Colorado Central Articles From — May 1999

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

IF THE WOOD PILE’S LOW, the bank account’s zeroed out (thanks to the IRS), and I’m up to my hocks in mud, it could only mean one thing:

It’s Springtime in the Rockies.

T.S. Eliot — the British poet who to my knowledge never owned a trophy home in Central Colorado — was correct when he wrote that April is the cruelest month. But March has its moments as well, especially for those who do business locally. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0826317464[/amazon-product]Review by Kenneth Munsell

Tourism – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Myth of Santa Fé – Creating a Modern Regional Tradition
by Chris Wilson.
Published in 1997 by the University of New Mexico Press
ISBN 0-826-31746-4 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1570982562[/amazon-product]Review by Allen Best

Skiing – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ice Crusaders: A Memoir of Cold War and Cold Sport
by Tom Wolf
Published in 1999 by Roberts Rinehart Publishers
ISBN: 1570982562 Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Ed Quillen

Communications – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

We got tired of slimy and illegible faxes, so last fall we bought a plain-paper fax machine for Colorado Central. Its output quality is excellent, but it has been a headache to get it to work properly with our phones: we want it to grab faxes and leave other calls for us or the answering machine. Read the rest of this article

Article by Rayna Bailey

Communications – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazin

BEING DUMPED by a lover following a long-term relationship — that maybe wasn’t always a great romance, but after all those years was at least familiar and comfortable — is painful. When the dumping comes in the form of a Dear John letter, pain often is replaced with anger, frustration, and a fear of the unknown: What happens next? Will I get to keep kitty, the leather sofa and the Jimmy Buffet CDs? Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Modern Life – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT’S THE MERRY, merry month of May — a good time for Central Coloradans to return from Arizona and Texas. Or in my case — since I haven’t gone anywhere this winter — it seems like a good time to quit musing about world history and international events and turn my thoughts toward home.

(Besides, I suspect everyone could use a vacation from speculations about the president’s peccadillos and the hazards of Y2K. And more to the point, I’m really not up on Balkan policies, politics, or history.) Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Ed Quillen

Wildlife – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado’s 3 wild cats

According to the reference book Mammals of Colorado, the state is home to three species of wild cats. The biggest is the mountain lion (Felis concolor hippolestes), also known as the puma, cougar, or panther.

They can be as large as 9 feet long, plus nearly a yard of tail, and weigh more than 200 pounds. Until 1965, Colorado paid a bounty on lions, but they are now protected as game animals; about 200 are killed each year by hunters. Read the rest of this article

Article by Allen Best

Wildlife – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

LYNX are running free in Colorado once again.

The first lynx to be released — in what has become a controversial reintroduction plan — scrambled across the snow south of Creede on February 3rd.

Yet by all admissions, little is known about lynx in Colorado.

“Any assumptions you make regarding lynx habitat in Colorado is pure speculation,” wrote state wildlife biologist Tom Beck in an internal memo.

“We don’t know squat about the lynx,” wrote another biologist.

“This is a big-risk undertaking,’ says Jasper Carlton of the reintroduction.

Carlton, executive director of the Boulder-based Biodiversity Legal Foundation, in 1994 petitioned the Fish & Wildlife Service to afford the lynx protection in the 16 states where it once was found. Only in three of those states does it continue to be common.

That government agency refused, however, overriding the advice of its own field biologists, ruling that the species remained common in Alaska and Canada.

But Carlton sued and won. The ripple is that by July, the lynx will be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. That law is sometimes called the pit bull of environmental laws.

Already much has been lost, says Carlton. “If the lynx had been listed, I would have guaranteed Vail’s Category III would have received a jeopardy decision,” he says. That would have reigned in the expansion radically, with far fewer trees cut, the runs narrower, and lifts ending short of the Battle Mountain ridgeline.

Rick Thompson, the well-respected wildlife consultant for Vail Associates, disagrees, however. Vail’s designs assumed that the lynx would be listed, he maintains. That assumption caused deletion of Commando and West Super Bowls, and caused trails, although no narrower, to be braided by islands of trees to provide more cover for lynx and other small critters — which is yet another assumption about what lynx want.

Activists were not persuaded. Last October 19, arsonists set fires atop Vail Mountain, and news organizations received untraceable e-mail messages from the “Earth Liberation Front,” taking responsibility for the fires “on behalf of the lynx.”

