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Mountain News: Good news for one bea

TRUCKEE, Colo. – The Sierra Sun reports a most unusual, maybe even unique, occurrence. A black bear was on the road of a bridge near Donner Summit on Saturday afternoon.

TRUCKEE, Colo. – The Sierra Sun reports a most unusual, maybe even unique, occurrence. A black bear was on the road of a bridge near Donner Summit on Saturday afternoon. Oncoming traffic pinched the bear’s route, so it hopped the guard rail, then became trapped on the concrete girders below, with no way to safety. Below it was 80 feet to a gorge strewn with granite boulders.

Rescuers bought a 20x40-foot nylon net from an Army surplus store and then, assisted by rock and tree climbers, strung the orange cargo mesh beneath the bridge. They shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart and then nudged it off the ledge.

The net was then lowered to the ground, and the groggy bear staggered out as 100 spectators lining the road cheered.

 

Aspen aims at 2-hour shuffle

ASPEN, Colo. – Both parking rates and voices are being raised in Aspen.

“Greed, greed, greed,” wrote one letter-writer to The Aspen Times, responding to a city government proposal to end free two-hour parking near the commercial core. Installing about 75 pay stations will cost $950,000, but the town expects to generate $340,000 a year in revenue.

The Aspen Times indicates the goal is to free up parking spaces and nudge people into mass transit. Currently, people move their vehicles every two hours, with some businesses even designating car-movers. City officials estimate 600 people move their cars during a day.

The newspaper doesn’t like the idea. “Aspen is expensive and exclusive enough as it is. The commuters who drive to and from Aspen everyday are the folks who make this town tick,” said the Times in an editorial. “It's easy for Aspen residents to sit on their high horses and expect all commuters to take mass transit, but that mindset is naive and fueled by false expectations. Whether it be for family, professional or other concerns, there are times when commuters must drive to work.”

Mike Ireland, the town’s mayor and once a reporter at the Times, saw it differently. “At a time when the planet and the resort are headed toward a climate change cataclysm, the newspaper asks that we continue down the same old path: taxpayer money to reward single-occupancy auto use through ‘free’ parking that really should be called ‘subsidized parking.’”

Ireland, who rides a bicycle and lives in deed-restricted affordable housing, concluded: “Paid parking is the one tool that has been proven to be effective in reducing single-occupancy vehicle traffic, reducing congestion and producing cleaner air.”

 

Hoteliers want long-term plan

BANFF, Alberta – The lodging sector in Banff and Lake Louise is asking the Banff town council to develop a long-range economic strategy that will instill more business confidence and help Banff compete against other North American tourist destinations.

Darren Reeder, executive director of the Banff-Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association, said the town is taking an ad hoc approach. “This is concerning from a business standpoint, as long-range political agendas are often driven by a three-year election cycle, and long-range business decisions are made looking five to 10 years in to the future,” he said.

But the Rocky Mountain Outlook says others in the community continue to be worried about the arrival of chain stores such as Starbucks and the Gap.

 

Ever Vail to be ever green

VAIL, Colo. – Vail Resorts is announcing the details of how it intends to make its latest real estate venture in Vail, a $1 billion project called Ever Vail, ever green. The company proposes to seek a silver-level LEED designation for the whole 9.5-acre project located to the west of Lionshead.

Among the ideas are installing micro-hydro turbines in the adjacent Gore Creek, to provide electrical power, and using ground-source heat pumps — tapping the earth’s energy — to heat sidewalks. As well, roofs may be of sod.

Another idea contained in a proposal announced by the company includes a “flex car” program, which would provide a fleet of cars for Ever Vail owners to use while in town.

The project tentatively calls for up to 375 condominiums, half of them in timeshare. A gondola would be built, if approved by the U.S. Forest Service, to connect the real estate to the ski mountain.

Also contemplated is a six-story parking garage that would hold 700 spaces, plus affordable housing for up to 123 people.

The project still faces review by Vail town officials.

 

Employers invest in housing

CARBONDALE, Colo. – Large employers in the Roaring Fork Valley are continuing to add to the affordable housing inventory with two major projects in Carbondale, located 30 miles down-valley from Aspen.

One project is for 52 units. The Aspen Skiing Co., which plans to sell 30 of the units to its employees, is financing a major portion of it.

Roaring Fork Transit Authority, the valley’s bus agency, is buying 23 bedrooms, and plans to build on three acres it owns elsewhere in Carbondale in the future, says The Aspen Times.

 

Expansion arguments continue

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Little by little, the argument is shaping up at Crested Butte about the wisdom of expanding the ski area.

Even before Tim and Diane Mueller bought the ski area in 2005, ski area representatives have been arguing that the ski area needs the expansion on Snodgrass Mountain in order to attract week-long destination skiers. The existing mountain, while long on double-black-diamond terrain, is short of ski terrain sufficient to hold the attention of an intermediate-level skier for more than about three days. Snodgrass would almost exclusively be of intermediate difficulty.

