For the sake of the Rio Grande River, NO Village at Wolf Creek.

 

AmericanRivers.org/rio-grande river

Because river systems are so critical to human thriving and commerce it makes sense to focus on protecting and nurturing those systems to guarantee our children will enjoy their benefits.  Toward this end I think John Wesley Powell had a great idea when he advocated for western state lines to be drawn along river drainage basin boundary lines. 

See, John Wesley Powell’s Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States (1878)

It’s too late for that, still, the importance of clean healthy rivers to downstream stakeholders, remains as crucial as ever.  Especially as water levels drop.

Alberta Park sits below the Great Divide mountain slopes of the Wolf Creek snowshed, located within the Rio Grande National Forest.  Its meltwater feeds through Alberta Park on the way to the Rio Grande River, and that gets way too little attention in this controversy were it sometimes feels like legalities and tossing papers at each other is the only thing that matters.  

This posting is dedicated to the Rio Grande River and is basically a collection of articles, a bibliographic resource for learning some important background.

Alberta Park at Wolf Creek needs advocates to start lobbying the USDA-USFS powers-that-be to begin making every effort possible to reconsider going forward with this 1980’s speculative luxury retreat.  Why?  This is 2024, not the go-go ‘80s, environmentally and sociologically (read stakeholders) - the realities of the Rio Grande River Basin have become way more challenging.  

I’m no expert, but I do know enough to seek out experts and get my facts from them.  That’s what this bibliographic collection is all about, sharing important information with the friends of Wolf Creek & Alberta Park.

We The People should be able to expect the USDA-USFS to start incorporating the Rio Grande River and the greater good, along with science and climate realities.  It’s time to get serious about prioritizing the health of the Rio Grande River system, as paramount over some developer’s glory pipe dream.

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GETTING TO KNOW THE RIO GRANDE RIVER

Texas Water Resources Institute - by Kerry Halladay - email - 2024

 HYDROLOGY OF THE WOLF CREEK PASS AREA

MountainStudies.org - Dr. November 7, 2014 - Project Leader: Mark Williams (University of Colorado)

A RIVER STRETCH BEYOND ITS MEANS

Wild Earth guardians.org - email - 2024

A DRYING RIVER - The Rio Grande is in peril, and the consequences have already manifested

Erick S. Albarran - medium.com - Environmental Issue Profiles 2021

CLIMATE-SMART CONSERVATION ALONG THE RIO GRANDE RIVER

Janessa Price - WorldWildlife.org - 

RIO GRANDE IN HIGH DEMAND

American rivers.org

ABOUT THE RIO GRANDE RIVER

Rio Grande International Study Center - 

THE RIO GRANDE WATERSHED IS AT ITS ECOLOGICAL BREAKING POINT. 

By: Rio Grande Waterkeeper - March 21, 2019

RIO GRANDE WATER FUND

Protecting forests and water in northern New Mexico.

THE RIO GRANDE RIVER WATER

Pennsylvania State University - e-education course

RESTORING THE NATURAL FLOW OF THE RIO GRANDE-RIO BRAVO RIVER

Daniel Vernick, December 07, 2023 - Worldwildlife.org

THE RIO GRANDE ISN’T JUST A BORDER - IT’S A CRISIS!

By Vianey Rueda &  Drew Gronewold - October 23, 2023  - The Conversation Media Group

CLIMATE-SMART CONSERVATION ALONG THE RIO GRANDE 

World Wild Life Fund - Janessa Price - 2024

RIO GRANDE, A DRYING RIVER

Erick S. Albarran - March 21, 2021 - medium.com

THE RIO GRANDE RIVER - InTeGrate

Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future

Water Matter - THE RIO GRANDE AS AN INTERNATIONAL RIVER

By Margaret J. Vick, J.S.D. (2012) - Utton Transboundary Resources Center - University of New Mexico

PUBLIC REPORTS FROM WOLF CREEK SUMMIT  above Alberta Park, Colorado

Air & Water Database Public Reports 

CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES

EarthatHome.org/

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LMJV is Correct! Future of Village at Wolf Creek is NOT a Local Issue. It's a Rio Grande Stakeholders Issue.

 Click and behold, the LMJV's Alberta Park developers' pipe dream

Image by Alex Pullen

On the VWC webpage, they tell you that the friends of Alberta Park and Wolf Creek, "are NOT your local grass-roots coalition fighting against this project."  Well, I'm out here in my rural cabin, working on my own, occasionally communicating with others - and about as grass-roots as can be, I even have soil under my fingernails right now.  

