Animas High School seeks approval

The future of high school education in Durango is currently being weighed. A group of local residents has filed two concurrent applications with the Colorado Charter School Institute and Durango Board of Education to establish a charter high school of 400 to 450 students. The school is being called the Animas High School and if approved would fill the local void in alternative, public high school education.

As a charter school, the Animas High School would be semi-autonomous – able to set its own curriculum, calendar and policies and select its own staff and board of directors. However, as a public school, it would still receive state per-pupil funding. The push was prompted partly by concerns about Durango High School’s size and student anonymity.

The objective of Animas High School would be to raise the bar for achievement by engaging students in a smaller, individualized setting that emphasizes “project-based learning.” By capping enrollment at 400 or 450 using a lottery system, the school would remain viable while keeping a more personalized atmosphere. The new school would be based upon a successful charter model in California – High Tech High. The first High Tech High opened in 2000 and stressed the use of technology and real-world situations as a means to an end in the learning process. The school was so successful that it has been replicated throughout the state.

However, the road to Animas High School has not yet come to an end. Review of the school’s application for a charter with the Colorado Charter School Institute were mixed, with one reviewer praising the school’s application and another calling the application “not yet complete.”

The 9-R Board of Education is also interested in gauging local sentiment before ruling on the application. Toward that end, two public meetings will be held Wed., Oct. 24, to hear public comment about the application. The meetings will be from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Community Recreation Center.

 Joel Jones, retired Fort Lewis College president and a former District 9-R superintendent, is overseeing the analysis and review of the Animas Charter High School application on the district’s behalf. Jones said he will help the district develop a review process that will identify constituents who should participate in the analysis, will seek public comment through a variety of outreach activities, will evaluate pros and cons of another charter school in the district, and will provide a synthesis and analysis of the data and public comments to give to the school board.

“My goal will be to provide the community and school board with the information they need to make a reasoned judgment about the charter school so that the board’s decision can be made with the best interests of all the district’s students in mind,” he said.

Colorado calls for open space

A loud call sounded in Denver last week – preserve open space while it is still available. Speakers at the Land Trust Alliance’s annual conference urged their audiences to pick up the pace on land conservation efforts. Rand Wentworth, President of the Land Trust Alliance, implored more than 2,200 land conservationists in attendance to focus on the pace, quality and permanence of land conservation.

Colorado ranks third in the nation in preserving land, thanks partly to an innovative state conservation easement tax credit program. In 2006, more than 167,500 acres of land that might otherwise have been developed were preserved.

However, some experts fear Colorado may not be meeting its goal. Will Shafroth, executive director of Colorado Conservation Trust, argued that Colorado needs to work harder to meet its goal. “Despite these successes, we are falling behind,” he said. “We are not doing what needs to be done annually to meet our 2015 goal of protecting an additional 2 million acres. We are off to a great start, but we need to pick up the pace.”

The private sector may be one area in which Colorado picks up that pace. In years past, land conservation organizations relied on grants, government purchases, and donations to save endangered places. But Stephanie Gripne, of The Nature Conservancy, argued in favor of new tactics.

“Achieving conservation goals requires the development of new strategies for protecting critical Colorado lands at the scale and urgency of the problem,” she said. “Developing partnerships and new tools with the private sector that attract private

equity investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to Colorado will likely be a key piece to solving the conservation puzzle.”

One growing way that the private market is funding land conservation in some states is through the purchase of state transferable tax credits. Colorado was the first to create such a program that allows those who preserve their land to actually sell their tax benefits. Virginia quickly followed suit and most recently New Mexico passed a similar law to go into effect in 2008.  

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar was in attendance at last week’s annual conference. He promised attendees that he would fight for adequate funding for land preservation in the Farm Bill.

Report highlights recreation’s value

Yet another report is highlighting the dollar value of a recreation-based economy. Environment Colorado has released findings that say oil and gas drilling, mining and logging threaten to unseat the state’s $2.4 billion annual revenue stream from wildlife-related recreation.

“Coloradans treasure the outdoor and economic opportunities provided by our national forests,” said Griffin Cottle, preservation pssociate of Environment Colorado. “Our forests are worth more wild, and Congress should step in and permanently protect roadless areas in our national forests.”

The report is entitled “Worth More Wild: The Value of Colorado’s Roadless National Forests.” The study found that in 2006, 1.6 million Coloradans participated in wildlife-related recreation – including fishing, hunting and wildlife watching – which contributed over $2.4 billion to the state economy.

In addition, the Outdoor Industries Association estimates that tourism and in-state outdoor equipment sales help contribute in excess of $10 billion to Colorado’s economy, more than 107,000 in-state jobs across Colorado, and nearly $500 million in annual state tax revenue.

On the flip-side, the report shows that Colorado’s roadless forests are under attack from record-breaking oil and gas drilling. In 2005, Colorado set a new state record with 4,000 new drilling permits issued. In August 2006, the Bureau of Land Management auctioned off almost 20,000 acres of roadless areas within the White River and Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) national forests. And in April of this year, the San Juan National Forest approved construction of roads and well-pads in 5,000 acres of the HD Mountains Roadless Area near Bayfield.

“Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has created a record of failure to protect Colorado’s forests,” said Cottle.

Meanwhile, the administration is appealing a federal court ruling that reinstated roadless area protections under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule for the lower 48 states. In spring 2007, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter submitted a letter stating his support for the 2001 Roadless Rule and submitted a petition as an “insurance policy” to ensure Colorado’s roadless forests retain protection.

– Will Sands