Colorado Central Articles From — March 2008

Article by Hal Walter

Agriculture – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

AT A RECEPTION prior to Joel Salatin’s lecture at Colorado College in January, a bluegrass ensemble serenaded the self-described “grass farmer” with a tune praising him as the high priest of pasture. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I enjoyed Lynda LaRocca’s story about woodstove cooking. The intrepid chef can manage stovetop items on most any flat-topped range, potatoes can be steam-baked in a lidded casserole in a half-inch of water, or use a dutch oven. If I had my druthers — for baking — I’d rather use a Canadian farm-kitchen range with a self-stoking gravity-feed wood chamber large enough to handle four or five big chunks of wood, since the typically small fireboxes on the stoves we see around here need frequent attention, especially to keep the oven heat up. Seems a shame that so many stoves were made with that built-in inconvenience. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Charmaine Getz

Colorado – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editors,

I am a freelance writer who was recently contracted for a book called Weird Colorado to join a series published by Barnes & Noble on all things strange and wonderful in the U.S. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Elizabeth Dickson

Barnhard Attachments – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Regarding “Barnyard Attachments” in the January edition:

Remembering my sweet and sour time with my beautiful little pet goat, I was able to relate to the joy and the heartbreak that goes with attaching oneself to a pet. In the Canary Islands where we lived for a few years, we had a little bit of land where we resided, so I brought in some animal friends. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Katherine Mccoy

Review – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Hello, Martha,

I’m a big fan of your balanced journalism, but you seem off balance in your review of the book Thrillcraft. Yes, the book may be polemical and over the top. But realistically, where is the bulk of off-road damage coming from? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Bill Hatcher

Colorado Central – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Cozine,

I enjoy your coverage of Colorado issues and events. Thanks. Keep it up.

Here are some opinions/comments on the Feb ‘08 mag that I’d like to share:

1. The plumber/lion account on page 7.

First, I’m glad that plumber got out from underneath that house with nary a scratch. Second, I’m saddened that the lion was killed merely for being a persistently resourceful cat. If I was a mountain lion, I too would be looking for just such a cozy, defensible spot like a crawl space. And anyone rooting around in such places in rural Colorado should expect as much. How to deal? Tranquilize. Read the rest of this article

Article by Jennifer Dempsey

Local Artists – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHETHER HE’S PAINTING a waterfall, tree root or mandolin player, artist Joshua Been wants to show the inhabitants of this world how beautiful it is.

“Painting is a way of framing moments of beauty,” said the 33-year-old Salida artist. “I try to show the world why I find a subject particularly amazing. If a viewer sees one of my paintings and appreciates that subject matter a bit more than they did before, after I perhaps showed them how to see it in a unique way, then I feel I have done my job. I just can’t get over how amazing this world we live in is.” Read the rest of this article

Essay by Ed Quillen

Modern Life – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

MARTHA AND I attended the Democratic caucus for Precinct Two in Chaffee County on the evening of Feb. 5 — despite the cold, and ice, and dark of night.

I had problems with Hillary Clinton, starting with her resounding failure on health care back in 1993. I had been torn between John Edwards and Barack Obama, but after Edwards dropped out, I went to support Obama, as did Martha. We walked to the caucus in the bitter cold, joking that it was too bad that one of us wasn’t supporting Clinton, because then our votes would have canceled each other out and we could have stayed home by the fire. Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Climate – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

A prompt, decisive man, no breath

Our father wasted: “Boys, a path!”

John Greenleaf Whittier, Snowbound

Read the rest of this article

Column by John Mattingly

Food – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Wheat traded at over $10 a bushel last week. It dipped into the mid-nines during the stock market flurries, but rebounded quickly. Farmers are wondering if these high prices are new tops, or new bottoms. Read the rest of this article

Article by John Orr

Water – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

General Assembly water bill update

Every legislative session Colorado’s lawmakers take a stab at passing new water legislation. This year is no different. So far three bills have been shelved. Read the rest of this article

Article by Orville Wright

Salida Lore – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE BETTER HALF AND I were born and raised in Salida. As such, it is our hometown. In July of 1957, I left Salida to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. When Diann Ayers and I got married in 1958, she also left Salida. After I was discharged from the military in 1961, we moved back to Colorado, to eventually make our home in Broomfield. Read the rest of this article

Wildlife – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Rocky Mountain Mammals A Handbook of Mammals of Rocky Mountain National Park and Vicinity
Third Edition
by David M. Armstrong
Published in 2008 by University Press of Colorado with the Rocky Mountain Nature Association
ISBN: 978-0-87081-882-0 Read the rest of this article

Environmentalism – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism; to the Politics of Possibility
by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger
Published in 2007 by Houghton Mifflin
ISBN B001M0MDLG Read the rest of this article

High Plains – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

West of Last Chance
by Peter Brown and Kent Haruf
Published in 2008 by W.W. Norton & Company
ISBN 0393065723 Read the rest of this article

Dinosaur National Park – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dinosaur: Four Seasons on the Green and Yampa Rivers.
By Hal Crimmel, text; Steve Gaffney, photographs.
Published in 2007, by University of Arizona Press.
ISBN: 0816524300 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Trails – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

A new brochure about the Old Spanish Trail in the San Luis Valley came out late last year, and should be available now at area tourist information centers.

