March 2014

As the new education director at Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, I have the privilege of working with 5,000 students from 45 schools in the area. In my first few months here, I have learned so much from these students as we built watershed models with students at Crystal River Elementary School, turned over rocks in the Roaring Fork River to test macro-invertebrate diversity, dug potatoes and collected organic eggs at Rock Bottom Ranch, and tracked snowshoe hare across Richmond Ridge on Aspen Mountain. The youth of this valley understand more about watershed and ecosystem health, biodiversity, and sustainable food than most adults I have worked with.

Forty years ago, Becky Young, fresh out of Colorado State University, moved to Carbondale to start the Roaring Fork Review newspaper with her friend Pat Noel. When the paper was bought out a year later, the duo moved on to start The Valley Journal, Carbondale’s beloved paper for 32 years. She had come into journalism after having worked for CSU’s daily paper for a year, and was following a talent and passion, though she left The Journal after 14 years for other professional pursuits.

The bipartisan bill that President Lyndon Johnson signed into law in 1964 took eight years and over 66 revisions before Congress passed it for the president to sign into law.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that landmark legislation of courage and compromise known as the Wilderness Act. A number of activities are being planned on the White River National Forest to celebrate its passage.

The Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop is busy analyzing a proposed BLM management plan released on March 21 that includes Red Hill, the Crown and parts of Thompson Divide.
“This (plan) is a biggie,” said Wilderness Workshop spokesman Dave Reed. “It’s the blueprint for how over 500,000 acres of BLM lands in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties will be managed for the next 20-plus years.”
The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed plan also covers federal land in Grand, Jackson, Routt, Summit and Larimer counties.
“Our proposed Resource Management Plan for the Kremmling Field Office is based largely on the comments we received from the public and our State and local cooperating agencies when we put our Draft Plan out for comment in 2011,” said BLM spokeswoman Stephanie Odell in a press release. “We believe the proposed plan provides a balanced approach to managing the public’s land and resources … for the next two decades.”

The little town of Carbondale became the center of the universe last Saturday for the passionate group of people attending the Cosmic Love Blast. The event was sponsored by A Spiritual Center and held at the Third Street Center. The ceremony/celebration was designed to enable participants to “receive an initiation into the new energies of the Great Shift underway for planet earth and humanity,” according to organizer Golden Sha.

Carbondale has made positive strides toward its goal of a more resilient and energy secure economy, but there is still a long way to go. That’s according to information presented at a workshop titled “Clean Energy Progress in Carbondale,” held at the Carbondale Library on March 19. The workshop was hosted by members of the Clean Energy 2020 campaign, a coalition of energy non-profits, the town of Carbondale, and the Carbondale Environmental Board. It was the first of three public meetings designed to inform the community of the town’s energy goals and seek input on how to meet those goals.

Carbondale voters have until 7 p.m. on April 1 to cast their ballots in the 2014 municipal elections. Mayor Stacey Bernot is running unopposed. The four candidates for the three trustee seats are: Katrina Byars, Alexander (AJ) Hobbs, Wayne Horak and Frosty Merriott.
The Sopris Sun asked the candidates the following questions to answer via e-mail. On a related note, The Sopris Sun article about the March 10 candidate forum can be accessed at soprissun.com; so can the GrassRoots TV coverage of the event.

Carbondale’s upcoming election is a mail-in ballot with voter service polling centers as well. Election Day itself is April 1 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with voter service polling centers (formerly known as “polling places”) at Carbondale Town Hall, the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs and Garfield County Rifle Branch Office. Dates and details from the Garfield County Clerk and Recorder’s office are as follows:

Poet, writer and naturalist Karen Chamberlain, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 68, was many things to many people in the Roaring Fork Valley. To fledgling local writers who were lucky enough to meet her, she was a mentor, coach and most of all, cheerleader.

The Aspen Clinic is a health and wellness resource center that was created in November 2011 to help all individuals in the valley with their health, but has recently claimed notoriety with the opening of its Fitness and Post Rehabilitation Center. The Aspen Clinic (TAC) helps individuals manage their health by focusing on the whole person (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual). TAC provides health resources, creates educational awareness and facilitates community engagement.