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Update: Wolf Creek pass once again threatened by large scale development

06/19/24

Christine Canaly (SLVEC Director)




Yesterday, Friends of Wolf Creek (FWC)-Rocky Mountain Wild, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, San Juan Citizens Alliance, and Wilderness Workshop filed a Petition for a rehearing before the entire 10th Circuit Court. The FWC request seeks clarification on a recent 10th Circuit Court three-Judge Panel decision, that applied an administrative access provision to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (“ANILCA”) in Colorado.


In January, the Forest Service and Village at Wolf Creek developers (Leavell McCombs Joint

Partnership-LMJP) were granted an oral argument hearing before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver. They had appealed Federal District Court Judge Christine Arguello’s previous decision, which had invalidated the developers (LMJP) road access approval.


In April, the 10th Circuit Court rendered a decision, vacating 20 years of previous Colorado federal Judge rulings, and granted access to the developers. This decision follows a decades long contentious legal battle over the fate of the area, which holds significant environmental importance at the Rio Grande headwaters, including protection of critical habitat for the reintroduced Canadian Lynx, and other wildlife and natural systems that are integral to providing connectivity between the South San Juan and Weminuche Wilderness areas.


The Judge’s Court of Appeals ruling sided with the developers, paving the way for LMJV

construction to proceed. The ruling marked a significant turning point in the ongoing debate over land use and preservation for the region, sparking further discussions about private inholding development, surrounded by Forest Service lands, and its impact to the future of sustainable environmental conservation, for this critical area.


The FWC request for a rehearing, before the entire 10th Circuit Court, seeks to clarify the

inconsistency of this recent ruling; which previous court rulings had been based on legal

precedence, and considered the voluminous content contained within the administrative record.


Despite the recent ruling, The “Village at Wolf Creek” proposed development will continue to face substantive hurdles, including local, state and federal permitting processes, that will require years of regulatory scrutiny. “It is the wrong idea, at the wrong time, in the wrong place” laments Christine Canaly, Director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. “When will common sense and public interest finally prevail? We need intact ecosystems and landscapes, now more than ever…”


For over thirty years, out-of-state investors have fought to develop this pristine landscape into a gargantuan “Village” that would support up to 8,000 residents and 1,700 built units, including hotels, shops, homes, and restaurants. The US Forest Service (USFS), of whom manages the surrounding lands, has enabled these development efforts, despite the sensitivity of the surrounding landscape, for reasons that have left the public bewildered.


Friends of Wolf Creek (FWC), a team of Colorado environmental groups, have worked tirelessly to give voice to the animals, water, air, soils, and local communities that would suffer at the hands of this aggressive development project. Visit FWC’s website

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