On Wednesday, February 17th Congressman John Salazar convened a meeting in Alamosa with the principal groups involved in the Village at Wolf Creek. Colorado Wild was in attendance and we wanted to bring you an update from that meeting.
There were 20+ people representing both sides of the issue at the table. Mr. McCombs started the conversation with a brief history of his involvement, then turned it over to Clint Jones his Developer. Mr. Jones briefly told us about the land exchange and his involvement to date.
The Congressman then looked around the table and asked for Colorado Wild to start the discussion. Ryan Bidwell gave a brief overview of Colorado Wild's concerns with both the procedural and substantive issues. The proceedural issues include that there be a full, clear an transparent NEPA process with public input and no shady deals. Ryan then discussed the substantive issues of water, wildlife, energy, traffic safety and socioeconomic issues related to the surrounding communities etc.
The conversation then went around the table from the Pagosa Chamber of Commerce to San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, the USFS, and county commissioners. The consensus by all including the Congressman was that a thorough and complete NEPA process was neccesary. The Congressman assured everyone there a number of times that while he is in office, there will be no "shady" dealings. He went on to say that in these economic times he would like to see some project go through. He suggested he would likely ask the USFS to bump Mr. McCombs project up the priority list, to facilitate the NEPA process being done in the next 18-24 months.
We are now in a holding pattern waiting to see what the Congressman will do and what the timeline will look like. There are numerous articles available online. I have linked to a couple of them below in this email.
Colorado Wild delivered: a petition with 1565 signatures, a Pagosa buisness sign on letter and a letter from the Colorado conservation community all opposing the legislative land exchange.
Thank you for your signatures, phone calls, letters and support of this very important issue. Your input has clearly helped Congressman Salazar to understand the serious concerns that many members of the public continue to have about this project. Whatever happens next, Friends of Wolf Creek will continue our steadfast advocacy efforts to ensure that Wolf Creek is protected to the fullest extent of the law. In the meantime, we hope you are enjoying another weekend of fresh snow in the San Juan Mountains.
