The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Into each life, a little cluster must fall.
More than a little befell the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) last week as its board voted to essentially dissolve itself. While expressing frustration after the current executive director gave notice to move to a county administrative job, it seemed the board was in no mood to begin the process of searching for and hiring a fifth executive director in three years.
Fair.
The disappointment is that current director Melissa LaMonica appeared to have had the skill set to right the ship that for years seemed stuck in rough seas. There were goals to coordinate affordable housing issues across the county, smooth out property management, bring in systems to unify deed-restrictions and oversee compliance of people in such housing. Based on reports to the CB council, the board seemed optimistic about the direction of the GVRHA…until the cluster fell. LaMonica told the News recently that, “the GVRHA is in the best position it has ever been in to scale and increase services.”
Or not.
It was clear as it began disintegrating that the top job was one where trying to keep four entities with different goals happy, was close to impossible. And if not happy, each funding entity could easily cut off the flow of money. No one wants to be in that challenging spot. So…as of 2026, the GVRHA won’t practically exist. It appears Gunnison County has thought about it and is considering doing its own thing. If that’s the case, the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte along with the city of Gunnison might have to find their way through the cluster on their own as well.
One Valley!
Meanwhile, environmental watchdog groups this week are sounding the cluster alarm that new language being proposed by Senate Republicans could result in public lands near us being put up for sale. Some 14 million acres of Colorado public land is in the crosshairs including land tied to both the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act and the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act. Thank goodness our Congressman Jeff Hurd actually introduced the GORP Act in the House and has unequivocally stated it would be foolish to sell our public lands. I assume he could never vote for such a proposal.
Whew!
Utah Senator Mike Lee who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has been unrelenting in his push for the sale of public lands, saying it could promote economic growth and housing across the western U.S.
Lee’s cluster could include portions of the Curecanti National Recreation Area (Blue Mesa), portions of the Horse Ranch Park and Double Top Recreation Management Areas; portions of numerous special management areas, including Pilot Knob, Clear Fork, Beckwiths, Whetstone Headwaters, North Poverty Gulch, American Flag and Union Park; and portions of the Rocky Mountain Scientific Research and Education Area.
According to the Wilderness Society, Lee’s reconciliation bill text forces the arbitrary sale of at least two million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states over the next five years, and it gives the secretaries of the interior and agriculture broad discretion to choose which places should be sold off with little public input…
Cluster!
Speaking of nearby public land clusters. Word is that this early in the summer season the porta potties on Forest Service land near Judd Falls and up Washington Gulch are already full. That is a literal cluster! A Forest Service spokesperson got back to me and said, “The GMUG is aware of the vault toilet issues at Judd Falls and Washington Gulch and are actively working on securing both short and long-term solutions. In the short-term, the USFS is exploring partnerships and agreements with local, permitted outfitters who would be willing to provide pumping services in exchange for stewardship fee credit to offset their annual permit fees. Long-term contract solutions are still being worked out.”
DOGE cluster?!
But there is one episode the opposite of cluster announced this week and that is the movement of one of the North Valley’s most beautiful parcels of land coming under a Conservation Easement. With the guidance of the Crested Butte Land Trust, the Baxter family has agreed to protect the Cement Creek Ranch in perpetuity. That’s the breathtaking ranch property that opens up the valley after the last early climb up Cement Creek Road.
In what seems to me a bargain price of $1.2 million, one of the most visible and appreciated parcels of land will never be subdivided and developed beyond the current square footage of buildings now on the site. That is a feather in the cap for the CB Land Trust (which is seeking donations to help pay for the easement!) and kudos to all the entities that have stepped up to help fund the project.
And a huge shout out to David Baxter who is walking the talk. He was a long-time board member of the CBLT and a former president of that board. He and his family have stepped up for something he has been passionate about for decades. Thank you.
While understanding that into each life a little cluster must fall, this Cement Creek Ranch CE project helps smooth out some of the clusters that seem to be piling up at the moment…
—Mark Reaman