With more terrain, goes their argument, Crested Butte can become just big enough — perhaps 500,000 to 600,000 skiers a year — to operate on an efficient scale. That’s not quite double the existing skier total.

But a group called Friends of Snodgrass questions whether the expansion is justified. At a recent town meeting, representative Chuck Shaw pointed out that destination ski resorts in Colorado increased their amount of skiable acres by 64.5 per cent from 1994-95 to 2005-06 while actually declining in skier days.

 

‘Swanky ski resort’ coming

KELLOGG, Idaho – Kellogg, located along Interstate 90 in the Idaho panhandle, is getting gussied up. Three installments of condominiums have been sold at the base of the ski gondola, and an indoor water park — the first at a ski resort in the West — is now being built.

That’s quite a change from 1981, when the silver mine shut down, putting 2,000 people out of work and leaving a Superfund cleanup in its wake. But whether Kellogg truly deserves to be called a “swanky ski resort,” as an Associated Press story describes the town, is another matter.

The story acknowledges such a description is relative. But the trend is clear. The first batch of condominiums, which sold in 2004, went for as low as $100,000. Prices exceeded $800,000 for several condos sold last year.

The story observes that what makes Kellogg attractive is its relative accessibility. Travelers can fly from Southern California to Spokane, Wash., located about an hour east along the interstate.

 

Median house size declines

THE WEST – Has this trend-line toward ever-bigger houses reached its peak and begun a downward fall? That was the report from an architect in Park City last year, and now, The Wall Street Journal reports it’s a national trend. The median size in the second quarter of this year fell to 2,241 square feet after reaching a near record of 2,301. Analysts think a broader decline may be in the offing. The newspaper notes that the average size of homes had increased 45 per cent in the last three decades even as the average family size has shrunk.

 

Aspen roots dying?

SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, Colo. – This traditionally is the peak weekend in large portions of the Rocky Mountains for the changing of aspen leaves. But whether whole mountainsides will still be glowing during autumns in coming decades is less certain.

Aspen forests have been dying on massive scales from Arizona to Alberta, including tens of thousands of acres in the San Juan Mountains. Scientists believe that the aging aspen trees have been tipped into decline by a drought that has lasted since the 1990s with varying intensities.

Of greatest interest is the condition of the root systems. Normally, aspen stands will soon regenerate, as the roots can remain alive for even thousands of years. But there is some evidence that the roots are also dying.

Silviculturalists had for decades predicted a die-off. But Wayne Shepperd, an aspen expert now retired from the U.S. Forest Service, last year told Telluride Magazine that he was caught off guard. He expected the sun-loving aspen trees to be replaced gradually by conifers, but not a massive die-off. He conceded that the drought made the aging aspen trees more susceptible to diseases but he was leery of ascribing the drought and hence mortality to a changing climate.

Aspen springs to life after forest disturbances, such as fire. The last major round of fires was in the 1880s. Aspen trees normally live 100 to 150 years. Logging aspen forests or setting fires will also cause them to regenerate.

But both tools have their limits. The demand for aspen wood is weak, and only 400 to 500 acres per year get harvested in the San Juan Mountains, explains the Durango Herald. Prescribed burns are difficult in the rugged topography that characterizes the region.

Even when trees are being cut, however, they are not regenerating. Jim Worrall, a forest pathologist with the U.S. Forest Service, told The Telluride Watch that what may be happening is that the root systems are getting so drained they cannot respond.

“If those roots die, and we don’t see any sprouts, we aren’t going to see aspen there,” said Sheppherd. “It will be a meadow, a conifer forest, or something else.”

 

Recycling economics don’t work

FRASER, Colo. – Recycling in the Fraser Valley has been far more popular than profitable, notes the Sky-Hi News.

The owner of a recycling operation based in Fraser called Valley Recycling is closing after having spent $31,000 since last summer to stanch the red ink. The bottom line there, as elsewhere in the land-rich West, is that transportation costs chew away any profits. The closest alternative is in Granby, 17 miles away.

 

New highest-ever tornado

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – If you’re out for one-upping somebody at a mountain town cocktail party, this item surely will be a mind twister, so to speak.

In 1987, a tornado carved a path for 24 miles and 1.6 miles wide across the Continental Divide in the Teton Wilderness before entering Yellowstone National Park.

The tornado lasted an estimated 26 minutes, felling a million trees with winds of 207 to 260 mph. The Jackson Hole News & Guide says that tornado sent a backcountry ranger and his horse skittering for safety in a meadow two miles away.

With trees damaged to an elevation of 10,070 feet, it was believed to be the highest tornado ever recorded in the world.

But it has been surpassed. The News & Guide tells of new information about a tornado observed on July 7, 2004, in California’s Sequoia National Park. A backpacker, Scott Newton, photographed a twister as it formed over Rockwell Pass. It touched down at an elevation of about 11,500 feet.

