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Mall might just qualify as next Wilderness Study Area

The Durango Mall’s phobia to nearby development plans has some people around town scratching their heads.

First, the Durango Mall didn’t want Mercury as neighbors. Now, it doesn’t want a hotel built next door. Could the mall petition itself to become a federally protected Wilderness Study Area? That way when Durangoans want to get away from it all, we have the choice of the Weminuche, Canyonlands or the Durango Mall. Sign me – AmIMissingSomething

More than a few locals have been scratching their heads about this one. Why would a shopping mall not want lots of people nearby?

So restricting access as a Wilderness Study Area would seem perfectly aligned with the retailer’s strategic business plan. Currently, there are 528 Wilderness Study Areas administered by the BLM, an acronym for the Bureau of Land Management or Bureau of Livestock and Mining, depending on your viewpoint.

If the Durango Mall became the 529th Wilderness Study Area, the BLM could then be referred to as the Bureau of Lackluster Merchandise. But that’s another story.

The kerfuffle stems from a company wanting to construct a three-story, 84-room La Quinta Inn & Suites along with a separate building with a coffee shop and restaurants adjacent to the mall. The matter is before the Durango Planning Commission on Dec. 8. So that leaves us 14 days to make wilderness happen.

The biggest criteria: any potential Wilderness Study Area must be “roadless.”

The Durango Mall tore out the old frontage road by the movie theater. Barricades now block any vehicle interlopers. Score one for wilderness.

Next are the BLM’s four standards for Wilderness Study Areas.

First, does the area offer “outstanding opportunities for solitude?”

You bet it does! There’s plenty of solitude at the mall, especially on weekday afternoons.

Next, any potential Wilderness Study Area must contain “features of scientific, educational, scenic or historical value.”

The Durango Mall has this one in the bag – by eschewing traffic, the shopping center defies the laws of reason and capitalism. Thus, the mall is of immense interest to economists, market researchers and business scholars. It just might be the only customer-phobic retail mall operating anywhere on the planet.

The third characteristic is “size.” A Wilderness Study Area needs to be “at least 5,000 acres of land or is of sufficient size” to make preservation worth the effort.

The Durango Mall is a bit small, comprising 260,000 square feet of retail space on 20 acres.

But there is hope. The Hack Lake Wilderness Study Area in Garfield County consists of two small parcels totaling 10 acres. So a 20-acre wilderness is do-able.

The forth standard, “naturalness,” is a problem.

The area must be in a natural state, “with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable.”

This might be impossible for a commercial development that trumpets on its website as “having recently undergone significant renovation.”

But since no one really paid much attention to the mall’s makeover, the improvements could be considered “substantially unnoticeable.”

Action Line called the local BLM field office to pitch this creative interpretation.

“You’re going to have to work on ‘naturalness,’” advised the BLM person, who wants to be just a voice in the wilderness. “You’ll have to figure out some unique wall paintings to disguise all the straight lines and arrange for an influx of flora and fauna.”

Regardless, let’s dismiss the mall owner’s bizarre shenanigans. There are a lot of good people at the Durango Mall – the shop owners, employees and support staff. All of them would appreciate your business.

The mall will open at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, and Santa will arrive at 10 a.m. that day. Tons of stuff will be on sale. Holiday cheer will be in the air. Could you stop by if you are out and about?

Put a buck in the Salvation Army red kettle, help a kid or family from the Project Merry Christmas angel tree or splurge on an unexpected gift for friends or family.

The Wilderness Study Area will have to wait until the end of the holidays, by which time the La Quinta issue may be put to bed – so to speak.

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you can explain why a “food court” isn’t where disputes are settled regarding bad meals, surly servers and overpriced drinks.



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