Though, it is true that this is NOT a "local issue"!

The Rio Grande River is an endangered interstate, international river, and LMJV wants to mess with its precious source waters. 

That's personal for all Rio Grande River stakeholders!

I’ve been going through San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council’s VWC legal documents and came across a letter written by Christine Canaly, Director of the SLVEC, to the USFS’s NEPA Coordinator, just over twenty years ago.  

It seems like a perfect cautionary essay (based on solid study) to start with and share with friends, including LMJV developers and USDA/RGNF powers that be.  Two decades ago, a decision was made to focus exclusively on gaining access to Leavell McCombs Joint Venture’s Alberta Park inholding, while steadfastly ignoring the varied environmental (read physical reality) concerns raised in Christina’s appraisal.

Her thoughtful constructive advice was ignored by the governmental powers that be, and LMJV salesmen alike.  That has resulted in twenty-years of squandered time and treasure with LMJV right back where they started. 

Talk about throwing good money, after bad.  Now in 2024 LMJV appears poised for victory.  Yet, one way, or the other, it will be a pyrrhic victory since these issues haven't gone away.  

Not to mention that the general economic feasibility index for such a 1980's inspired go-go dream project, and profits driver, gets thinner with every massive infrastructure damaging, global warming driven, extreme weather event eating away at the luxury market bottomline.  

VWC Developer Gets Greenlight

 NEWS FLASH - April 19, 2024 - Alberta Park, Wolf Creek, CO.

To quote,

Bloomberg Law.com / Shayna Greene, April 19, 2024

US District Court finds

* District court was wrong to vacate agency authorizations

* Federal Alaska conservation act (ANILCA) supports access to parcel

"The Tenth Circuit on Friday overruled a lower court and reinstated federal agencies' authorizations for a right-of-way easement to develop a ski resort village in Colorado.

A federal district court has sent the approvals back to agencies, saying they were based on the same deficient documents as previously vacated authorizations - but the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said that decision was wrong because the agencies proposed different options for the project. ..."

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Quoting, JUSTIA US LAW:

Rocky Mountain Wild v. Dallas, No. 22-1438 (10th Cir. 2024)

Justia Opinion Summary

Red McComb's Village at Wolf Creek - A Chronology (1986-April 2024)

A chronology of Red McCombs' Village at Wolf Creek Speculation saga based on information gleaned from the San Juan Citizens Alliance, and San Luis Valley Ecosystems Council, then we finish with a Friends of Wolf Creek review of major issues.

San Juan Citizens Alliance org

Compiled in April 2019

Compiled in September 2014

1986: Land Exchange #1

Leavell Properties requested 420 acres of U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land on the east flank of Wolf Creek Pass in exchange for 1,631 acres of degraded rangeland they owned in Saguache County. Their aim was to develop 200 residential units adjacent to the Wolf Creek Ski Area. Colorado’s then Congressman Hank Brown interfered with this process. The USFS denied the exchange due to concerns surrounding “a decrease in public values;” but two weeks later, the USFS withdrew the denial decision and, without providing a valid reason, approved the transfer of 300 acres to Leavell.

1986 - Forest Service Environmental Assessment anticipated 200 residential units

* Deemed “Not in the Public Interest”, denied Feb. 20, 1986

* Opposite decision issued March 6, 1986

• Scenic Easement attached to the property as condition of exchange

Update Courtesy of the San Juan Citizens Alliance

        A quick summary courtesy of 

San Juan Citizens Alliance

{PS. Thank you San Juan Citizens Alliance for all you do!}

In 1986 Leavell Properties, Inc. (later joined by Texas billionaire B. J. “Red” McCombs to form the Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, or LMJV) swapped land with the United States Forest Service to obtain a property on top of Wolf Creek Pass surrounded by Forest Service land. McCombs, who now spearheads the project, expanded the plan to his “Village at Wolf Creek.” In order to construct the Village at Wolf creek, however, LMJV needs Forest Service approval to gain year-round highway access to the isolated property.

Since the beginning, the “Friends of Wolf Creek” – a coalition of conservation groups from around the state – have fought to ensure the development is never realized. So far we’ve been able to keep construction at bay, forcing the Forest Service to hand over documents and rewrite woefully inadequate Environmental Impact Statements (EISs). In 2006, we sued the Forest Service for inappropriately colluding with the developer during environmental assessments, and won. 