 

Mining makes comeback

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – With mining making a resumption across the West, the Summit County Journal wonders whether mining could ever return to Breckenridge, which began as a gold-mining camp in 1859.

Possibly — but it seems not likely, not even with gold now valued at $650 an ounce. The Country Boy Mine near Breckenridge, active until 1948, still has $50 million in its veins, said owner Paul Hintgen, but he told the newspaper he’s not tempted to reopen it. The ore would have to be of a higher content, containing crystallized gold, he said. Extraction of the gold would be expensive and environmentally taxing.

Summit County has taken pains to make sure the extraction would be difficult, having passed a ban in 2004 of cyanide heap-leach mining. The Colorado Mining Association is legally challenging the legality of that ban.

Meanwhile, 10 miles southwest of Breckenridge, Phelps Dodge continues to revamp the Climax Mine, with the possibility of restarting production in 2009. That mine has been mostly inactive since 1981.

 

Colorado hunter cries wolf

LEADVILLE, Colo. – On the east side of Independence Pass, in the same general area where hunters believed they saw a grizzly bear last September, a hunter this year says he saw a wolf.

“I’ve got news for ya. I’ve seen thousands of coyotes, and this wasn’t a coyote,” said Roger Eshelman, a hunter of 30 years. He estimated the animal weighted 100 pounds and stood three feet tall. He told the Aspen Times that he observed the animal through binoculars for about a minute before it slunk off.

Colorado Division of Wildlife officials said they believed the hunter saw a canine. A pile of poop that the hunter submitted for evidence further confirmed it was a canine — but not necessarily a wolf.

No grizzly bear has been confirmed with absolute certainty since 1978. For wolves, there is much more recent evidence. A wolf was killed on Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs in 2004. The wolf was tracked back to the Yellowstone area. Another possible wolf was videotaped in north-central Colorado in early 2006.

 

Durango goes for sun showers

DURANGO, Colo.— Durango city officials are contemplating whether to outfit the municipal recreation complex with solar panels to heat water. The hot water could be used for showers and sinks, and possibly the three swimming pools.

When the complex was authorized in 1999, energy cost less and global climate change was less prominent as an issue. Lacking both sufficient energy and alternative energy features, the complex last year cost $5.28 per square foot to heat, cool, and light. Similar recreational complexes in the Colorado city of Boulder used only $2 to $2.50 per square foot.

“If you build these things in from the beginning, it’s a lot more cost-effective than adding them later,” engineering consultant Mark Stetz tells the Durango Telegraph.

Durango did not trip on the same stone twice. The new city library is LEED certified to the gold level, which is the third highest of four levels. Only a few public buildings in Colorado are certified to that level.

 

Police can’t solve riddle

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Police report proliferating graffiti and fighting among several dozen young men, high-school aged or younger, in an area of South Lake Tahoe populated by Latinos. Police tell the Tahoe Daily Tribune that the case is difficult because there are neither victims nor witnesses in what they suspect is gang-related violence.

 

Hotel developer yanks plans

KETCHUM, Idaho – Of the five proposed hotels in Ketchum, only three remain. The developer of two of the potential hotels, Dallas-based Open House Partners, has yanked the projects. The cause seems to be a dispute about whether the condo-hotel would be allowed to go to five storeys, as the developer had wanted, or four storeys, long the limit in Ketchum.

The cause is one of those he-said, she-said stories. Mark Masinter, chief executive officer of the development company, blamed the city. “We spent a bunch of time and money... but the town wasn’t ready to do a project of this nature,” he told the Idaho Mountain Express.

Ketchum’s mayor, Randy Hall, tells the newspaper another story. He said Masinter said he was unable to reach an agreement with the seller. The asking price for the land alone is $260 per square foot, or $12.8 million.

The mayor speculated the national credit crunch may have also played into Masinter’s decision. As for Ketchum, he said the city was “bending over backwards to give these guys every opportunity to get their project off the ground.”

Several conflicting statements suggest that height and mass are the major — but not only — source of friction. Masinter said he needed five storeys to make the project work. Ketchum has been hesitant about going that high, although a proposal to raise the bar is scheduled for consideration.

 

Climbers see, hear, feel rockslide

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Those who have traipsed in the alpine precincts know well the sound of tumbling rocks. A few basketball-sized stones can cause a tremendous racket when bouncing down a couloir.

But the spectacle was intensely personal for Idaho climbers Roy and Sally Miller as they returned from a climb on the Grand Teton.

On Labour Day weekend, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide, the couple were near their campsite, several thousand feet below the summit of the 13,770-foot mountain, when they heard the thunder. About 50 feet away car-sized boulders rolled. As his wife took a photo of the maelstrom, “she looked at me in horror,” Roy Miller wrote in an on-line forum.

“It sounded like jets, a herd of jets,” said Paul Horton, a guide with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, who watched the phenomenon from a campsite. Two climbers who were in their tent quickly evacuated it to take shelter behind a boulder and watched as rocks pelted the tent.