DEVO pedals into spotlight
Durango’s junior mountain bikers got a jumpstart on the season, thanks to a $1,500 grant from the USA Cycling Development Foundation. The grant was an award for being recognized by USA Cycling as one of 10 national cyling Centers of Excellence for 2011.

The nation’s governing body on cycling, USA Cycling awarded $20,000 in funding to the 10 programs to further junior development efforts.
 Devo was chosen based upon its great coaching and “building block” approach that increases interest in mountain biking, according to USA Cycling. It also credited the coaching style with the huge success of the Devo program, which started with five high school boys seven years ago and has since mushroomed into 300 kids ages 5 to 18.

“USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike Development Program consistently sees top riders coming out of the Durango Devo Program,” said USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike and Cyclo-cross Program Director Marc Gullickson. “I think the program is so successful in developing young talent because they have a great coaching staff that works diligently on all aspects of junior mountain biking. The program provides young juniors with a welcome and safe entry point, experienced coaching and great national level racing opportunities across the country. By the time these riders show up in my program, they’re well-rounded and prepared for top level competition.”

Devo Director and coach Sarah Tescher said the group is thrilled with the award. “While we are a community-based program, receiving this award and being noticed nationally as one of the best junior programs in the country is a huge honor for us,” she said.

Tescher said the grant money will be used for Devo’s scholarship program, which helps with dues, travel, equipment and other necessities. Devo’s spring session begins April 1 and registration opens March 1. The USA Cycling Development Foundation was created with the purpose of raising money to develop the country’s next generation of Olympic and competitive cyclists. These development grants and programs are funded with annual gifts to the Foundation.

For more on USA Cycling, go to www.usacycling.org. For more on Durango Devo, go to www.durangodevo.com.

Top freestylers land at Chapman hill
Colorado’s best bumpers will be descending on Durango this weekend for the USSA Rocky Mountain Division’s Southwest Freestyle Open. Sponsored by Durango Orthopedics/Spine Colorado, the event takes place Feb. 17-20 at Chapman Hill.  The competition is expected to draw top mogul skiers and aerialist from Aspen, Steamboat, Winter Park, Vail, Summit County, Telluride and Durango.

Festivities will kick off with the Durango Winter Sports Foundation’s welcome party Friday from 5-7 p.m. at the base of Chapman Hill. Events will include a USSA Devo slopestyle and the local town race series.

“This gives our foundation an opportunity to bring our local kids doing great things to the people in Durango,” said Cynthia Aspen, Executive Director of DWSF, which supports local junior alpine, Nordic, freestyle and snowboard teams. “Chapman Hill is a perfect venue to showcase these great young athletes.”

Mogul skiing action will take place 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with dual moguls taking place Sunday. The weekend will wrap up with a big air contest on Monday. 

               
“The mogul course measures out to over 200 meters of steep fall line skiing with a huge air on the bottom. It will be quite the show,” noted Aspen.
The competition was made possible in large part to the recent improvements in snowmaking and grooming at the city-owned ski hill. The City of Durango is looking to attract additional events like this in the future, Cathy Metz, Durango Parks and Recreation Director, said. “From this type of statewide event to beginner lessons and family time, Chapman Hill has exceeded our expectations for a variety of user groups this year,” she said.  Skier visits at Chapman have increased 119 percent in from last year.

For additional details about the event, contact Kirk Rawles, DWSF Freestyle Head Coach at (970) 903-2119.

Lachelt enters commissioner race
Longtime resident and activist Gwen Lachelt announced her bid for the La Plata County Board of Commission’s District 2 seat last Friday.
The founding executive director of both the San Juan Citizens Alliance and Earthworks’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project, Lachelt, a Democrat, will be challenging current BOCc chair, Kellie Hotter.

“My strength is bringing together rural and urban residents to discuss issues and develop solutions,” said Lachelt in a press release. “I offer 25 years of leadership in building strong, effective organizations and passing common sense laws and safeguards that have reduced, and in some cases, prevented the impact of drilling and fracking in Colorado, throughout the U.S., and around the world.”

Lachelt will kick off her campaign Thurs., Feb. 16, at a 5 p.m. reception at Eno, 723 E. 2nd Ave.

Court halts Handkerchief Mesa logging
Nearly 3,500 acres of forest near wolf Creek Pass escaped the saw last week when two conservation groups won a suit against the project in federal court.

The Handkerchief Mesa project proposed logging 3,436 acres of beetle-infested timber in the Rio Grande National Forest. The massive project would have produced approximately 8.3 million board feet of timber (about 2,075 log trucks) and require 10.8 miles of road reconstruction.

While the Forest Service claimed the logging would reduce current and potential future impacts from insects and disease, Rocky Mountain Wild and WildEarth Guardians argued that logging and new roads would only lead to further decline in the health of the forest and watersheds.
Last Fri., Feb. 10, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez agreed, putting a court-ordered stop to the logging.

“This is the headwaters of the Rio Grande and deserves the most cautious management,” says Bryan Bird, Public Lands Director at WildEarth Guardians. “The judge’s ruling in our favor will give the forests and wildlife in Colorado a serious reprieve from indefensible logging.”

In its ruling, the court sided with the conservation groups argument that the government failed to demonstrate in its environmental assessment that soils would not be impacted by the logging. The court also agreed that the Forest Service did not have sufficient information on the infestation of the beetles, known as spruce budworm, and failed to demonstrate that the logging combined with budworm mortality would meet regeneration standards.

“The court has told the Forest Service, the game has changed, and you need to change with it if you are going to continue to permit these projects,” said Mike Harris, Director of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, which argued the case.

The Handkerchief Mesa timber sale is miles from any community or infrastructure and in an area where the forest is still recovering from vast clearcuts and over-logging from the latter half of the last century. The soils there are severely prone to erosion and landslide, and as a result, area streams are impacted by excess sediment loads. The Handkerchief Mesa timber sale further threatens the soil health, hydrology and wildlife habitat of an already fragile area, the conservation groups argued.

“We are very pleased that the court agreed with us that the Forest Service must fully examine the past damage to these areas before allowing logging to reoccur,” Rocky Smith, Rocky Mountain Wild’s ForestWatch Program Director in Denver, stated.

Aside from environmental misgivings, the groups also questioned that economic wisdom of such a timber sale. The housing crash has contributed to the worst lumber market in U.S. history.

Furthermore, the groups point to scientific evidence that insect epidemics are largely natural and impossible to suppress. Logging projects such as Handkerchief Mesa, far from any community, will simply aggravate stressed lands and a financially strapped Forest Service. Rather, the public lands managers should focus on fire hazard reduction and defensible space around communities, the conservation groups argue.