Corrections: In the GarCo Report, Lift-Up Development Director Sheila Maurer’s last name was misspelled. In “Carbondale prepares to spray at Nature Park,” the word “half-life” was mistakenly written as “life-life.”
Access vs. wildlife
Living in a county where 83% of the land is public is incredibly wonderful. But some groups are advocating for more access. CVEPA, an association formed in 1972 to protect the environment, has changed its mission to include a vocal push for increased access on public and private lands. John Armstrong, president of CVEPA, wrote in The Sopris Sun, “CVEPA has a strong belief that the environment is not limited to wild animals or designated wilderness areas” and that increased access is needed as long as users are respectful (CVEPA Views, March 23, 2023).
The problem is not respect, but carrying capacity. A farmer’s land will only support a certain number of animals based on acres, water, soil health and weather. Likewise, there is a human carrying capacity on our wild lands above which there is a negative effect on all living things. Wildlands cannot tolerate ever increasing human recreation.
Deer, elk and songbirds are declining and stressed. Winter closures are not enough to protect biodiversity. Deer and elk are the canaries in the coal mine. But song birds and raptors, insects, small mammals and reptiles all have to be considered. Wildflowers are trampled simply by too many footprints, wiping out localized populations.
Wilderness Workshop writes, “The rapid increase in recreation use and development is one of the most significant impacts to wildlife in our region and one of the greatest challenges facing our local land managers,” and, “No single trail can be held responsible for the declines in wildlife populations or other impacts — and yet collectively our trail systems and recreation uses are undeniably impactful.”
In July 2021, the United Nations drafted the Global Framework for Managing Nature. The goal is to conserve 30% of land and 30% of the ocean by 2030; to limit the loss of biodiversity and protect species from extinction by maintaining the integrity of all ecosystems. Both the State of Colorado and Pitkin County have passed resolutions supporting this declaration.
Pitkin County has built miles of trails to ensure everyone has access to nature, and national forest and BLM trailheads are nearby. A farmer may increase production for short-term gain, but the price is paid in loss of healthy land. There is a limit. Some wildlands need to remain undisturbed; not overrun by humans.
The challenge is to balance recreation and ensure public land actually remains biologically diverse and ecologically balanced.
Marj Perry
Carbondale
Rethinking herbicides
The plan to spray the off-leash Nature Park with herbicides should be rethought for several reasons.
First is that thistle typically grows on land with poor nutrients & biome (mycelium populations). Herbicides do not help improve the soil for more compatible plants.
Second is that I have lost dogs to cancer and I have always felt that the herbicide sprays around my unfenced yard had a role in their cancers, both on their legs.
Third, birds love thistle seed and when the plant has laid down over winter, I’ve watched sparrows hopping around the seed heads, pooping on the meaty stalks which then decompose into fertilizer for the soil and biome. Thus the herbicide would be hurting the birds also while preventing the plant from becoming compost. (Spring food is important to wintering fauna.)
Fourth, I’ve had great luck with getting thistle to go away by fertilizing and resting the area. Perhaps we can try fertilizing and fencing off the areas impacted. Then planting what we want to see.
It is hard to resist the state declaration of the noxious plant of the year, but one must realize that Dow Chemical spends millions to lobby, and makes billions rendering our land monocultured, but otherwise uninhabitable and sickly, where only “weeds” will grow. Resist we must. “Noxious” is their word to make us fear the environmentally beneficial plant.
John Hoffman
Carbondale
Howdy!
Carbondale’s own singin’ cowpokes, the Cowboy Corral, would like to thank the Carbondale Library for hosting our concert, “Songs and Stories of the West,” this Monday, April 3 at 6:30pm in the library’s community room. We hope lots of people take advantage of the free event, where traditional cowboy songs help tell the history of the West, along with lots of humor and a couple of poems. It’s a family-friendly event, and we think you’ll learn a thing or two along with enjoyin’ our (usually) outstandin’ harmonizin’. Hope to see you there!
Pecos Pete (Peter Westcott)
& the rest of the Corral
Thistle Day
A recent decision by the Carbondale Board of Trustees has got me wondering. That, coupled with the viewing of a fantastic film about the activism of Vandana Shiva and her life’s work to take on Monsanto in her home country of India, has inspired me to speak up about the recent decision to spray the thistle in the Delaney Nature Park, also known as “The Dog Park.”
We have very knowledgeable farmers and plant experts in the Valley who know how to work with nature to mitigate certain plants. I’m sure they could offer alternative solutions to spraying with chemicals. I wonder if anyone consulted with Katrina Blair of Durango, author of “The Wild Wisdom of Weeds”? She was so inspired by Carbondale’s celebration of the dandelion, that Durango now has a similar celebration. The thistle is one of the plants she highlights in the book, as a beneficial plant for the environment, and for its nutritional value for juicing and for eating.
I say, Yay! PRAISE for the THISTLE! Thistles are a transition plant and soil regenerator. They have a very important job in nature. Their deep tap roots bring up minerals deep down in the ground to the surface to regenerate disturbed and compacted soil. Over a few years, the soils will improve, and new generations of native plants will return.
Knowing Carbondale, we may just create another festival in honor of this regenerative and restorative plant!
Diana Alcantara
Carbondale
Connecting the dots
I read with interest Debbie Bruell’s latest column in the Post Independent on workforce housing. I have to admit to a certain amount of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) about affordable housing. But this article helped me connect the dots, that being NIMBY is NOT in my best interest.
Specifically, if the local workforce cannot be housed locally, we will 1) suffer lower service levels as local businesses and governments cannot staff positions, and 2) suffer from higher costs of living as these same businesses and governments have to pay higher and higher wages to attract and keep a workforce. Add to this creeping higher property taxes as the property values go up. Even those of us that already have housing are at risk of being eventually priced out of living here due to the ever-rising cost of living.
Our county commissioners have expressed NO support for any affordable workforce housing initiatives. It’s time for them to make these same connections, that having affordable workforce housing is in EVERYONE’s best interest.
Jerome Dayton
Carbondale
Re: Democracy in peril
Mr. Jesse’s letter sadly proves TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is still alive and festering in woke liberals.
After two and a half years of real collusion between the liberal media and the far left controlled Dems, the sham Mueller probe withered in the light of truth. Trump triumphed over two fake impeachments and a Jan. 6 Hollywood production that puts kangaroo courts to shame.
Under the Donald, our borders were secure, inflation wasn’t a problem, Russia dared not invade our allies, gender fluidity and drag shows weren’t promoted in grade schools and we fought crime by supporting law enforcement instead of defunding cops.
Shallow minds chose style over substance. Mean tweets are “unpresidential” and sound bite voters don’t mind being lied to as long as the lies come with a politically correct smile.
President Trump put Americans first. The compromised puppet president now in the White House is the real and present danger to American democracy.
Bruno Kirchenwitz
Rifle
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