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  1. North Access Team seeks collaboration on traffic study April 07 - December, 2009

    by Lisa Cyriacks

    NAT (North Access Team) is soliciting proposals for a private transportation assessment and study for the various routes to provide access to Great Sand Dunes National Park (GSDNP) lands that were identified through the Sonoran Institute public meetings. Collaboration is indeed proving to be the key. As the GSDNP is wrapping up its planning process for a General Management Plan (June 2007), the U.S. Rio Grande Forest Service (USFS) is beginning its planning process to amend its management plan to incorporate the Baca Tract, lands recently acquired east of the Baca Grande subdivision.

    The Sonoran Institute was engaged in 2006 to assist in resolving federal and private conflicts over public land access. The process ended without an agreed-upon access route to public lands through the Baca Grande subdivision. Part of this lack of agreement was due to uncertainty about future traffic and associated impacts on residents over time by visitors accessing public lands using roads through the subdivision. A consensus document was prepared on November 13, 2006 —the North Entrance Study Group Consensus Recommendation Report. One of those recommendations of that report was to have a study prepared that would analyze the impacts additional traffic would have on the community along the various possible routes. Also part of that consensus process was the formation of a committee to implement recommendations. That committee is the North Access Team.

    The proposal prepared by NAT includes as assessment of the cumulative traffic impacts of visitors to the GSDNP and the USFS Baca Tract as well as traffic impacts of Baca Grande and Crestone residents accessing multiple trailheads. A build-out analysis of the Baca Grande subdivision will be included to quantify the transportation impacts of future growth and evaluate the need for a secondary access into the subdivision. An environmental impact study will also be included to review the various road options identified through the Sonoran Institute process. Based on this accumulated information, a set of recommendations can be developed for the best routes and mitigation measures for traffic flow, speed limits, environmental concerns, buffer zones, and seasonal uses.

    According to the NAT Team, the study is projected to cost from $50,000-$70,000 and is to be paid for through direct and matching funding. Primary funding is being sought through the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. The Board of Saguache County Commissioners is serving as the sponsor for the grant, and has pledged $10,000 in Title III funding. The Great Sand Dunes National Park has pledged $2,000. The Crestone Spiritual Alliance is soliciting matching funds among the spiritual centers. Additional funds have been requested of the Baca Grande POA.

    At this time there are no existing official public access easements for the USFS Baca Tract. Current use of the three riparian corridors —Willow Creek, Spanish Creek, and Cottonwood Creek—by locals and visitors are causing significant trespass issues for the private property owners. These Manitou Foundation lands, which are being used for spiritual retreat centers, are highly sensitive to disturbances from recreational users.

    In February, NAT, representatives from various spiritual centers, and employees from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Rio Grande National Forest met to review the process to date. Time was spent visiting several of the centers and considering the points of ongoing trespass across private lands. Federal agencies came away with a better understanding of the concerns the spiritual centers have related to increased recreational activity, and members of the spiritual centers came away with a better understanding of the limitations presented by federal land planning processes.

    Currently, legal access to the Baca Mountain Tract only exists from the trailhead at South Crestone/Willow Lake, the roads in the Baca Grande subdivision, and Liberty Road. The section of Liberty Road closest to the subdivision belongs to the GSDNP. The GSDNP and the USFS have already agreed to use Liberty Road for administrative access to their respective lands. Whenever an access point along the subdivision’s south boundary is determined for the GSDNP backcountry access and parking lot, the GSDNP and the USFS will share access at that point.

    Minutes of the NAT meetings can be accessed on the Saguache County website http://www.saguachecounty.net. Presentations from the Sonoran Institute public meetings are also available on that same website. Information about the RGNF Baca Mountain Tract Planning Process can be found at www.fs.fed.us/r2/riogrande/projects. If you have questions or comments regarding the transportation planning process, please direct them to Steve Haines at origin@ctelco.net.

  2. Public Meeting on Industrial Solar Plant Overflows - December, 2009

    Saguache, CO – Stakeholders flooded the historical Saguache County courtroom to standing room only for a chance to have their say on what could be the San Luis Valley’s first industrial solar energy generation plant.  While several companies have proposed utility-scale facilities in Colorado’s premier solar energy generation zone, the Houston based company is the first to get this far in the permitting process.

    More than 125 local citizens from this rural, agricultural community overflowed the room.  Many were third generation ranchers and farmers, but the crowd also included business owners, contractors, doctors, scientists, engineers, educators, artists and environmentalists reflecting the intense interest the project is generating in the San Luis Valley.  Tessera representatives did not attend the meeting.

    County Board of Commissioners Spearman, Joseph and Pace convened the informal meeting on Friday, Dec. 11th to gather public input on Tessera’s 1041 permit preapplication for a 200 MW facility on County Road T near the town of Saguache.

    Tessera is proposing on-site assembly and installation of 8,000 – 40-foot diameter SunCatcher Concentrated Solar Power systems, each one driven by a hydrogen-fueled Stirling engine. The facility would include two, 2.4 million-gallon evaporation ponds, 100 miles of maintenance roads and underground electrical lines as well as a new 320 kV substation and other outbuildings.   The initial site is 1,525-acres but Tessera is also considering an adjacent 5,000-acre expansion area to the northwest.