The Old Spanish Trail is more like a network of routes than a single path. In the 18th century, the American Souuthwest was a remote part of Spain’s New World empire. The region’s two major outposts, Santa Fé and Los Angeles, were isolated from each other, which made them more vulnerable. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Politics – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

At least one Central Colorado resident will be attending the Democratic National Convention that runs Aug. 25-28 in Denver.

That resident will doubtless have a voice, if not a vote. Mordecai, a 7-year-old donkey owned by Curtis Imrie of Buena Vista, was selected as the official convention mascot on Jan. 26 at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The burro was shown by Sophie Herzog of Fairplay. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Altitude – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The New York Times recently had a travel piece about Breckenridge, but one reader, Rudolph Pick, from Florida, thought the story incomplete. That belief is based on his personal experience.

My first night was a horrible experience I could not breathe. First thing in the morning, I went to the first-aid station, where it was determined that the oxygen content of my blood was 70 percent only. The high altitude of the resort — almost 10,000 feet — was the cause. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Mining – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Does a major environmental disaster loom for the Arkansas River above Pueblo? There was sure a lot of talk about it as we went to press.

The fear is that high water, thanks to a heavy snowpack, will force its way past an obstruction in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, surge past the treatment plant, and roar down the Arkansas River, carrying a heavy load of minerals and other pollutants that kill aquatic life, from tiny bugs to brown trout. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Forests – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The U.S. Forest Service is hoping to cut about 200 acres of low-elevation aspen trees that appear to be dying out, with the hope that the cutting will provoke the aspen trees to generate root-based generation, called suckers Read the rest of this article

Transportation – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Truckers are excited about a new product called Autosock, which is a high-tech fabric that can be slipped over a tire, delivering the same traction in snowy and icy conditions that now require chains. The Autosock can be installed on tires of tractor-trailer trucks in about 5 minutes, instead of 35 to 40 minutes, product representatives tell the Vail Daily. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Regional News – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Weather, Weather and More Weather

Weather has been the biggest headliner this season. Snow has fallen in cumbersome amounts, resulting in huge snowpacks. As of February 13, the Arkansas basin snowpack was 168% of average, the upper Rio Grande, 169% of average; and the Gunnison, 147% of average (and on February 14th, it started snowing again). Heavy snowpacks have heightened avalanche dangers and clogged backcountry roads, inspiring travelers’ advisories: don’t stop, don’t stand, beware of treacherous trails, and double check conditions before x-country skiing or snowmobiling. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Transportation – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

This spot between Salida and Cleora is not exactly a “ghost town,” since it never was a town. It was a siding named Barrel, where the railroad used a rotary dump to transfer limestone from the narrow-gauge cars that served the Monarch Quarry to the standard-gauge cars that served the CF&I steel mill in Pueblo. The machinery was erected in 1924, and was used until 1956 when the Monarch branch was converted to standard-gauge; the branch was abandoned in 1984. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Terror – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Summit Daily News thinks that the war on terrorism needs to be better connected at times with common sense. What provokes the newspaper’s grousing is diversion of traffic from across Dillon Dam, a shortcut between the towns of Frisco and Dillon. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Recreation – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

In 1987, four young men died in an avalanche adjacent to the Breckenridge ski area. After that, Summit County Sheriff Delbert Ewoldt announced a new policy, one limiting access to the backcountry from ski areas. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Prisons – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Working at a prison may not be the safest job in the world, but at the federal Supermax near Florence, there’s another danger besides fractious inmates — contaminated soil under the prison that can make staffers and inmates sick. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Media – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central turns 14 with this edition; the first edition was dated March, 1994. That one, like all the others, was printed at the Arkansas Valley Publishing (the corporate entity that publishes the Mountain Mail) in Salida, and things have certainly changed there. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Eco News

It should be a good year for water users in the Valley. The heavy snowfall this winter means a snowpack far above average, and plenty of the wet stuff to go around. Allen Davey, water engineer for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, reported that the Valley’s aquifer recovered quite a bit last year. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Geology – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Despite our jagged terrain, which reflects many faults in the earth’s crust hereabouts, earthquakes are not common in Central Colorado. So it was something of a surprise when the ground shook a little at about 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the Cotopaxi area. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Joe Barnhart

Wildlife – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

A story in my local Montana paper, the Missoulian, described the growing problem of family pets harassing wildlife and livestock. It seems that the expansion of urban life into the wild is taking its toll on deer, elk, cattle and all kinds of burrowing creatures. The story really hit home as my dog Hank, aka “Where the heck did the dog run off to now?” is breaking us in. Read the rest of this article