Our partner Rocky Mountain Wild sued the Forest Service three times for disregarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Rocky Mountain Wild won the first two cases and the third is in process.

In May of 2017, we won another lawsuit, putting the development on hold yet again. A federal judge nullified the land exchange on grounds the Forest Service avoided a thorough analysis of the environmental impacts of development in their latest EIS and that they failed to meet independent review requirements. 

The judge agreed that the Forest Service shirked their responsibility by ignoring the immense impacts of building a city at 10,400’.

But McCombs and the Forest Service refused to accept the public’s verdict opposing the destructive project, and in February 2019 the Forest Service approved yet another scheme to give McCombs carte blanche for development. 

The 2019 decision simply hands over a paved access road to McCombs using precisely the same flawed environmental analysis used to justify the land exchange decision that was invalidated by the court in 2017. 

As we investigate the agency’s justification, the Forest Service finally started to hand over the documents behind its decision in March 2019, under court order, after fighting public transparency for 8 months.

It’s been a long 30-year journey, but we remain committed to ensuring the Village at Wolf Creek never defaces the heart of the San Juans.

For more detailed information please read the “Concise History of Wolf Creek.”

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source:  https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/the-village-at-wolf-creek

Friends Of Wolf Creek.org Update - Alberta Park vs LMJV-VWC

STOP the Pillage - NO Village at Wolf Creek! 

Save Alberta Park's watershed and wildlife corridor.

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Considering that the Colorado political Caucus season is arriving March 7th. 

Colorado Caucus: March 7, 2020
Colorado will be having a Presidential Primary Election on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 for the first time in many years! 

But on Saturday, March 7, 2020,  Democrats will still be gathering at precincts all across the state to caucus.  

I thought I’d check in with the San Juan Citizens Alliance and Friends of Wolf Creek, so that I can add any relevant updates to this blog.  

Seems to me with all the political gatherings that will be happening it would be a good idea to keep reminding voters that the Red McCombs’ threat to Alberta Park and the Rio Grande River remains alive and well.  

In fact, it feels like the matter has evolved from a calculated speculative developer's dream, into an old billionaire's obstinate vendetta against Colorado's citizens.  

Yes, it is true that the matter is back in the courts, which means another holding pattern as we wait the new decisions, still it also requires our redoubled attentiveness and continued outspoken public opposition to catch and thwart LMJV’s next sneaky move.  

I know that the San Juan Citizens Alliance has posted everything they finally received through their long overdue FOIA request and they encourage citizens to look through those papers since they tell a revealing and pretty damning story.

Friends of Wolf Creek has this crisp summary along with much more information awaiting your review:  

      

The Latest News

On July 20, 2018 we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to better understand the Forest Service’s decision to grant an easement to allow for construction of the Village at Wolf Creek. After months of not providing documents, we filed suit to obtain the information, and a Federal Judge has ordered the Forest Service to release documents to us every two weeks. We are posting the documents here as we receive them so that the public can remain involved in this process of understanding how the Service is making decisions about the management of our public lands.

Please continue to follow this activity on our website or sign up for our action alerts to be notified when actions are available. #No Pillage

I was also very impressed with the SJCA website, it’s been improved with more information, great images and a wonderful LMJV/VWC timeline for quick orientation.  I will be featuring excerpts in my next post, although I can't resist including their timeline now: 

(click on the image for a clearer view)

source: https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/the-village-at-wolf-creek

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RGNF responses to July 31st challenge.

I shared my previous post, which presented the FriendsofWolfCreek.org's challenges to the RGNF/USDA interpretation of their conflicting legal mandates and how it's playing out with the Alberta Park Parcel, with the RGNF Supervisor's office and received the following response from Public Affairs Specialist Mike Blakeman.  I have added a few paragraph breaks for clarity, but haven't altered anything else.  Nor do I have any comments to add. I hope you find the information useful.

Forest Service

Rio Grande National Forest, Supervisor's Office

Hi Peter, 

I read your blog and maybe the following from the Draft Record of Decision will help add a little clarity.

In June 2015, a lawsuit was filed challenging my 2015 ROD but the land exchange was completed subject to a stipulation that would allow “unwinding” the exchange in the event of an adverse ruling.

