SLVEC is immensely grateful for the amazing and unwavering support that we have received from our member base! It’s been a wild ride for us all, but know that SLVEC has stayed focused and managed to have a productive year.
SLVEC's Top 5 Accomplishments of 2020
The Rio Grande Forest Plan revision (how the Forest will be managed over the next 20 years), submitted their final Record of Decision (ROD) this spring. Included in the Plan is recommending 47,000 acres of additional Wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, an approx. ½ mile band of forest land stretching from Poncha Pass to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. SLVEC and many local citizens participated in the public comment process to make this recommendation possible, including encouraging our Saguache County Commissioners to write a letter of support, which made the Wilderness recommendation possible.
SLVEC and Friends of Wolf Creek (FWC) brilliant attorneys submitted a 940-Page Merits brief to the US Federal District Court in October, paving the way for Judge Christine Arguello to make a decision on the “Village at Wolf Creek’s” ANILCA (Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act) road access proposal. We have consistently (since 2000), questioned “reasonable access” for a proposed large scale (1,722 unit) development on top of Wolf Creek Pass, which could destroy critical habitat for Lynx, whose territory protects the most biodiverse, concentrated core habitat left in the southern Rockies.
In August, SLVEC launched a new website, which libraries 20 years of project work, including baseline mapping inventories for biodiversity, air and water quality, renewable energy, a Ten-Year SLV Solid Waste Diversion and Recycling Plan, and much more. Come check it out at www.slvec.org.
SLVEC is now providing monthly newsletters (as you know) regarding issues impacting our local environment and posting interesting articles and updates on our Facebook Page.
In partnership with regional and national organizations, SLVEC has maintained vigilance for four years regarding response to proposed bad environmental policy, providing letters that support the bedrock of critical legislation that the current Administration seeks to undermine, including NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), ESA (Endangered Species Act), and fossil fuel giveaways of public lands.
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