Although investigators have not publicly narrowed their suspects to environmental activists, a grand jury has subpoenaed several members of the Colorado-based Ancient Force Rescue.

But regardless of who set the fires, and why, the phantom lynx danced onto center stage, getting even international attention.

Reintroduction of the black-footed ferret into Colorado has drawn almost no reporters. The still-unexplained dwindling numbers of boreal toads, with habitat that encompasses some of the same mountain terrain as the lynx, has drawn only meager regional interest. But the lynx reintroduction on the edge of the San Juans during February drew TV cameras and torts.

Though arson and expansion have put Vail Mountain at the center of lynx controversies, soon lynx could also return or — take your pick — be augmented to the Vail area. Next year, lynx may be transplanted to the upper Frying Pan River (over the hill from Leadville) almost within sight of Vail Mountain. In Canada, lynx have been known to travel up to 700 miles. Lynx released in the San Juans covered 50 miles in little more than a week.

IMMINENT LISTING OF the lynx as a federally protected species is causing other ripples across the Colorado mountains. Driving those ripples will be the need to connect blocks of habitat. The Forest Service will have to cease paying lip service to protection of lynx and start making hard choices.

If you’re a National Forest user of any sort, expect some changes. If not, Jasper Carlton’s Biodiversity Legal Foundation will be in court, firing a fusillade of lawsuits. His lawsuits have had a way of hitting their mark.

Lynx was an issue in the erection of the Loveland Ski Area lift up to the Continental Divide. Cresting the ridge above the Eisenhower Tunnel, the lift blocks the connecting corridor for lynx.

Ed Ryberg, winter recreation sports administrator for the Forest Service, says the lynx listing will have significant repercussions to ski areas, which inhabit the same 8,000 to 12,000-foot elevation span as the lynx.

Highway costs will rise for mountain roads, too. Highway 40 across Berthoud Pass is being widened, for example, and the needs of lynx are dictating two underpasses similar to what is found along I-70 between Eagle and Gypsum. Tunnels are unlikely to work, and overpasses are more expensive.

Lynx needs will also be at issue in the redesign of I-70 to allow more traffic. Current plans call for 38 miles of modification between Denver and Vail, including three new truck-climbing lanes. Penciled in for the long term is a yet-undefined rapid transit system.

The Forest Service has also postponed timber sales after failing to calculate impact to lynx.

Everything from backcountry ski huts to snowmobile trails will be sent through the coarse screen of lynx review.

But livestock grazers have relatively little to fear, says Gary Patton, a field biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There won’t be a big problem if “appropriate grazing standards on the National Forest and BLM lands are religiously adhered to,” he says. Enforcement has been lacking, he suggests.

But Carlton believes livestock grazers and the Forest Service should be concerned.

“This is a perpetuation of the Big Lie, that we can have our cake and eat it too, that we can continue to satisfy every economic interest in Colorado and still bring back the species,” he says. Lynx listing, he adds, won’t bankrupt anybody. But “everybody has to give up a little.”

Habitat protection measures, says Joan Friedlander, the Forest Service’s endangered species program manager for the Rocky Mountain Region, cannot be enacted overnight. “It’s a fairly long process. People expect quick fixes.”

Fire as a way of restoring habitat has largely been overlooked, she suggests.

BIOLOGICALLY, THERE’S an argument for wolf reintroduction to help the lynx. Coyotes have flourished, perhaps eating snowshoe hare. They are now king of the predators in Colorado. Those hunters will become among the hunted if the wolf returns, just as they have in Yellowstone.

Or so goes that theory. Don’t worry about investing in wolf-sighting binoculars, though. The state wildlife biologists insist they have no real interest. “We have a lot on our plate already, and adding wolves to the equation would be very difficult,” says state wildlife spokesman Todd Malmsbury.

The agency’s Bruce Gill declares an ethical obligation to restore species, but in addition to the charismatic predators, he also talks about such species as the Eastern hog-nosed skunk.

Carlton says first things first. “If you can’t bring back the lynx and wolverine in Colorado, you’d better stop worrying about the wolf.”

But the lynx, despite its finicky eating habits, remains a part of the ecosystem that will be much easier to restore than others, says Gene Byrne, a state wildlife biologist.

