Wildfire threat growing annually

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The wildland-urban interface is becoming a big, big deal in much of the West, where people have been flocking to stake out homes next to the forest and away from town centers.

There are several reasons to be concerned about the settlement pattern, but most prominent is the potential for fire. This year’s classic case was at South Lake Tahoe, where a campfire gone awry destroyed 254 homes in June.

For years, land managers had worried about an aging forest, and the subpar winter in the Sierra Nevada – the latest in a string of drought years in the West – left the forest tinder dry. A similarly dry winter in Idaho was also the background story for a fire that licked uncomfortably close to the edges of the ski town of Ketchum and even within the Sun Valley ski area.

Nationally, the Forest Service now spends 41 percent of its budget on either fighting fires or reducing fuels. In California, it’s 50 percent. There, firefighting costs have jumped from $20 million per year during the early 1980s to $252 million in recent years.

Loss of life is also at issue. Seven firefighters have died this year, but during the decade an average 18 per year have died as a result of heart attacks, airplane crashes or being burned to death.

Until recently, firefighters “saluted and went out and did it,” U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Don Smurthwaite told a team of reporters from the Associated Press. Now, “we will not ask a fire crew in a dangerous fire to defend a structure that has not taken precautionary steps. That’s definitely a change.”

Still, firefighters continue to die.

In the case of Lake Tahoe restrictions on thinning projects of less than 100 acres have been loosened since last summer’s fire, as have regulations regarding defensible space.

Whether those changes will be of value is unknown, reports theSierra Sun. But the verdict is in regarding work done since 1985 by a large subdivision called Tahoe Donner. It’s a very large subdivision, with 6,000 properties. Each property is assessed $1,000 per year for thinning and other work on the 3,474 acres of common area.

Other neighborhoods, including one at the Northstar ski area, are beginning to fund their own forestry efforts, if on a smaller scale.

Meanwhile, settlement in these semi-rural areas continues, and geographers and economists continue to issue projections that foresee even more of this exurban living.

Aspen tries to grow foreign business

ASPEN – The Aspen Skiing Co. is looking to gains this year in its all-important business among international visitors.

Two years ago, 15 percent of Aspen’s skier days came from international visitors, and last year it was 18 percent. But this year, it may become larger yet, says David Perry, the No. 2 executive in the company. Aspen has four ski areas with Snowmass being the largest.

Aspen is becoming less expensive to foreign visitors because of the flagging strength of the U.S. dollar. For example, when Perry arrived in Colorado from Whistler five years ago, the Canadian was worth $0.62 compared to the U.S. dollar. Now, it trades at $1.08.

Top markets for Aspen are Australia/New Zealand, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Germany and Canada.

But Aspen’s skier days have actually declined in the last decade, even as other ski areas in Colorado have grown. Perry discounts the comparison to the growing resorts along the I-70 corridor. “We have a pure, long-haul destination resort and have achieved our results without the frustration of weekend crowds,” he said.

About 39 percent of skiers at Aspen-Snowmass fly into Aspen. Another 36 percent fly into the Denver airport and take ground transportation to Aspen, and 11 percent use the Eagle County Regional Airport near Vail.

Aspen, more than many other resorts, suffered last year as a result of disruptions in airline service. However, offered airline seats are up 12 percent for this winter.

Carbon footprint tool to go online

WHISTLER, B.C. – People traveling to Whistler will soon be able to consult a website that tells them the cost, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, of their trips. Included will be comparisons of travel by jet, train and car.

The new website will also allow travelers to buy carbon off

sets for their travel.

The website is being constructed in a partnership between Tourism Whistler, the resort’s community promotional organization, and the city government.

The provincial government in British Columbia, which has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 33 percent by 2020, is paying for a bulk of the work through a grant designed to promote energy efficiency.

The purchase of carbon offsets has been criticized broadly in the last year as ineffectual, accomplishing little more than absolving the guilt of those responsible for the pollution.

Ted Battiston, who oversees sustainability planning for Whistler, concedes that they are a second-best measure. “We’ve got to try to make emission reduction on the ground at the same time,” he says.

