theSheetNews.com

By Allen Best

Pot ban a bust

WHISTLER, B.E. – Whistler’s mayor was among those calling for decriminalization of marijuana.

“It would be regulated,” explained Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden. “Prohibition has been a failed policy, and the cultivation and trade of marijuana is in the hands of gangs.”

She said that the impact of gangs in the distribution of marijuana in Whistler has been minimal, but it’s quite another matter in other parts of British Columbia.

“We do know that gangsters do come to Whistler from time to time, but for those communities that have heavy gang influence, they’ve got a level of violence in the community that is simply unacceptable,” she said.

The mayor had voted for a resolution adopted by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. Also voting for the resolution was a councilor from Squamish, a town down-valley from Whistler. He admitted to using marijuana for medicinal purposes, but wanted the conversation expanded to recreational use.

“Everyone is basically fed up. We have a law that doesn’t work.” She told the Pique newsmagazine the resolution was a good step toward forcing the conversation at the provincial and federal levels. “That is where it should be, but they just haven’t had the …courage to deal with the issue,” she said.

Ferment it and eat it

JACKSON, Wyo. – Michael Pollan, the author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and other best-selling books, was in Jackson Hole recently to give a talk. He’d never been anywhere in Wyoming before, but was told that it was cold there, with long winters.

Given those long winters, should they eat fruits and vegetables when not much locally produced food of that sort is available, the Jackson Hole New& Guide asked him.

“Fermentation,” he answered. “We forget that people have dealt with these questions for thousands of years. Before refrigeration the way people ate vegetables in the winter was to put them up in the fall. That was how people got their vitamin C in the winter months. They didn’t ship in oranges.”

He added: “I’m not a fanatic locavore. I think there is a place for moving food around the country or the world. I just think we shouldn’t get in a position where we’re dependent on food from other places.”

Although not much of a hunter himself, Pollan told the News & Guide that he believes hunting is a “very important part of eating sustainably. Most of the animals we hunt, principally deer, have become pests, and their populations need to be controlled. And their meat therefore doesn’t have a big carbon footprint. It’s really solar-powered food. These are animals that eat in the wild.

“And then there’s also the added advantage that the hunter deals with the full moral complexity of eating animals. The hunter confronts that in a way that most of us don’t.”

Will airport economics work?

VAIL, Colo. – Almost from its opening in the late 1980s there has been talk about whether the airport at Gypsum, about 38 miles west of Vail, will accommodate international flights without stops along the way for customs.

That talk has become more serious in recent years, although no decision is pending, awaiting completion of a study. However, in interviews with the several candidates for Eagle County Commission, the Vail Daily finds everybody signaling support.

The most insightful comments, however, came from the lone incumbent, Jon Stavney: spending $3 million to build a custom facilities is not the real barrier. The question, he said, is whether flights from Mexico City (Toronto and Montreal are also possible sites of originating flights) will deliver enough passengers to justify the ongoing expense of federal customs officials.

Smartphones glitch WiFi

KETCHUM, Idaho – Ketchum has pulled the plug on its effort to have wireless interconnectivity throughout town. Not only was the WiFi system somewhat expensive to maintain and with large gaps in coverage, but it’s been bypassed by the rise of smartphones, which do not require a wireless network to access the Internet.

The WiFi system was installed after Allen & Co., the investment firm that holds the well-known conference at nearby Sun Valley each July, awarded a $100,000 grant. Maintenance costs for the city have been reduced to $17,500, but the coverage needed additional investment to improve signals. It is, city officials decided, time to move on, reports the Idaho Mountain Express.

Optimistic about hydrogen 

CANMORE, Alberta – Having made a fortune in oil and natural gas, Guy Turcotte is now pushing hydrogen and fuel cells as the wave of the future.

A native of Alberta, Turcotte founded oil companies, Chauvco Resource and Western Oil Sands, the latter of which was sold in 2007 for an estimated $6.6 billion. He is also chairman of Stone Creek Resorts, a real-estate development company in Canmore.

Turcotte was in Canmore to share his excitement about hydrogen and fuel cells. He’s also chairman of Western Hydrogen, a Calgary-based company that is seeking to develop and commercialize hydrogen manufacturing technology.

Turcotte, according to the Rocky Mountain Outlook, said the technology exists, and now it’s a time to scale up the infrastructure to accommodate it.

“They now have all the technical specs met. They just need volume,” he said. “There’s not a lot of hydrogen stations around here … but in countries like Japan (South) Korea and Germany, those guys are planning multi-service stations.”

Whistler has had 20 buses operated by hydrogen fuel cells since late 2009, the largest such fleet in North America. The short-term verdict is that they are responsible for far fewer emissions of carbon into the atmosphere.

Harder than anticipated 

TELLURIDE, Colo. – A developer of a 300-kilowatt solar array near the airport on a mesa above Telluride is having a hard time making the numbers work. The developer, Erdman Energy Enterprises, is seeking a power purchase agreement with the local electrical cooperative, San Miguel Power Association.

