Allenspark Wind Article for May 2026
Roger Sherman

So all the self help articles say when there is conflict you need to choose your battles.  Well, oftentimes the battles choose you.  Let me explain.  The Tahosa Valley Landowners Association was begun in 1969, it has evolved in many ways, redefined membership, perhaps pushed the boundaries, has been involved in issues with the National Park, the Forest Service, Boulder and Larimer counties, developers, homeowners, you name it, but the overriding mission has always been the same - to preserve what made us all come here in the first place.

As I have mentioned in previous articles our public lands are under attack.  Though I cannot say I speak for all folks in the Tahosa Valley or even our membership, I do think that bringing these issues up is totally in keeping with our Mission as an organization.  Also even if some issues do not directly affect the Tahosa Valley they are big signs and billboards of what may be coming.

We need to be on our guard and proactive about these developments.

First, it may be far away but the seven day comment period on the expansion of oil and gas leasing around Chaco Canyon is the latest example of the attempts to quickly destroy protections before the political climate can change after the mid-terms. This comment period expires a month before this article will even appear.  The threats to Yellowstone are spelled out in an article in the April 2026 High Country News, “Defunding the Greater Yellowstone” by Christine Peterson. For a deep dive into the threats to public lands currently underway please go to Will and Jim Pattiz website “More Than Just Parks” and look at their Threat Map.  The magnitude is staggering and It is only a matter of time before they come for Rocky.

Second, the new head of the National Park Service, Dave Burgum, is setting it up to fail by cutting the workforce by 24% but still requiring that all services be available and everything open.  This is flirting with the lives of parkgoers as well as employees.  Thus they make the case to privatize the National Parks at a time when they need our help more than ever.

Then there comes (early April 2026) the proposed dismantling of the Forest Service just as we, in the West, need them the most - scary fire season starting already.  Relocating Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City would put employees in the heart of the area most antithetical to the Forest Service’s historic mission and uproot the lives of career workers.  The worst part of the “reorganization” is the closing and stopping of the research done again when we need this the most. 

For over a century the protection of public lands has been for the most part bipartisan and I suspect the support is still largely so.  These initiatives to encroach on public lands come from the push for more fossil fuel development at a time when that energy is the most expensive energy we can use.  These are misguided and venial efforts which come from people who want all this open space to go away and return to the unbridled development of the 19th century.

Please educate yourselves on these issues and let your voice be heard, the future is at stake.