But Battiston also says that the credibility of carbon offsets has been bolstered as more third-party verification and auditing procedures have been adopted. However, it is still crucial to determine which carbon offset programs are what they say they are.

Idaho valley deals with land rush

DRIGGS, Idaho – The shouts may not all be over, but Idaho’s Teton Valley seems to have reached a tipping point about managing its land rush.

The valley is located on the west side of the Teton Range, and in many ways it’s just as beautiful as Jackson Hole, located on the east side. Development has been far slower, however.

That is now changing. Middle-income residents from Jackson Hole are moving to Driggs, Victor and surrounding unincorporated areas because they can buy far more for their money than what they can buy (if anything at all) in Jackson Hole. But retirees and vacation homebuyers also have begun to flood the valley.

Land-use controls were limited, so two of the three county commissioners voted to adopt a moratorium. Opponents who saw this as a threat to their ability to benefit from rapidly escalating prices petitioned to get a recall election. The commissioners survived, and earlier this month they were re-elected by wide margins.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide says that opponents of the two commissioners “must now retract their claws and find a way to work with the majority and plan for gradual, and not breakneck, growth.”

Veto override benefits Park City

PARK CITY, Utah – Park City will be among the beneficiaries of the first-ever override of a veto by President George W. Bush.

The Park Record explains that the spending bill initially nixed by Bush included potentially $40 million for a water project to benefit the city and its various ski resorts, including Deer Valley and The Canyons.

The money is to be used to transport water from another basin to the north, called the Weber Basin. Park City lies at the headwaters and already consumes most of its native water.

Republicans allied with Democrats to override the presidential veto. Rob Bishop, a Republican congressman in Utah, said there should be concern about spending too much money – but not when it comes to water infrastructure.

“We in the West need to do everything we can do to maintain our water supplies and develop our water resources,” said Bishop.

Marines shoot commercial in Leadville

LEADVILLE – A drill platoon from the U.S. Marine Corps stopped in Leadville to shoot a commercial against the backdrop of the Sawatch Range, Colorado’s loftiest. The marines had also shot commercials at other “iconic sites, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canyon, as well as New York’s Times Square and the Independence Mall in Philadelphia.”

A spokesman, Sgt. Brian Griffith, told theLeadville Chronicle that the Marines hope to deepen their connection with Americans. “You look around you and you see America – the snow-capped mountains we all hear about. You see people who live the American lifestyle. You live the American dream. We’re here to protect it.”

About a third of Leadville residents commute an hour to two hours a day across the Continental Divide to work in Summit and Eagle counties, where Vail, Breckenridge and four other ski resorts are located.

– Allen Best

Wildfire threat growing annually

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The wildland-urban interface is becoming a big, big deal in much of the West, where people have been flocking to stake out homes next to the forest and away from town centers.

There are several reasons to be concerned about the settlement pattern, but most prominent is the potential for fire. This year’s classic case was at South Lake Tahoe, where a campfire gone awry destroyed 254 homes in June.

For years, land managers had worried about an aging forest, and the subpar winter in the Sierra Nevada – the latest in a string of drought years in the West – left the forest tinder dry. A similarly dry winter in Idaho was also the background story for a fire that licked uncomfortably close to the edges of the ski town of Ketchum and even within the Sun Valley ski area.

Nationally, the Forest Service now spends 41 percent of its budget on either fighting fires or reducing fuels. In California, it’s 50 percent. There, firefighting costs have jumped from $20 million per year during the early 1980s to $252 million in recent years.

Loss of life is also at issue. Seven firefighters have died this year, but during the decade an average 18 per year have died as a result of heart attacks, airplane crashes or being burned to death.

Until recently, firefighters “saluted and went out and did it,” U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Don Smurthwaite told a team of reporters from the Associated Press. Now, “we will not ask a fire crew in a dangerous fire to defend a structure that has not taken precautionary steps. That’s definitely a change.”

Still, firefighters continue to die.

In the case of Lake Tahoe restrictions on thinning projects of less than 100 acres have been loosened since last summer’s fire, as have regulations regarding defensible space.

