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Land owner trys to bluff Forest Service

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Another land tempest is brewing near Telluride. There, a trailhead for those hiking up Wilson Peak and two other 14,000-foot peaks is being blocked by the owner, Rusty Nichols. Nichols has said that if he can’t get the U.

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Another land tempest is brewing near Telluride. There, a trailhead for those hiking up Wilson Peak and two other 14,000-foot peaks is being blocked by the owner, Rusty Nichols.

Nichols has said that if he can’t get the U.S. Forest Service to give him 2,200 acres of land elsewhere in the region in exchange for his 160 acres along the trail, he will try to mine his land. The area is already heavily pocked by mining activity. Nichols told The Telluride Watch that he believes his land has $300 million to $400 million in minerals.

Nichols, who lives in Texas, said he has tried to talk to land conservation organizations and the Forest Service and others for up to 20 years without interest. But a Forest Service land specialist told The Telluride Watch that Nichols’s proposed land exchange was rejected "because the values are incredibly off."

The Forest Service has previously cowed to the bluffs of landowners who threatened development if land exchanges were not engineered. After much criticism in those cases, however, the agency has been more hard-nosed.

Donner Party clues few & far between

TRUCKEE, Colo. – Archaeologists have returned against this summer to the crest of the Sierra Nevada in an effort to get a better picture of the tragic tale of the Donner Party.

There is, reports the Sierra Sun, little to see and little new to report at the site where the 181-member party, having been overtaken by early and deep snows, was forced to spend four months during the winter of 1846-47. Eleven members of the expedition died of starvation and cold. Whether the starved members resorted to cannibalism to survive is still a matter of speculation, the newspaper says.

"We are dealing with just crumbs of artifacts," said Julie Schablitsky, a University of Oregon archaeologist.

It would seem that the only thing new established with this year’s research is where the center of the camp was. "We are very excited to find what we think is ground zero for the campground," said Schablitsky. Archaeologists can perceive where melting snow ran off the tent of the travelers and hit the ground, leading them to the conclusion of where the center of the camp was.

More compromises to wilderness proposal

SUN VALLEY, Idaho – More wilderness compromises have been offered in Idaho in what some may well be calling Half-a-Loaf Wilderness.

Rep. Mike Simpson is proposing another 40,000 acres immediately northeast of Ketchum and Sun Valley to be called the Hemingway Wilderness Area. Hemingway, an author, spent a portion of his life in Sun Valley.

On the other hand, snowmobilers have said they couldn’t tolerate losing access to another area, called the Fourth of July basin, which Simpson had previously targeted for wilderness. So Simpson proposes to allow snowmobiles in winter, but no motorized use in summer.

Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon told the Idaho Mountain Express that no one wilderness proposal will make everyone happy. "But as long as there’s a continuing dialogue, we have everything to gain and nothing to lose."

Concert organizers claim shock at Shocked’s show

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Promoters of a musical festival in Steamboat Springs called Strings in the Mountain were offering refunds to any offended concert-goers after Michelle Shocked lived up to her name.

Her concert, reported The Steamboat Plot, was spliced with running political commentary in which she discussed injustice and racism and also made derogatory remarks about the two generations of Bush presidents. She comes from Texas.

"At least with Howard Stern-types I know what to expect, but music versus hateful propaganda is unacceptable," said one concert-goer, a visitor from Florida.

Another concertgoer, a Bush supporter, told the newspaper that she disagreed with Shocked but wasn’t upset. "She definitely knows what she believes in, which is more than I can say for some people. And she didn't use foul or offensive language like some performers," said the woman, who added that she found Shocked’s music "fantastic."

A representative of Strings in the Mountains said Shocked's political commentary surprised concert organizers. "Strings is about music," said Betse Grassby. "We hired Michelle Shocked for her music and her song writing. We do not condone nor support political grandstanding from our stage."

If that was the case, suggested The Pilot, then the concert organizers didn’t know much about her music. The cover of her first album, issued in 1984, showed her getting arrested at the Democratic National Convention.

