
Since 1972 the Crystal River Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA) has been fighting for the water, land, air, and rural and wilderness culture of the Crystal River Valley. Although we are a small, volunteer organization with no paid staff, we have an impressive history of fighting to protect the incredible environment surrounding us. CVEPA stopped the development of an alpine ski area above Marble, helped to oversee the reclamation of a major coal mine, helped prevent a proposed dam from destroying the upper Crystal River Valley, and continuously works to ensure public access to public lands around the valley.
We hope your mission matches ours. Dues start at $20 per year. Visit our Join Us page and complete the New Membership Form and/or sign-up for our Newsletter.
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The first whites in the Crystal Valley traveled on the Ute Trail, as well documented by the Hayden surveys in 1873. Whites brought with them the wheel, and no sooner than the first homesteads were staked, petitions began flowing into the nascent Pitkin County clerk’s office requesting a wagon road.
Think about it. Homesteaders had persuaded the fledgling county to turn the Ute Trail into a wagon path with free use to all. Homesteads were appearing and a muscle-powered economy was beginning to flourish. Along comes a wealthy robber baron who, without any communication with the county or the residents, knocks down a critical bridge and constructs a private railroad, which, of course, would haul freight for a price. Class warfare? Perhaps. It was certainly an enormous affront to the commoners’ life in the Crystal.
Courtesy Photo
Photo by Molly Briggs
The origins of CVEPA began back in 1970 when a handful of Marble residents and others in the Crystal River valley, decided to form a group to oppose the development of a proposed major ski area in Marble, which also included a massive surrounding residential development. J.E. Devilbiss, a Carbondale lawyer who later became District Judge, drafted the charter for a non-profit to oppose it and named the new group the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA).
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PO Box 921
Carbondale, CO 81623
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CVEPA Board Meeting
Wednesday, June 14
6pm - Library at the Redstone Inn