Why start this 2024 No-Village at Wolf Creek series?

Albert Park meadow

Here we are in 2024 and the epic struggle to save Alberta Park, in the hydrological heart of the Rio Grande National Forest, and the Wolf Creek watershed, which feeds into the Rio Grande river, slogs on.  

Since Ryan Bidwell’s 2009 presentation, LMJV continued pursuing their land trade strategy, but friends of Wolf Creek went to court again and again, ultimately their  land-trade proposal was rejected by the courts.  Nevertheless, the RGNF rushed an approval of the developer’s access road.  Which various Friends of Wolf Creek also successfully challenged.  

In October 2022 a federal judge invalidated the Forest Service’s approval. The Forest Service appealed that decision in April 2023, with Rocky Mountain Wild filing a response brief.  In January of this year oral arguments were heard, and a ruling is expected sometime this year.

When that decision comes down, the smoldering Alberta Park issue will reignite as LMJV start warming up their bulldozers in anticipation, and it will be time, once again, for the far flung Friends of Wolf Creek to remember: 

NO Pillage of a Village at Alberta Park, Wolf Creek, Rio Grande National Forest.  

But what to do?  Especially those of us without money or connections, can we make a difference?  If you consider yourself a “Friend of Wolf Creek” how can you make a stand that matters?

I’ve been thinking about the possibility of a good old fashioned mass letter writing campaign of persuasion.  Individuals reaching out with their own unique rational reasoning and bold requests.  

We could begin with questioning why the Rio Grande National Forest powers-that-be have so consistently avoided facing the reality of the environmental concerns, and the many unavoidable damaging impacts this project would guarantee.  An attitude that is reflected in USDA-RGNF’s decidedly pro-development decisions over these past decades?

A campaign of persuasion that reaches out to all relevant stakeholders, governmental representatives and agencies, along with private entities including the McCombs’ family itself.  (somewhere near the end of this series, I intend to post a list of relevant recipients) 

What message?  Perhaps something along the lines of . . .

1. Please recognize that Alberta Park is a near pristine, biologically productive, irreplaceable landscape - and the hydrological heart of that Wolf Creek watershed.
2. This snowshed and its melt-waters feed into the already stressed Rio Grande River and deserve to be considered a treasured natural resource.
3. Ask for help in proactively pushing for a resolution to this land speculators’ threat to the health of this precious wetlands, ancient fens resource, wildlife habitat and key migration corridor across the Great Divide.
4. Regarding Leavell McCombs Joint Venture’s pipe dream.  Demand that USDA-RGFS reverse its decidedly pro-development blind-sidedness - towards the irreversible damages this development promises for that landscape. 
5. Enlighten RGNF & people in general on the impracticality of a for-profit development scheme, being able to provide the large array of expensive municipal services that a viable small town requires.  For instance, who’s going to pay for and staff a high elevation medical clinic, considering the 10,300 foot elevation of this particular dream town of thousands?
6. Ask USDA-RGFS to redirect their focus on efforts towards accommodating a way of returning the control and protection of Alberta Park, to the Rio Grande National Forest (from whence it was snatched back in 1986.).
7. This started as a go-go 1986 strategic speculators' land-trade scheme that went bust because of greed and rampant dishonesty - Can we please strive to finish with another land-trade, one that allows LMJV to repair a grievous wrong against the National Public Trust, by returning Alberta Park in exchange for another more realistic parcel.  There’s nothing but bruised egos standing in the way of such a resolution.

I believe that We The People have a right to assert our claim upon this Alberta Park parcel of land.  Land that was underhandedly ripped away from the Rio Grande National Forest in 1986.  It deserves to be returned to the protection of the Rio Grande National Forest and our American legacy.  Let it continue being the pristine constructive biologically productive member of the RGNF and the Rio Grande River source waters landscape, that it has always been.  

For my part, I’m hoping to spend the next couple months, supporting my above assertions with a series of posts that will bring together the factual details and hopefully help inform some curious Friends of Wolf Creek, along with newbies to this issue.

Thank you,

Peter

PS. Please understand I am simply an individual off in rural Colorado, doing my thing and hoping it might be a constructive part of this effort to save Alberta Park, and ultimately get it back under protection.  If you want do something, please be sure to contact one of the organizations that have been doing all the heavy lifting.

• Friends of Wolf Creek
• 
  
• Rocky Mountain Wild
• 
  
• San Juan Citizens Alliance
• 
  
• San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council

Concise History of the Village at Wolf Creek - San Juan Citizens Alliance

San Juan Citizens Alliance

Does a great many things.  I'll admit I'm most familiar with their 30 years worth of efforts to protect Alberta Park from thoughtless destruction and now they have revamped their webpage and it's become an even better resource.  I encourage you to check it out:

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

They have put together this one page summary that's a must for finishing up this series of posts:

A Concise History of the Village at Wolf Creek
http://www.sanjuancitizens.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/History-More-Document.pdf

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.

Village at Wolf Creek EIS release update 3/31/2014

After the Durango Herald's article and considering March has come and gone, I contacted Mike Blakeman, Public Affairs Specialist for the Rio Grande National Forest to ask him about the Village At Wolf Creek Landswap Environmental Impact Statement and received the following reply.

Hi Peter,  

When it comes to the VWC land exchange EIS, everything takes longer than you expect.  As you know, many people have been expecting the RGNF to release the VWC FEIS and ROD for a while now. After a thorough review of the EIS, Dan (Dan Dallas - Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor) has determined that additional analysis is needed before he can make an informed decision. 

In particular, Dan asked the team to expand their review associated with developments that are accessed next to ski areas on public lands. We don’t currently have a timeline, but we hope to have the work completed by early summer. 

As a reminder,  Dan stated early on when the EIS was first initiated that the process would take as long as is needed in order to complete a thorough analysis on which he could base his decision. NEPA requires Dan to take a “hard look” at all aspects of the environmental and social issues associated with the proposed project. 

He asked for a more in-depth look and further analysis upon review of the draft EIS documentation prior to making a final decision.  

Hope that helps.  

Mike Blakeman 

Public Affairs Specialist 

Indeed it does.  
Thank you for the information Mr. Blakeman.

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}