Mother-daughter hikers felled by big snowstorm

PARK CITY, Utah — Bones in the Uintah Mountains east of Park City have been identified as those of a mother and daughter from Georgia who apparently lost their way while hiking when a storm blew in last September.

The two women, aged 39 and 58, had purchased emergency blankets and their gear, as had been advised by a ranger, but it apparently wasn’t enough as the temperatures dropped form the 50s to the low 30s and then eight inches of snow fell. Temperatures never rose above 36 degrees for almost four days.

"They had gear, but not the kind of gear they needed for that storm," said Jim Snyder, a search and rescue leader. Nothing on the scene suggests foul play was involved. The area is at about 10,000 feet in elevation.

Duffer jogs way onto list of arcane superlatives

BANFF, Alberta – A new Guinness record for continuous golfing was set at the Banff Springs Golf Course when Scott Holland played 221 straight holes. That’s the most number of golf holes ever played in 12-hour period. The previous record was 218.

To achieve this superlative, the 48-year-old Holland jogged about two-thirds of the distance. The heat of the day made that difficult, but on the other hand the heat allowed the ball to fly more easily through the air. "He was crunching drives up to about 380 yards long," a companion told the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Parks employees likely to strike at peak season

BANFF, Alberta – The patience of Job is being required in the towns that make their livings on the tourists to Banff, Jasper and other national parks in the Canadian Rockies.

The union that represents employees of Parks Canada has failed to come to an agreement with the government agency over the terms of their new contract. A strike is looking likely for early August, one of the busiest times of the year.

"With campgrounds potentially closing and cordoned bike trails left unsupervised, there is likely to be a reign of lawlessness throughout the country’s most beloved playgrounds, warding off the tame family recreationalists who bring the big bucks into the valley," observed the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

"After four years of almost crippling economic turmoil caused by the aftermath of Sept.11, the SARS scare, mad cow disease, and the billows of smoke from last year’s fire suppression, it appeared that we might finally be in for a breather," lamented the newspaper under the headline, "If it’s not one thing, it’s another."

Base village at ski area talking about new town

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – It’s happened before. First there was Crested Butte, then also Mt. Crested Butte, a new town next to the ski area. At Telluride the Johnny-come-lately slopeside town is called Mountain Village.

And something strikingly similar could happen in Jackson Hole. There, the only existing municipality is Jackson, but another substantial economic and population center is at the base of the Jackson Hole ski area five to 10 miles away. Owners of the ranch adjacent to the existing base area now want an upzoning of 510 acres of their land to yield a big grocery-store-sized amount of commercial space, plus 458 houses, townhomes, and condos (some "affordable" and others high end), plus a golf course, playing fields, and so on.

If you don’t give us the upzoning, say the ranch owners, we’ll subdivide into 40-acre ranchettes, with up to 40 of them possible.

While some in the base village talk incorporation as a way of getting out from under the control of county government, at the other end of the spectrum is the no- or slower-growth segment of the community that is rattling the sabers of a public vote. Jackson has had several such referenda in the past several years, with the chorus being, "Just say no" to growth.

Newspaper pans idea of bulldozer display

GRANBY, Colo. – There continues to be some talk about making the bulldozer into a tourist attraction.

At the Sky-Hi News, which is now operating out of temporary quarters as a result of the bulldozer rampage, that idea flat-out stinks. Such a permanent display would, says the newspaper, "implicitly enshrine the machine and implicitly glorify the deeds of Marvin Heemeyer on June 4. It must be remembered that there are still some people out there who feel that Heemeyer was somehow justified in his actions and that he is really just a small town hero."

The newspaper’s office and printing plant were among those places that Heemeyer attacked with his bulldozer. He crashed into the office even as the newspaper’s editor and publisher, Patrick Brower, and Harry Williamson, editor of the sibling Winter Park Manifest, were fleeing out the backdoor.

Meanwhile, the local sheriff’s department and district attorney have filed a lawsuit to get the bulldozer used by Marvin Heemeyer to crush parts of 13 buildings in early June. Others who might potentially try to get the bulldozer are those to whom Heemeyer owed money or his heirs.

