate parcels while ignoring the proposal of airdropping in that 8,000-person “village.” Yes, that would include those 4,000+ parking spaces where those elk were grazing, the thrush was singing and the marshmarigolds were beginning to bloom.

Our meeting hosts asked a wide range of questions regarding community interests, wildlife habitat, the environmental analysis process, involvement of various agencies, concerns of nearby landowners, specifics of the project history, and more. There was one question they did not ask, as they seemed to already know – our mettle was strong as ever and our intentions were clear, Stop the Pillage.

While making the rounds of the Capitol and departmental offices we were buoyed by the tremendous amount of support being shown by supporters of a wild Wolf Creek Pass with the thousands of letters, postcards, phone calls and petition signers weighing in as we walked the marble and granite halls and told our story. It was evident by the words and expressions of many that we met with that we were not standing alone in our nation’s capitol – they knew, we knew – that we had all of you with us.

The multi-decade effort to Stop the Pillage has been long, convoluted, strange and demanding and we would certainly would have received our Patience and Persistence badges had been this a scouting achievement effort. With the incredible public support, a wide array of committed partners, a strong Stop the Pillage strategy, and certainly the knowledge that these lands deserve to be wild (not asphalt) I feel as confident as ever we will prevail.

Together we will – Stop the Pillage!

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June 4, 2015 - Wolf Creek Land Exchange - Inside Durango TV

Updated 6/6/2015
Supervisor Dallas responds to my questions 

June 4, 2015 - Wolf Creek Land Exchange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncluLQFcOUM
InsideDurangoTV

Published on Jun 3, 2015

Opponents of the proposed Village at Wolf Creek have vowed to continue their fight against the controversial development after Rio Grande Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas last month issued a final decision to approve a land exchange between the Forest Service and Texas Billionaire Red McCombs.  IDTV

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I send Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas the following questions and he was kind enough to respond:

3:00  Forest Service slow to comply with court order to turn over documents

Supervisor Dallas: From what I have been told by those who are more directly involved, the FS is complying with a schedule for providing documents to the court.

3:15 The brewing illegal conflict of interest scandal of Deputy Forester Gustafson. 

She developed content for the Environmental Impact Statement, then served as the reviewing officer of her own handy work when objections to the EIS were filed.  

Supervisor Dallas: I can say definitively she (Maribeth Gustafson) did NOT develop content for the EIS.

CC: Not surprisingly she dismissed all objections.  -   {the project must move a head, eh} but wait.

4:30 Dan Dallas says Deputy Forester Gustafson was not involved in the "work of the day to day analysis process" which RGNF Supervisor Dallas was in charge of. 

  

CC: Hmmm, so what exactly does that mean?  

Supervisor Dallas: See above.  To summarize, the analysis process took place at the Forest Level.  The Regional Office was contacted as necessary for technical advice to the Forest associated with the analysis but this generally was with technical experts such as realty specialists, recreation specialists, wildlife biologists, and others for example, not regional line officers such as Deputy Regional Foresters.

CC: What did Gustafson have to do with producing this Village at Wolf Creek Access Environmental Impact study? 

Supervisor Dallas: Lands and Land Adjustments is in her portfolio (basically a division of labor between the two Deputy Regional Foresters) so the regional oversight of the project was her responsibility.  The actual responsibility for her was to at a broad, regional level, through interactions with the Director of Lands in the Regional Office, keep track of the project so she could brief the Regional Forester on any issues associated with the conduct and progress of the analysis process if necessary.

CC: Why was she chosen to do the review of objections? 

Supervisor Dallas: Explained above.  She was the person responsible for reviewing the objections.

One last comment.  Your use of the term “brewing” conflict of interest scandal should be very telling to the readers of your blog.  Region 2 of the Forest Service encompasses 5 states,  11 National Forests and 8 National Grasslands.  At any point in time there are multiple complex and controversial EIS analyses processes going on that often create intense controversy when the decision is rendered by a local Forest Service line officer. 