Whether those changes will be of value is unknown, reports theSierra Sun. But the verdict is in regarding work done since 1985 by a large subdivision called Tahoe Donner. It’s a very large subdivision, with 6,000 properties. Each property is assessed $1,000 per year for thinning and other work on the 3,474 acres of common area.

Other neighborhoods, including one at the Northstar ski area, are beginning to fund their own forestry efforts, if on a smaller scale.

Meanwhile, settlement in these semi-rural areas continues, and geographers and economists continue to issue projections that foresee even more of this exurban living.

Aspen tries to grow foreign business

ASPEN – The Aspen Skiing Co. is looking to gains this year in its all-important business among international visitors.

Two years ago, 15 percent of Aspen’s skier days came from international visitors, and last year it was 18 percent. But this year, it may become larger yet, says David Perry, the No. 2 executive in the company. Aspen has four ski areas with Snowmass being the largest.

Aspen is becoming less expensive to foreign visitors because of the flagging strength of the U.S. dollar. For example, when Perry arrived in Colorado from Whistler five years ago, the Canadian was worth $0.62 compared to the U.S. dollar. Now, it trades at $1.08.

Top markets for Aspen are Australia/New Zealand, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Germany and Canada.

But Aspen’s skier days have actually declined in the last decade, even as other ski areas in Colorado have grown. Perry discounts the comparison to the growing resorts along the I-70 corridor. “We have a pure, long-haul destination resort and have achieved our results without the frustration of weekend crowds,” he said.

About 39 percent of skiers at Aspen-Snowmass fly into Aspen. Another 36 percent fly into the Denver airport and take ground transportation to Aspen, and 11 percent use the Eagle County Regional Airport near Vail.

Aspen, more than many other resorts, suffered last year as a result of disruptions in airline service. However, offered airline seats are up 12 percent for this winter.

Carbon footprint tool to go online

WHISTLER, B.C. – People traveling to Whistler will soon be able to consult a website that tells them the cost, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, of their trips. Included will be comparisons of travel by jet, train and car.

The new website will also allow travelers to buy carbon offsets for their travel.

The website is being constructed in a partnership between Tourism Whistler, the resort’s community promotional organization, and the city government.

The provincial government in British Columbia, which has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 33 percent by 2020, is paying for a bulk of the work through a grant designed to promote energy efficiency.

The purchase of carbon offsets has been criticized broadly in the last year as ineffectual, accomplishing little more than absolving the guilt of those responsible for the pollution.

Ted Battiston, who oversees sustainability planning for Whistler, concedes that they are a second-best measure. “We’ve got to try to make emission reduction on the ground at the same time,” he says.

But Battiston also says that the credibility of carbon offsets has been bolstered as more third-party verification and auditing procedures have been adopted. However, it is still crucial to determine which carbon offset programs are what they say they are.

Idaho valley deals with land rush

DRIGGS, Idaho – The shouts may not all be over, but Idaho’s Teton Valley seems to have reached a tipping point about managing its land rush.

The valley is located on the west side of the Teton Range, and in many ways it’s just as beautiful as Jackson Hole, located on the east side. Development has been far slower, however.

That is now changing. Middle-income residents from Jackson Hole are moving to Driggs, Victor and surrounding unincorporated areas because they can buy far more for their money than what they can buy (if anything at all) in Jackson Hole. But retirees and vacation homebuyers also have begun to flood the valley.

Land-use controls were limited, so two of the three county commissioners voted to adopt a moratorium. Opponents who saw this as a threat to their ability to benefit from rapidly escalating prices petitioned to get a recall election. The commissioners survived, and earlier this month they were re-elected by wide margins.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide says that opponents of the two commissioners “must now retract their claws and find a way to work with the majority and plan for gradual, and not breakneck, growth.”

Veto override benefits Park City

PARK CITY, Utah – Park City will be among the beneficiaries of the first-ever override of a veto by President George W. Bush.

The Park Record explains that the spending bill initially nixed by Bush included potentially $40 million for a water project to benefit the city and its various ski resorts, including Deer Valley and The Canyons.

The money is to be used to transport water from another basin to the north, called the Weber Basin. Park City lies at the headwaters and already consumes most of its native water.