Local authorities have not said what they would do with the bulldozer, although Grand County Sheriff Rod Johnson said he favored cutting it up for its value as scrap metal.

Tahoe at lowest level in 5 years

LAKE TAHOE, Nev./Calif. – Lake Tahoe is at its lowest level in the last five years, forcing boat launches to be closed. Last year the lake got to the same level, but not until October, just before the winter storms. Only an above-average snowfall year, will get the lake back up, and that hasn’t happened since 1995, notes the Tahoe World.

Loveland no longer has world’s highest

EISENHOWER TUNNEL, Colo. – The Loveland Ski Area for the last several years has operated a high-speed quad chair that reaches 12,700 feet, making it tops in the world. Four other lifts in the world go higher, but none operate in winter for skiing.

But Loveland will soon lose its narrowly defined superlative. A ski gondola in the Kashmir region of India is about to be completed, and it will carry skiers and snowboarders above 13,000 feet. The three-mile gondola has been in the works for 20 years, says Ski Press Magazine, but has been disrupted by political and religious violence in the region.

Group hopes to limit San Juan developments

SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, Colo. – A coalition of land conservation and other groups are putting together a grant application to preserve large swathes of land along what is called the San Juan Skyway. The skyway is a 236-mile loop of highways from Durango through Telluride, Ouray and Silverton, among other towns.

All told, the grant application calls for $25 million in land preservation plus $3 million in recreation facilities. The Telluride Watch reports that proponents hope to get easements limiting or prohibiting development on 3,000 to 4,000 acres.

This new idea is spurred by a previous success and future fear. The previous success is a similar group that seven years ago began an effort that has now yielded $14 million to set aside 7,000 acres of land from development. The future fear is that many remaining lands will get developed as development pressures build, particularly spilling out from Durango.

Mice unusually thick in the mountain towns

ASPEN, Colo. – Aspen, Snowmass, and other mountain towns have been thick with mice this summer. Eric Duncan, owner of a pest control company, told The Aspen Times that he has never, ever seen so many mice in the 30 years he’s been in business. Others in the business seem to agree.

The large number is probably due to this spring’s heavy rains, which caused an abundant food supply. Perhaps a quarter of the mice are of the deer mice variety, which are carriers of the hantavirus, the dreaded diseased that leaves nearly half of its victims in Colorado dead. Typically there are four or five infections per year.

Berms built to soften the din from highway

VAIL, Colo.– Mounds of dirt, called berms, have been showing up in Vail and its suburbs in an attempt to muffle the roar of Interstate 70 and other highways.

The first berm was constructed in Vail, near homes close to the golf course. That was about four years ago. Since then, 15-foot-high berms have been built at other locations along both that highway and another, Highway 6. Among the newer berms, reports the Vail Daily, is along the Sonnenalp Golf Course, at Edwards.

But building berms may become more difficult, as the Colorado Department of Transportation has created stricter guidelines governing their construction. The agency prefers sound walls and berms be built on private property, instead of the highway right-of-way.

Vail, meanwhile, recently began enforcing the speed limit on Interstate 70 through the town, taking up where state patrol officers leave off. The speed limit is 65, but many drivers have typically gone 10 mph to 20 mph over the limit. Driving faster increases the noise.

The town is also studying noise walls and other alternatives in the hopes of reducing the din that many people say is causing the quality of life to deteriorate.

Glub, glub, glub in

Park City Old Town

PARK CITY, Utah – The older part of Park City is drying out after a storm dumped 1.77 inches of rain. The flooding was the worst since the big spring runoff of 1983.

After several years of drought, Park City was hoping for more rain — but not all at once. The experience, said The Park Record, was akin to offering a thirsty man a drink of water and then dousing him with a bucket of water.

There seemed to be a fair measure of finger pointing. The newspapers says property owners along the key creeks as well as the city, which owns some of the land, had been negligent in not removing refuse and excessive vegetation. As a consequence, when the creek finally had a job to do, it was hampered by its ability to discharge all the water.