In an interview with the Telluride Watch, project manager Dirk de Pagter blamed limitations imposed by wholesale supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which provides power to cooperatives serving Durango, Crested Butte, Winter Park and other more rural areas of the Rocky Mountains.”

Tim Erdman, the chief executive, said he wanted to demonstrate how simply a solar farm could be installed. “Somehow, I am demonstrating the opposite,” he told The Watch.

Renewable fund at $9 million

ASPEN, Colo. – In 2000, Aspen enacted something called the Renewable Energy Mitigation program, which was arguably the first carbon tax in the United States.

The program said that all new houses above 5,000 square feet or those with such amenities as snowmelt system for driveways, outdoor swimming pools and other big energy consumers in a cold climate had a choice. They could either provide renewable energy sources themselves, or pay into a mitigation fund.

That fund has now collected $9 million, and $5 million of it has been awarded to 80 projects in the Roaring Fork Valley, where Aspen is located. Those projects range from a car-share program in Aspen to a solar photovoltaic system at a building for non-profit organizations located down-valley in Carbondale.

On Tuesday, as the Mono County Board of Supervisors prepared to send a letter to Inyo National Forest Supervisor Ed Armenta regarding June Mountain and the Forest Service’s letter of non-compliance to Mammoth Mountain, Forest Service District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge stepped up to the podium.

Regelbrugge announced that the Forest Service’s letter of non-compliance had been sent to MMSA on Friday, Sept. 28. The letter is the legal document stating that MMSA is not in compliance with its FS special use permit because it is not operating June Mountain this winter.

On Wednesday, Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory told The Sheet that the letter had been received.

“Our next steps will be to respond to the request for plans,” Gregory said. There are two plans being requested, he said. The first is a winter plan, which some have described as the “non-operating plan” but which Gregory described as the “plan for operations in the case of suspended operations.”

The second plan is a milestone one for how MMSA will come back into compliance and operate June Mountain successfully into the future.

“The process of revocation is a long-term thing,” Regelbrugge told The Sheet on Thursday. “Nothing will change with the permit in the short-term while we wait for MMSA’s plans.”

Supervisor Vikki Bauer added on Tuesday that MMSA’s first right of refusal on the Rodeo Grounds property expires in March, but Gregory stated that the first right of refusal does not have an expiration date.

And while MMSA works on its plans, the June Lake community continues to work on plans of its own.

Community members, as well as members of the Mono County Tourism and Film Commission and the Mono County Economic Development Department attended Tuesday’s meeting to present and defend, if necessary, their plans for using the $100,000 granted to the community by the County.

After some recent back and forth between a large portion of the community and a few June Lake Chamber members, including Supervisor Bauer, those presenting may not have known what to expect, especially since Supervisor Hap Hazard had suggested a few weeks ago that some of the money be taken back.

Commission Chair Jimmy Little started the conversation off by explaining to the Board that the overall plan for the money “is not polished. The details still need to be worked out, but it’s a package. We’re trying to provide an experience, not just a bridge.”

Hazard was impressed by the group’s determination to reinvent itself outside of a ski area.

“Independence from the Mountain is your long-term survival,” he expressed.

Supervisor Bauer, who was in the middle of the Chamber storm a few weeks ago, clarified her position.

“Thank you all for your work,” she said. “The press has not been kind to me lately, but I’m not attacking this work. We just have a fundamental difference of opinion because I think that part of the money should be used for a long-term solution. The talk today is losing focus, which needs to be on reopening June Mountain. The long-term plan needs a ski area and the right development on the Rodeo Grounds.”

Double Eagle co-owner and June Lake Revitalization Committee member Connie Black said that there is a group within the Committee dedicated to finding a buyer and is “aggressively working on this issue.”

“We’re on the same page with this,” Black said to Bauer.

Ralph Lockhart, Double Eagle owner with Black and another member of the Committee added that discussions have been held with Carl Williams (former June Mountain General Manager) regarding June Mountain priorities. According to Williams, snowmaking is a priority for success at June Mountain. Water will be critical to this and to any development on the Rodeo Grounds and needs to be found.

In the short-term, however, the community plans to move forward with its marketing, events and transportation plans.

As part of these plans the community has been trying to find places to expand the opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and other non-downhill snow experiences. Many of the options, however, have been struck down. The only place remaining on the table for expansion of these activities is down canyon on 31.5 acres of the Double Eagle property, which then connects to 30 or 40 acres of Forest Service land, according to Lockhart.

Lockhart and Black are exploring the possibility of having the Double Eagle spend the money for a groomer (approximately $18,000), as well as the gas, drivers and maintenance (approximately $15,000) required. They requested that $5,000 from the County’s $100,000 potentially be earmarked to pay them back for a small portion of their investment. However, Lockhart stated on Tuesday that if another option became viable for the $5,000, or if the reimbursement idea were unpopular the idea would be taken off the table.

While the Supervisors were supportive of Double Eagle’s willingness to pitch in, the idea raised several questions.

First, there was a concern over liability issues that may be connected to the reimbursement of the $5,000. Bauer and Supervisor Tim Hansen pointed out that people wanting to access the area from Double Eagle would need to walk along the highway about 100 yards.

