“TOM CHAPMAN IS A DOUCHEBAG” — Bumper Sticker Justice
By Steve Casimiro, Adventure Journal on December 6th, 2011
The bumper stickers in Telluride suggest a certain animus toward Tom Chapman, where the developer has exploited red tape that divides private and federal land for his own gain. In this excellent portrait of the real-estate developer and thorn in the side of the feds, Chapman argues that he’s doing something good, not just for Telluride, but for any park or piece of preserved land with “inholdings,” a.k.a., private parcels — protecting the owners from federal land grabs. Chapman scoops these up and then threatens to develop them, forcing the government to buy him out or watch him develop the land. The upshot is preservation of a messy kind, with Chapman walking away with the cash…save when his schemes don’t work or are possibly illegal. Although the story gets bogs down in the details in the middle and should have spent more time on the Telluride fracas, it’s an example of Outside as its best: curious, committed, and willing to devote space to an important but unsexy story.
