Few wolves expected for Colorado

DENVER - The first wolf in the wild in 60 years was confirmed in Colorado last June, and yet others are expected to migrate from the packs around Yellowstone National Park in coming years. Meanwhile, wolves reintroduced into Arizona and New Mexico may be loping northward into Colorado, and if not, they may be reintroduced.

With all of this going on, how many wolves can be expected in Colorado 100 years from now? The moderator at a panel discussion held in Denver in February asked that question, and the answers that he received seemed to surprise even the panelists. While various surveys have put the number at nearly 1,000, two of the most knowledgeable speakers had the same answer: none.

Ed Bangs, who supervised the gray wolf recovery in the Yellowstone region for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he doubted Coloradans would make room for wolves in the long term. It could be done, but at some cost and inconvenience. Gary Skiba, the Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist who is supervising creation of a plan that anticipates return of the wolf, said essentially the same thing.

Telluride requires green building

TELLURIDE - Telluride town officials are adopting a building code that mandates energy-efficient and environmentally benign techniques in construction of residential housing.

A point system is to be used, and a house, condominium or town-home project must accrue a minimum number of points from a long menu of possible construction and design techniques. Multiple-residential structures get a head start, because of their more environmentally munificent density, explained The Telluride Watch. An ebullient Town Council member, Hilary White, predicted the code will be a model for other communities.

Whether it will have much impact in Telluride is another matter. The town is essentially built out, and White and other council members have vigorously opposed any plans for expansion.

Snowmaking an insult to tribes

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Indians are unhappy with a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow snowmaking from reclaimed wastewater at the Snow Bowl Ski Area in the San Francisco Peaks.

Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, said the decision "has placed a dagger in the Hopis' spirituality." Joe Shirley Jr, president of the Navajo, claimed that the Forest Service is breaking "our hearts by choosing to enrich the pockets of a few over enriching the souls of the indigenous people of this land." The San Francisco Peaks are among the Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo Nation.

Indian News Today explains that while the Forest Service believes the reclaimed wastewater is safe, Indian medicine men say it would affect the herbs they gather for medicines and ceremonies. Also among the 14 Indian groups opposing the decision were the Apache, the Pueblo, the Havasupai and the Paiutes.

Telluride struggles with high rent

TELLURIDE - Merchants distressed about rising rents in Telluride are appealing to town officials to tip the playing field their way, perhaps by creating deed-restricted commercial space or restricting existing commercial space to current uses.

Telluride Mayor John Pryor is reluctant to directly assume the task of managing the economy, but the idea is being reviewed in a town planning effort.

While mandating "affordable retailing" is a new frontier, city and county governments have long engaged in attempting to manage their economies. Transportation, from subsidized direct-flight programs to subsidized parking garages, are the most obvious example, but similar are marketing programs and affordable housing.

Vail Resorts touts racial diversity

VAIL - Vail Resorts plans to put some color on its websites, advertisements and other collateral material. To that end, photographers have been taking photographs of African-Americans, Hispanics and other racial minorities on the ski slopes.

This is part of a greater drive toward inclusivity being pushed by Roberto Moreno, a Denver-based former ski instructor and ski patroller. Moreno argues that ski areas have perhaps unwittingly turned a cold shoulder on racial minorities, failing to extend a welcoming hand. One way of extending that hand, he says, is to have people of color in front-line positions, such as in ski schools and at ticket windows. But he also argues that ski areas need to make racial minorities feel welcome by showing them on websites.

Bill Jensen, the chief operating officer for Vail Mountain, has been supportive of Moreno's work, and this year gave 2,000 lift ticket/lesson/rental packages to Moreno's organization, Alpino. Copper Mountain, Eldora and other ski areas in Colorado have given another 2,000 similar packages, and next year Moreno expects Steamboat Springs to participate.

Moreno points out that if ski areas hope to boost their numbers after 27 years of so-so growth, they will have to reach out to minorities, whose populations are growing more rapidly than the general population rate. In Denver proper (but not the Denver metropolitan area), the various minorities collectively are now the majority.