Republicans allied with Democrats to override the presidential veto. Rob Bishop, a Republican congressman in Utah, said there should be concern about spending too much money – but not when it comes to water infrastructure.

“We in the West need to do everything we can do to maintain our water supplies and develop our water resources,” said Bishop.

Marines shoot commercial in Leadville

LEADVILLE – A drill platoon from the U.S. Marine Corps stopped in Leadville to shoot a commercial against the backdrop of the Sawatch Range, Colorado’s loftiest. The marines had also shot commercials at other “iconic sites, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canyon, as well as New York’s Times Square and the Independence Mall in Philadelphia.”

A spokesman, Sgt. Brian Griffith, told theLeadville Chronicle that the Marines hope to deepen their connection with Americans. “You look around you and you see America – the snow-capped mountains we all hear about. You see people who live the American lifestyle. You live the American dream. We’re here to protect it.”

About a third of Leadville residents commute an hour to two hours a day across the Continental Divide to work in Summit and Eagle counties, where Vail, Breckenridge and four other ski resorts are located.

– Allen Best

Parks Canada to adapt to warming

BANFF, Alberta – Pyeto, one of the glaciers in Banff National Park, has shrunk by 70 percent since it was observed in 1896. That statistic is contained in a report about the park by Parks Canada. The report notes greater changes are under way and likely to accelerate. “Obviously, we are not looking at managing climate change, but adapting to it, and mitigating the effects of climate change,” said Mike Murtha, senior park planner.

The report notes that, as predicted by global warming theory, minimum temperatures at Banff have been increasing faster than maximum temperatures, and winter temperatures have increased faster than spring and summer temperatures. For unexplained reasons, an exception has been noted at Lake Louise.

Jackson Hole hosts slogan contest

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Those crossing Teton Pass from the west are greeted with a sign that says: “Howdy stranger, yonder is Jackson Hole, the last of the Old West.”

That slogan is perhaps outdated. After all, this is a place from which people commute to Manhattan, are armored in Lycra and Gore-Tex, and can claim one of the highest per capita incomes in the United States.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide is sponsoring a contest to see what people might say that would be more appropriate. To get the ball rolling it offers several ideas of its own: “Our chai complements your chi.”

A local pundit in 1999 suggested yet another: “Welcome to Jackson Hole, where men remain boys and women work three jobs.”

Man speaks up for Aussie rights

WHISTLER, B.C. – Daniel Tudor, who describes himself as a “20 something Aussie,” calls for an end to generalizations. “Just give us blokes a fair go!” he says.

Tudor describes an early morning situation in Whistler when a fellow countryman was being a loud jerk. A woman upbraided the countryman, and rightly so, says Tudor. But then the woman continued on with a lengthy tirade about “you Aussie guys that come over here and think you’re cool, think you own the place, etc.”

“I understand that ‘us Aussies’ don’t have the best track record in Whistler, and that there might be some cultural differences and misunderstandings,” he writes in a letter published inPique. “But until you actually take the time and get to know someone on an individual basis, please don’t put me in that ‘typical Aussie’ category.”

High town goes deep with waterlines

MONTEZUMA – It may not be the sort of thing that a town would put on its “Hello Visitors” welcoming sign, but for the record, Montezuma has water pipes that go 11 feet into the ground.

The one-time mining town, located in Summit County, near the Keystone and Arapaho Basin ski areas, is at more than 10,200 feet in elevation. Engineer Joe Kracum of Glenwood Springs says frostline in most mountain towns goes only 3 to 4 feet deep, but it’s wise to put water lines down 8 to 10 feet. In Montezuma, they’re going just a bit deeper.

Aspen hospital embarks on expansion

ASPEN – The hospital in Aspen will soon embark on a $100 million, seven-year expansion. That plan is to expand the 70,000 square foot hospital to 200,000 square feet.

The hospital opened in the 1970s with 49 patient beds, but then downsized to 25 as medical care shifted to outpatient treatment. The resulting 25 beds allowed the Aspen hospital to qualify as a small, rural facility under federal standards, making it eligible for $1 million per year in Medicaid payments. With plans to expand, this time to 39 beds, the hospital will no longer be small enough to qualify for that funding, explainsThe Aspen Times.

–Allen Best