- Fire-mitigation consultant calls for Montezuma County to do more to ensure that people moving into wildfire-prone areas create defensible space around their homes.
- Forest Service ordered to release more documents related to a land swap that would give highway access for the controversial Village at Wolf Creek.
A fire-mitigation consultant is calling for Montezuma County to do more to ensure that people moving into wildfire-prone areas create defensible space around their homes. On Monday, retired Forest Service district ranger Steve Kelly told the county commissioners that while new subdivisions must have a wildfire mitigation plan before they are approved, the majority of the actual work on the ground does not have to be completed before approval, and often never is. He said most new subdivisions are in fire-prone piñon-juniper landscapes and defensible space is key to saving both homeowners’ and firefighters’ lives. Kelly said he does not like to see government regulations but they may be necessary, especially since government agencies bear the responsibility of fighting wildfires. Chairman Keenan Ertel said the planning department will consider the issue.
The Forest Service has been ordered to release more documents related to a land swap that would give highway access for the controversial Village at Wolf Creek. On September 30th, the U.S. District Court of Colorado ruled that the agency hadn’t disclosed enough information regarding its decision to approve the land exchange with Texas developer Red McCombs on the east side of Wolf Creek Pass. Those documents, which were requested in 2014 by an environmental coalition, include e-mails and other communications between the agency’s regional and D.C. offices and the developers. McCombs’ company hopes to build a luxury resort for up to 8,000 people on the pass, but environmental groups have fought the proposal, saying it threatens the watershed and wildlife such as the lynx. In response to a lawsuit by Rocky Mountain Wild, Judge Wiley Daniel ruled that the Forest Service “bears the burden of justifying nondisclosure” when there is a Freedom of Information Act request. The agency has until October 30th to comply.
