The biggest tourism bump since the 2002 fires rolling into Durango for the Fourth of July


The La Plata Open Space Conservancy netting 1,375 acres of permanent open space in 2005

Visitors choosing to ride the trolley rather than driving their cars downtown

People who use Independence Day as an excuse for random acts of drunken destruction and violence

The loads of garbage and raft waste littering the banks of the Animas River

Yet another request from BP to double its number of La Plata County gas wells