It’s much easier than getting black-footed ferrets to survive on prairie dogs, both of them on private land. Or than trying to tear out all of the dams on the Colorado River to restore squaw fish and humpback chubs.

State wildlife officer Bill Andree of Edwards, one of the early proponents of lynx reintroduction, thinks there are few reasons to restore the wolf, many reasons to spend time elsewhere.

“We don’t need to study about why there are no wolves here,” he says.

Moreover, he believes that the wolf will return to Colorado on its own or, perhaps even sooner, by private citizens.

But there are smaller critters that represent bigger issues, he says. For example, boreal toads have been declining, part of an amphibian die-off that scientists have been unable to explain. The boreal toad habitat overlaps broadly with that of lynx habitat.

“Boreal toads are a bigger issue than wolves by far,” says Andree. “The little fishes on the South Platte are a bigger issue than the wolves or grizzly bears in Colorado. In Colorado, everything that potentially affects water supplies, which little fishes do, will involve almost every person — because we all depend upon water supply. But it’s not a sexy issue.”

Allen Best writes for the Vail Daily News and is trying to sell a book about Interstate 70 and its effects on Colorado. This is the conclusion of a two-part article; the first part appeared in our April edition.

First Installment.

Article by Nancy Ward

Local Artists – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHAT DO AIR FORCE RADAR, goose eggs, maps, flowers, rocks, Spanish explorers, Ute Indians and books have in common?

The answer — Yvonne Halburian, dynamic artist of exceptional versatility, jolly disposition, and enough enthusiasm and energy to power a rocket. The Saguache artist is a popular figure throughout Central Colorado, the Front Range, and the San Luis Valley. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Politics – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Why National Politics Are Better For You

Everybody has heard of Monica Lewinsky and Slobodan Milosevic.

But does everyone know the names of all their U.S. Senators, U.S. representative, state representative, state senators, county commissioners, town councilmen, local school board members?

It seems unlikely. At the local level, politics just don’t generate as much media saturation. (Also, local radio stations and weekly newspapers seldom enthrall viewers with as much sexual or violent content as the media barons do — thank goodness.) Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local Lore – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Attention FATs, EYEs, and EARs

In a recent edition of the Wet Mountain Tribune of Westcliffe, we saw a headline that referred to a Wetmore resident as a “Wetmoron.”

That ranks up there with our favorite Colorado geographic appelation — Lamar residents who call themselves “Lamartians.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Politics – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Buena Vista reclaiming state recall championship

After Park County recalled its commissioners, and Leadville took out a school board member, Buena Vista might have been in danger of losing its title as the “Recall Capital of Colorado.”

But do not despair for the town’s honor — most of its trustees now face a recall election. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Transportation – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

When the mines close, the railroad follows. That’s been the pattern for the past century or so in Colorado, and this decade is no exception.

Creede’s last silver mine closed in 1992, and now the Union Pacific has proposed abandoning the tracks that served the place when it was “day all day in the daytime, and there is no night in Creede” — a poem written by Cy Warman, who drove steam locomotives from Salida before he took up newspapering and poetry in Creede a century ago. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Developer Backs Down

Land Properties, Inc., has scrapped plans for a 48-acre RV park along the Rio Grande east of South Fork. Loud opposition to the development persuaded the company to withdraw its application for a zoning change of the property. The Rio Grande County commissioners had allowed 30 days to consider the request and hear from the community. Kudos to Land Properties for listening. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Anonymous

Humor – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

3 men in a bar

A Californian, a Texan, and a Coloradan walked into a bar and each ordered a drink.

After downing his white wine spritzer, the Californian tossed the delicate stemware over his shoulder, where it shattered.

“Why on earth did you do that?” the bartender asked. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip by Clint Driscoll and Laura Ravenwood

Mountain Life – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Clayton

Politics – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

When the Republic strays, people demand more democracy

by John Clayton

“Are we gonna get to vote?” comes the refrain from the crowd. “Why won’t you put the issue up for a vote?” “People throughout the county deserve a vote.”

I am moderating a public meeting. It’s a question-and-answer session; my job is to keep information flowing, civilly. On a panel sit elected officials and a consulting engineer. In front of us sit 80 citizens, expressing varying degrees of frustration and anger. Read the rest of this article