Following the Yellow Brick Road

To the editor,

I am frustrated with quite a few of the perspectives I’ve seen on our current environmental disaster. 

Yes our river is toxic and yellow, and we do not know the full duration and extent of its impact. But I ask you to look back two days ago and ask yourself if our watershed was pristine or an illusion. 

It has been more than 100 years since our area was booming with mines and mining. The evidence is still present and apparent to anyone who has visited the hillsides and river heads in Telluride, Silverton and Ouray. The daily release of pollution from these mines, uranium enrichment, agriculture and nearby power plants has been affecting our ecosystem for years. To say that our river was clear and clean two days ago is very short sighted. 

I only write in hopes that the few of you who will read this will change your reaction from abhorrent disgust to a determination to change. Our every action and choice had an effect on the world around us. 

We can blame the Gold King Mine for its role in the disaster. We can blame the miners who worked the mine to make a living. We can blame the community and time past for its reckless disregard for the environment.

Or we can wake up and realize that we are still walking the same yellow brick road where our actions can be seen like the graffiti of heavy metals tainting our river yellow, or the art that speaks to our enlightenment as individuals.

– Alex Howard, Durango

A letter to the Animas

Dear Beloved Animas River,

“The earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.  All things are connected.  Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves.” – Chief Seattle

I’m so sad that 3 million gallons of toxic waste was dumped into you on Wed., Aug. 5. I apologize to you

on behalf of the humans who made this mistake.  Our culture seems addicted to consuming materials that come from mining the Earth, and we’re mostly too preoccupied with our own lives to notice the harm we cause in the way we go about it.  

I wish that I had asked more questions about the mines in Silverton that posed such a high risk to your well being. I wish that I and others had protested the toxicity stored there and demanded its safe removal before this tragedy could occur. I wish that all of us humans were more aware of our careless and unconscious ways in regards to your well-being. I wish we could work together to create a radical plan to change our lifestyles and live in a way that honors the precious and beautiful being and resource that you are.

Now that you’re “off limits,” and we’re not sure when or if we’ll have you back, we are feeling the hurt. We can’t help but be aware of how much we rely on you for our life and livelihood. Some now are without drinking and bathing water. Others have no water for their livestock or farms. Sadly, you are now empty of boats and duckies.  

As a kayaker and raft guide, I so miss being with you every day. Flowing in you through the rocks and currents, in what I affectionately call “river consciousness,” has brought tremendous joy and has also taught me many lessons, including to be more present and trust life. I love watching everyone playing in your waters, and I love viewing the town from the perspective I have while I’m flowing on you. Your life blood keeps our town wildly alive, relaxed and playful.

To consider what is happening to the wildlife utterly breaks my heart. No one has warned the duck families, geese, osprey, beavers and red-winged black birds to stay out of the water. How could we humans do this to what we most cherish in this life? To the most beautiful treasure that we have here!

Will this loss teach us .. to clean up all of our toxic mine leftovers? To change the way we are living? A 2012 report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada, called “Troubled Waters,” says: “Mining companies are dumping more than 180 million tons of hazardous mine waste each year into rivers, lakes and oceans worldwide, threatening vital bodies of water with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals poisonous to humans and wildlife. The amount of mine waste dumped annually is 1.5 times as much as all the municipal waste dumped in U.S. landfills in 2009.”   

Clearly and unequivocally, we can no longer contaminate one of our planet’s most precious resources:  WATER. May this tremendous wound we’ve inflicted raise our consciousness to see this.

I miss you tremendously. My heart is breaking, and I cry for your suffering and all the others who live in and with you. I’ll be praying for your healing and return to health.

– With the deepest love and respect, Rebecca Wildbear

Less government, more handouts

To the editor,

As a forester and logger, I was dismayed by Rep. J Paul Brown’s call  for a presidential order to bypass public scrutiny of proposed logging projects on our national forests, esp. on Wolf Creek Pass. A return to the good old days of logging everything in sight is not what is needed. I thought we went over this after the Missionary Ridge burn. Research shows that burned forests recover quicker when left alone. New roads bulldozed into un-roaded areas or even designated roadless areas do damage by increasing erosion in fragile soil conditions. New roads increase access, which fragments wildlife habitat and increases the impact of thoughtless four-wheelers, hunters and campers.

Who pays for the construction of logging roads? The USFS, a tax-funded government agency. Brown’s campaign slogan was “less government more freedom,” yet he is calling for another handout to the timber industry, camouflaged as an “emergency” to save us from “catastrophic” fires. Well, last I heard nobody lives on Wolf Creek Pass – at least not until Red McCombs ramrods his ridiculous proposal for the Village at Wolf Creek down everyone’s throat.

I would support logging along the highway corridor where access is easy and damage can be mitigated. I still wonder how hauling trees from Wolf Creek to Montrose could prove profitable (more subsidies?) If Rep. Brown wants to help his constituents, he should be pushing for work to be done in the wildland-urban interface. This would do the least environmental damage as roads are already built and have the greatest positive effect by thinning unhealthy forests and mitigating the potential for fires that destroy people’s lives.

– Eric Husted, Bayfield

Mom sends her condolences

To the editor,

As a frequent summer visitor to your beautiful town of Durango, I loved that it had few mosquitoes, low humidity, mild temperatures, wildlife roaming through the yards and the Animas River flowing through downtown.

The river always beckoned local residents and tourists alike to join the fun on its winding undulant water.

Novices watched with envy as fearless kayakers would navigate through the swirl and somehow remain upright! Getting wet and screaming through Smelter still remains exciting to young and old alike. If the river was up in the spring, it would be a good season for tubing – one sport that everyone can master.

As Durango summers go, with the Farmer’s Market, bike races, family picnics, student revelry and steam engine rides, everything rolls alongside the Animas River.

I was very sorry to hear about the spill and hope you can remain optimistic about the future of your river. You are all good stewards of your environment, and I know that will help as you move forward.

– Your mother, St. Paul, Minn.