Although Vail Mountain still appeals to the world's wealthiest skiers, it will join California's Mountain High, which caters to the hip-hop culture kids from nearby Los Angeles, and New York's Hunter Mountain as being one of the few ski areas to show racial minorities on skiing websites. Ski areas have had the most success and have worked hardest at reaching out to Asian-Americans, who have income and educational levels similar to those of the ski industry's traditional market.

Aspen tackles global warming

ASPEN - Aspen's town government has adopted a plan that declares global warming is a problem.

While the town was already planning to invest more heavily in alternative energy sources (it is also the electrical power provider), it is buying more wind energy and installing a hydroelectric dam. The renewable component of the city's portfolio is now at 57 percent; after more than $1 million in investment, the city hopes to get it to 80 percent. The balance would continue to come from the burning of coal.

The town also plans to hire a consultant to analyze how global warming will affect the community, and it plans to step up efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from transportation serving the city and in homes and buildings. It is allocating up to $110,000 a year in staffing to supervise this effort.

Not least, the city is allocating $50,000 toward what is expected to be a $400,000 to $500,000 international conference next year that is intended to draw greater attention to global warming.

Called the Canary Initiative, this plan was hatched in January but kept under wraps to prevent it from becoming a political football in the always-ready-to-argue Aspen community.

Fairplay wants to be next Telluride

FAIRPLAY - While Telluride has struggled at times to cope with the successes of its Bluegrass Festival, promoters are hoping for comparable successes at the summer-ending South Park Music and Art Festival in coming years. The goal of organizers of the event, nicknamed Burropalooza, is to attract more than 10,000 people and boost the attractions to more than 100 bands. Yes, this is the same Fairplay upon which the comic television show "South Park" is modeled.

County may require defensible space

CRESTED BUTTE - Representatives from the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service are pushing Gunnison County to mandate homeowners in the so-called urban-wildlands interface to create defensible space.

"If we ever had a fire, we'd have trouble saving a single house," said Jerry Chonka, the U.S. government's fire management officer in the Gunnison Ranger District. While county regulations urge landowners outside of cities and towns to thin trees and in other ways reduce the threat from wildland fires to their homes, Byran Ayers, from the state's Forest Service, thinks the county should make it mandatory. "The only way you're going to get people to thin trees is to require it," he said. He reported that perhaps six counties in Colorado have already done so.

Drought hinders resort village plans

WINTER PARK - It's nip-and-tuck whether there is enough water for the $70 million first phase of real estate construction that Intrawest plans at the base of the Winter Park ski area. While there would be enough water most of the time, drought years and peak-use months of March and July are another matter.

Intrawest altogether plans 1,200 to 1,500 units in coming years, but this first phase is expected to include only 160 condominiums and 42,000 square feet of commercial. But is there enough water for even this? Water district and Intrawest officials think yes, but the buck stops at town hall, and the Winter Park Manifest reports that officials there are dubious.

Who's to know for sure? That's partly what a $60,000 study aims to find out, with Intrawest picking up most of the tap. Longer range, the community is also looking at various have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too schemes. One involves a reservoir, to trap spring runoff, but three other ideas now being explored involve pumping water back from below sewage treatment plants, to ensure water remains in the Fraser River as it flows through the town. Even at 9,000 feet, water gets recycled.

Disease hits river in Banff

BANFF, Alberta - Alarmed anglers are reporting a collapse in the insect population in the Bow River, which in turn has resulted in fish getting sick and starving to death.

Brown trout and mountain whitefish are reported to be "skinny, unhealthy and lethargic," while many have died. Surveys have found spawning numbers down 70 percent. Bird counts are also down, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Over-fishing and changes in water chemistry as a result of upgrades to sewage treatment plants are theorized, but the stronger evidence for this dramatic decline in stoneflies and mayflies points to a 1999 mudslide near Banff. The silt subsequently smothered insect food and killed off eggs laid by adult insects.

- compiled by Allen Best