    According to neighboring landowners, the site is on intact range and wetlands in the areas largest drainage.  The land is owned by the Woodward Ranch but is currently under lease by the Coleman Ranch, a pioneer in natural and organic beef since 1875.  Other working cattle ranches, some in operation for over 100 years, surround the site.
    Nancy Lauro, consultant with Russell Planning and Engineering facilitated the meeting.  The Saguache County Land Use Department contracted with the Durango firm to advise them on the 1041 permitting process.  As she explained the process to the eagerly awaiting audience, Lauro noted, “this project is huge” and “in my 25 years of public service [in La Plata and Summit Counties] I’ve never seen a project of this magnitude.”

    Of the two-dozen or so people who spoke, four commented favorably on the project.   Jason Davidson, Moffat Town Board member, said he was “generally in favor of the project” because it would “bring in jobs and tax revenue, possibly as much as $2 million a year.”
    Contractor Larry Smith commented, “I’ve been looking for a good green job.”

    Physician and sound expert Vince Palermo expressed concern about the noise from 8,000 Stirling engines in this “very quiet place.” He said he “hoped they would find a better place in Saguache County” for this industrial plant, because “we need the jobs and the clean energy to fight climate change.”

    Virginia Sutherland, now in her 80′s has ranched in the San Luis Valley all of her life and lives next to the Tessera site.  She asked the crowd to “visualize 8,000 of those 40-foot tall circular mirrors”, “imagine the thousands and thousands of trucks on T-road, mixing in with tractors and cattle and people trying to do their business.” “This is way off the mark” said Sutherland, “it will eternally and forever destroy this land and we cannot push the undo button.”

    Retired university physics professor Thad Englert expressed worry that “the vibrations from driving the 25-foot pilings into the ground could cause our wells to close up with sand.”

    Larry and Jeannie Ewing live closest to the proposed project site.
    Larry questioned how well Tessera’s high-tech experimental technology would work in the extreme environment of the San Luis Valley.  “According to their own specs, these SunCatchers don’t operate below 14 degrees or above 35 mile hour winds”, said Ewing “on a day like today they could only operate between about 10 am and 3 pm.” “This giant project belongs in Commerce City, not here”, concluded Ewing, as the crowd cheered.

    Barbara Tidd questioned how the nightlights from the 2.3 square mile complex might affect the colony of hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tail bats that summer in the nearby Orient Mine. “These bats provide important pest control to farmers in the Valley” Tidd emphasized, “How they will be impacted needs to be seriously studied.”  According to biologists, the bats eat as much as 1,000 pounds of insects a night.

    A popular theme throughout the meeting was the preference for smaller scale community-owned solar development.   “We’re the pretty girl at the party,” declared solar advocate Joy Hughes, “we can do whatever we want.”   Astronomy teacher Shannon Beaulieu challenged the Commissioners to “reach for the highest mark. ” “We can choose the best technology and where to put it,” she urged.
    May Engquist acknowledged the Commissioners efforts to establish a Valley Power Authority and drew strong applause when she urged them to “begin right now to form a search group to look at the possibilities available.”

    Alamosa County resident Claire Barker told the Commissioners that she has been watching the proposed new 80-mile high-voltage transmission line over La Veta Pass.  She urged them to “look at the energy invasion and contemplate this place as a Valley.” “This is our Eisenhower Tunnel” Barker said, referring to the tunnel that spurred explosive growth in rural Summit County.  Barker warned that, “5 industrial solar plants the size of Monte Vista could be here before we know it.”

    The Saguache County Land Use Department will accept written comments on the solar proposal through Dec. 18th at:wmaez@saguachecounty.co-gov.    A copy of the Tessera preapplication can be downloaded at www.saguachecounty.net.  The county will prepare a report for Tessera with a summary of the issues that need addressing.  The company then has 30 days to respond and decide if it will submit a final application.

  3. H1N1 Vaccine Now Available to Public in the San Luis Valley - December, 2009

    San Luis Valley-All Public Health Agencies in the San Luis Valley have made H1N1 vaccine available to the general public. After weeks of delivering vaccine to priority groups only, the vaccine is now available to all those seeking immunization to H1N1.
    Pat Perry, director of Rio Grande County Public Health Agency, stated, “We are pleased to finally be able to offer this vaccine to the public without priority restrictions. This is especially important as the holidays are upon us.  Increased travel and social gatherings are a likely time to spread illnesses such as the flu,” Perry reminded.  “We encourage everyone to consider getting both the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine.”
    Seasonal and H1N1 vaccine are now available as long as supply lasts in each county in the San Luis Valley through both public health agencies and most healthcare providers.
    As a reminder there are some people who should NOT receive the influenza vaccine without consulting with their healthcare provider. These include:
    •    People allergic to eggs and persons who have had a severe reaction to a previous flu vaccination
    •    People who got Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within six weeks of getting an influenza vaccine
    •    People who have a current  illness with a fever (they should wait until they recover to get vaccinated)

    Children less than 6 months of age are not eligible for influenza vaccine.

    For more information on the vaccine contact your healthcare provider, local public health agency or go to www.colorado.gov/nofluforyou . You may also call the COHelp line at 1-877-462-2911.

  4. The Star Tribune Newspaper, St. Paul Minnesota visits Crestone - December, 2009

    Click here to read the author’s review of Crestone