In addition, there are many multiple more National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) actions called Environmental Assessments (EA’s) and Categorical Exclusions (CE’s) in various stages going on also on every Forest and Grassland.  The Wolf Creek project is no different in regards to controversy unfortunately.  A person in the Deputy Regional Forester position, whether it’s DRF Gustafson or any other person in this position simply does not have time to delve into the specifics of a local project and certainly not develop content as implied by accusations that are being made now in the response from the objectors to my decision.  

This so called scandal is indeed being brewed I’ll grant you, but is it from actual heat or rapid stirring?  Your readers can decide that.  Thanks again for your interest and contact for the other side to the story.

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I thank Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas for his interest and taking the time to explain.  Regarding Forester Gustafson I was simply asking, I did not, and I do not imply wrong doing, that would be for others who have way more information and insight than I do to judge.  

I do want to make clear that the glaring scandal that I see is allowing Alberta Park to be written off with such casual disregard for what will be lost to the America people and the Rio Grande National Forest.  Shifting that speculative development a couple hundred yards over isn't going to mitigate cascading damages worth a fig.

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Update June 9th.  

I received an email from Mike Blakeman Public Affairs Specialist for the RGNF, he has been out on personal leave and was catching up with me.  He included one comment I feel honor bound to share:

I’m dealing with flooding concerns and a fire at the moment (yep, both), so don’t have time to dig deeply into the Village controversy at the moment, except to say that to the best of my knowledge there have been no conflict of interest boundaries breached. One part I have not seen mentioned is that a regional objection review team (composed of people from other forests and the regional office who had nothing to do with the Village project) reviewed the objections and then provided their recommendations to Maribeth Gustafson. 

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For the official documents visit; fs.usda.gov/riogrande

Also visit: http://sanjuancitizens.org/?s=village+Wolf+Creek and

http://friendsofwolfcreek.org
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fyi:  Forest Service responds to objections to proposed Village at Wolf Creek
Hannah Grover, Daily Times | April 3, 2015
http://www.daily-times.com/four_corners-news/ci_27845626/forest-service-responds-objections-proposed-village-at-wolf

Problems with the VWC Access Project EIS - San Juan Citizens Alliance

I'll admit when the Village at Wolf Creek Access decision came down last November, I was neck deep in other projects and it all seemed so hopeless that I really didn't tune in too much.  After all it's not like I can do anything about it.  

Then a couple days ago a chance conversation made me aware of the planned Saturday June 20th "Honor Wolf Creek" celebration up at Wolf Creek Ski Area.

It seemed to matter again, at least it seemed worth trying again.  Perhaps there were some more friends of Wolf Creek out there who are ready to become informed about the current situation and become involved.

Thus, this flurry of blog posts, while I myself have been catching up on news stories I'd avoided, such as this one from Jimbo Buickerood of the San Juan Citizens Alliance.

It makes the point that there are some serious flaws, gaps and legal issues with the Village at Wolf Creek Access Project EIS.

To me, that means there is hope and there is need for more people to become proactive - because there is the possibility of forcing the Rio Grande National Forest and their regional bosses to reassess this situation from a more realistic contemporary perspective rather than their current attitude that the government is beholden to Mr. McCombs' ill-considered development obsession, simply because he got thwarted in his sneaky back room high stakes political poker game.  

After all, we the people are supposed to be boss, it is our land.  But that only works if we assert ourselves. 

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Forest Service paves the way for Pillage at Wolf Creek

http://sanjuancitizens.org/forest-service-paves-way-pillage-wolf-creek/

By Jimbo Buickerood  |  San Juan Citizens Alliance  |  November 20, 2014
(I added the bold highlights)

Today’s decision by Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas to approve a land exchange on top of Wolf Creek Pass requested by billionaire Red McCombs is both a disappointing and absurd decision to “green light” a development that would deface the inherent wild beauty of the area and ignore the widespread public opposition to the huge development.