Thank you, Heritage Park
I am an 87 year-old veteran. In July, I had a heart attack and a stroke. I was lucky enough to get to Heritage Park in your city to recover. What a great place and staff! Because of them, three months later I am at home and doing great. The staff, from the managing director to the youngest certified nursing assistant are wonderful. If I started naming names, I would run out of paper.
Carbondale should have an appreciation day for these people. They are the best, most caring I have ever met.
Sgt. Richard Rose
Glenwood Springs
Protect the upper Crystal
There will be a listening session held by the Lead King Loop Steering Committee (LKLSC) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at the Marble Fire Station. Notice of this meeting has appeared on bulletin boards and mailboxes in and around Marble. It seems that the committee considers only Marble area residents as stakeholders in public land management issues. While Marble residents do experience the brunt of the impact from under regulated motorized recreation, the upper valley forest and mountains belong to all area residents and, in fact, all Americans.
In the past month, the Marble Crystal River Chamber (MCRC) held a workshop with the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) to plan a new and more sustainable path for Marble tourism. The MCRC had already decided to follow a soft-path approach to tourism promotion, eliminating any mention of the Crystal Mill and motorized recreation in favor of nature, history and art. Prior to the workshop, a survey was conducted by CTO to determine resident sentiment.
The results of the survey are significant: only 20% of residents participate in motorized recreation, while 80% feel that the impact of such recreation is not being managed sufficiently. Yet Marble residents are now represented by town government officials who all own motorized recreation vehicles.
Ironically, 50 years ago the Marble town government was resurrected to fight development of a poorly planned ski area, which would have imposed a Snowmass-sized development on the delicate and unstable valley. In that case, enforcement of planning regulations was able to stop the development, aided by the formation of the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association and participation by Pitkin County commissioners. Gunnison County, out of touch with remote Marble and perhaps thinking only of tax revenues, represented the ski area developers on the losing side.
Today we are faced by the unplanned, incremental development of a form of recreation which impacts not only the quality of life for Marble residents and our plant and animal neighbors, but also the recreational quality for the majority of visitors, both local and national, who are on the soft-path.
Recently, Silverton ended ATV use within town limits, while Moab’s enforcement of noise ordinances caused the cancellation of the largest annual ATV event. In response to pressure from soft-path advocates last spring, Gunnison County added a sunset clause to the resolution allowing temporary ATV use on County Road 3 in Marble. After Dec. 31, off-highway-vehicle use will no longer be allowed. It will be hard to justify reinstating such use when no solutions to parking, enforcement or resource protection are in place. But don’t expect Gunnison County to do the right thing.
A ban on ATVs does not exclude any user groups, only activities which are not compatible with other users. This is the sustainable choice.
Make your voice heard by the town of Marble and Gunnison County. As Woody says: “This Land is My Land, This Land is Your Land.”
Town of Marble: leach@townofmarble.com Gunnison County: bocc@gunnisoncounty.org
Alex Menard
Marble
Snowflakes and avalanches
These days, many people are grumbling about the price of gasoline in the U.S. In England, the price per gallon is $5.79 USD, Germany $5.57.
On Tuesday, Nov. 23, President Biden opened the tap on the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been used in emergencies like catastrophic hurricanes and other oil processing interruptions. Biden’s goal is to encourage lower gasoline prices. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management oversees the U.S. reserve and has the goal of minimizing the impacts of fossil fuels and working toward net-zero emissions. The reserve has a maximum capacity of 727 million barrels.
About 20 years ago, I attended a presentation by Randy Udall, environmentalist and alternative energy expert, and Amory Lovins, the co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit dedicated to transforming global energy systems. Time Magazine named Amory Lovins as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
At that lecture, they told us that if you could put all of the world’s oil into a six-pack, we humans would have already used five cans. That was 20 years and 2 billion people ago. In 1987, when I moved to Carbondale, the world population was 5 billion.
There is a saying that no snowflake in an avalanche feels responsible. Well, my fellow snowflakes, the avalanche is coming. Time to wake up… walk… ride a bike…
Roxana Duval
Carbondale
Christmas Boutique gives thanks
The artisans from the 45th Annual Carbondale Christmas Boutique would like to thank the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District for allowing us, once again, to hold the annual boutique at the firehouse.
People from our community and beyond were able to enjoy visiting with their friends and neighbors while shopping for unique, local handmade gifts and sipping on delicious coffee graciously donated by Bonfire Coffee.
The artisans really appreciate the support of the fire department, Bonfire and the community for keeping the tradition alive for so many years. Thank you for supporting small local businesses and artisans.
The Carbondale Christmas Boutique
Holiday Baskets Program
The Holiday Baskets Program has been supplying new gifts, toys and food to people in need in our valley for 40 years. This program, run entirely by volunteers, is a wonderful community effort with numerous groups and individuals assisting. We serve approximately 250 families and over 1,000 people. The Holiday Baskets program often gives the only gifts families will receive for the holidays.
People are referred to the program by 13 local social service agencies and are then “adopted” by individuals, the faith community, schools, businesses and other groups. The Adopting Angels buy toys, gifts and/or gift cards for each member of the family.
There are always more families in need than are adopted. The gifts for these families are contributed by people who choose a gift tag and then purchase the requested gift. All these gifts are gathered at the Aspen Chapel and St. Peter’s Church in Basalt, where they are sorted and wrapped for individual families. In addition to gifts, each family member receives a generous City Market food gift card.
To adopt a family or an individual person, please send an email to rfvholidaybaskets@gmail.com We also gratefully accept donations which are used to purchase food gift cards for over 1,000 people. Checks may be sent to: Holiday Baskets Program PO Box 2192 Basalt, CO 81621. You may also donate on our website: www.holidaybasketsprogram.com
Thank you to all for your continued support of this program.
Anne Blackwell, Chairperson
Carbondale
Starry night
Gold on indigo
Gaze upon a Van Gogh sky
Swirling firmament
JM Jesse
Glenwood Springs
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It takes community support to keep The Sopris Sun shining.
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