On May 19, 2017, the district court held that the Forest Service abdicated its duty to consider imposing deed restrictions on the federal land to be exchanged, that the power to impose deed restrictions demonstrated “actual power to control” the private development and this failure led the Forest Service to unlawfully limit its NEPA analysis. 

Questioning RGNF/USDA's Village at Wolf Creek response.

Recently I asked Dan Dallas a couple questions which he kindly answered.   I reprinted Supervisor Dallas's complete response July 23rd.  Today I was able to review Rocky Mountain Wilds' writeup at http://www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/background/ and I must say the information contradicts the supervisor's simple response and the Friends of Wolf Creek produced the supporting quotes from Judge Matsch's decision which I share in this post.  

I understand that officials do follow 'The letter of the law' - but what's left unsaid is, which letters of the law have they chosen to follow.  I don't have the answers, that's for the lawyers to spend yet more months and years haggling over.  

In the end, for me, all I know is down to Earth physical reality, and if you take that into account everything screams for Red McCombs' 80s Pipe Dream to once and for all be laid to rest. Leave Alberta Park alone!

http://www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/background/

A Detailed Recent History VWC

Petition: Keep Wolf Creek Wild - Change.org - Rocky Mtn Wild

Judge Matsch responded: “I understand the public interest but there is also the natural environment’s interest, which is what this is all about.”

Photo courtesy of: Alex Pullen

I’m a bit embarrassed that I didn’t know about this petition until today, but its a crowded life and there’s only so much bandwidth.  That’s why networking is important - and why I believe there needs to be more communication between like-minded folks if we hope to have real impact.  But I reckon that’s a different story.

Rocky Mountain Wild started this petition to 

Rio Grande National Forest Service Supervisor Dan Dallas

For 30 years conservation groups, outdoor enthusiasts, and local residents have fought to protect Wolf Creek Pass in southwestern Colorado. 

At over 10,000 feet in elevation, the pass connects two wilderness areas and is a hot spot for biodiversity. Wildlife, including black bear, elk, and the rare Canada lynx use this area to move between large undeveloped swaths of forest. Irreplaceable fen wetlands are the home to hundreds of plant and bird species. And, the deep winter snowpack provides much-needed water to downstream communities and agriculture.

The pass is also the home of Wolf Creek Pass Ski Area, one of Colorado's last remaining family-owned ski areas. Wolf Creek is cherished for providing a nostalgic ski experience. Free from traffic, long lines, condos, nightclubs and chain restaurants, skiers at Wolf Creek are treated to deep powder at affordable prices.

Unfortunately, a questionable land exchange in 1987 gave Texas billionaire B.J. "Red" McCombs a private parcel at the base of the ski area. Mr. McCombs and his business partners have repeatedly tried to develop a massive "village" for 10,000 people on this site. They have been stopped by the Courts, who have consistently found that the developers have not conducted a complete environmental analysis of their scheme.

Now, however, hidden from public view and input, the developers are attempting to brush Federal Court decisions and environmental laws aside and pressure local Forest Service staff into granting them increased access to their parcel. Their goal is to start construction this summer.

You can help us keep Wolf Creek Pass wild! Please sign the petition urging Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas to uphold Federal Court decisions and stand up to back channel pressures. Together, we can stop the bulldozers on Wolf Creek Pass.

Sign at https://www.change.org/p/dan-dallas-keep-wolf-creek-wild

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Some important background information can be found at:

http://www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/background/

RGNF Supervisor responds to questions.

Rio Grand National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas, did me the courtesy of a prompt and thorough response to the email I shared in the previous post.  Here I share his email which I have reformatted for clarity without altering any of his words, beyond bolding some of them.  It's food for thought and creates a sort of baseline to work with, or argue against, as the case may be. 

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Village at Wolf Creek Environmental Impact Statement and draft Record Of Decision 

are available on-line at: 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=35945.  

Comments are to be sent to before September 4th: 

Reviewing Officer, Tammy Whittington, Deputy Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service, Region 2, 1617 Cole Blvd., Building 17, Lakewood, Colorado 80401 or email r02admin_review@fs.fed.us. 

______________________________________________________ 

With that I'll give the stage to Dan Dallas and will save further commentary for future posts.

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Subject: Why are comments on VWC recent Draft Decent being limited.

Response received Monday, 1:46PM, July 23, 2018

Dallas, Dan -FS

Peter, good questions, I will answer below within your letter below, highlighted in yellow using direct quotes from documents available on our website.