Hansen, an ex-snowplow operator, pointed out that on that segment of Hwy 158, the plows are going pretty fast.

“I’m not saying anything negative, and I applaud the Double Eagle for pitching in, but it needs to be brought up as a liability if we reimburse the $5,000,” Hansen said.

Lockhart said the $5,000 reimbursement could be pulled off the table if it were a liability issue.

The other concern from the Board was the potential of overwhelming residents on Nevada Street if recreationists are looking to find parking to access the area.

“I like the idea of Double Eagle stepping up and creating a whole new avenue, but we have to try to find a balance from the County side,” Hazard said. “Nevada Street will be the most convenient place for people to park if they are not going to your place [Double Eagle]. We need to try to avoid a conflict.”

County Counsel Marshall Rudolph, however, pointed out that Nevada Street is not a County road.

“It’s a private road and we don’t have control over it, so it’s not an issue the County would get involved with,” Rudolph explained.

“What happens if the residents decide to make it gated,” Hazard asked.

“They could do that,” Rudolph responded, “and the County would have to choose whether or not to get involved.”

Lockhart added that it was his understanding that the first part of Nevada Street was a private road, but then the majority of it became a Forest Service road.

“That street is already being used to access the Forest Service meadow that was mentioned,” Lockhart added, which seemed to allay Hazard’s concerns.

“I just don’t want to throw Nevada Street under the bus, but if it’s already being used, then it’s not such a problem,” Hazard said.

Johnston had a different take on the issue. “I hope we do have a Nevada Street problem because that means there’s a lot of people there,” he said.

Black added that the Revitalization Committee did hold a meeting with the Nevada Street residents the Friday before the Board meeting. Following that meeting, she said that there were only two residents that she knew of that were still in opposition to the idea.

The majority of the Board seemed pleased with the plan at this point.

“This is what happens when you trust people to act in their own best interest,” Johnston said. “There are some things I don’t like [in the plan] but I’m not going to nitpick it.”

“The community is doing a god job,” Hansen added. “We shouldn’t micromanage them. Problems will be worked out as we go along.”

Bauer seemed upset at the end of the discussion and did not return to the meeting after lunch.

Another ski season at Mammoth Mountain is right around the corner. Opening Day is scheduled for Nov. 8.

By Allen Best

Hydrogen buses test well

WHISTLER, B.C. – The 20 buses in Whistler powered by hydrogen fuel cells are about halfway through their five-year pilot phase. Despite minor problems, the experiment is working out well, officials tell Pique Newsmagazine.

One complaint is that the hydrogen is manufactured in Quebec. Even so, it represents a 60 percent decline in emissions, a reduction to be increased further with completion of a sodium chlorate plant in North Vancouver in 2013. Local emissions from the buses, of course, are virtually non-existent: Just a few drips of water coming out the tailpipes.

Flags over Grand Lake

GRAND LAKE, Colo. – If Aspen can have a festival focused on macaroni and cheese, why can’t Grand Lake, the town located at the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, have a week-long celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

The Sky-Hi News says the festivities include a “patriotic parade, plenty of flag-waving, a Constitution trivia contest, and more. The event was capped by what was called the Forefather’s Fireworks Extravaganza, which seemed to offer a good excuse to set off the fireworks that couldn’t be used on July 4, when fire danger gripped Colorado.

Vail hustling for summer biz

VAIL, Colo. – Vail is boosting its budget to market its allures to the outside world for next summer by 8 percent, to $2.57 billion.

The Vail Daily says that the Vail Local Marketing District wants to grow the percentage of out-of-state business from 56 to 60 percent of the total, and to bring back more international visitors during summer. The share of summer guests from international locales dropped by half from 2010 to 2012.

Colo towns explore air link

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Telluride wants Crested Butte to pool resources to draw in a new low-cost air carrier to deliver visitors to both resorts from the Phoenix and San Francisco areas.

Planes by the airline, which hasn’t been identified, would land at Montrose, which is already the primary portal for visitors to Telluride, about an hour away. Crested Butte is two hours distant.

To make the deal work, the two resort communities would have to scrape together a minimum of $650,000, maybe $1 million, to market the flights, explains the Crested Butte News.

There is some concern as to whether the flights would have the 90% load factors that are predicted as another matter. Flights to ski markets average 60 percent, according to flight consultant Kent Meyers, and he points out that the originating airports would be in suburban locations. The airport that would serve the Phoenix area is 45 minutes away from the major Phoenix airport.

Bike race has wheels

ASPEN, Colo. – After two years, the U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge appears to have strong wheels. But Aspen is somewhat worried about the financial commitment of hosting the event, tabulated at $1 million this year, although offset by increased lodging and spending by visitors.

By Allen Best

Reading the tea leaves

KETCHUM, Idaho – It’s the season for business conferences as ski town officials huddle to plot their competitive strategies.

In Ketchum and Sun Valley, an economic development group called Sustain Blaine is planning to hear a panel talk about location-neutral companies. Group officials say they get two calls a month from companies interested in relocating their businesses to the Sun Valley area, but only two companies per year end up doing so. What are the barriers to relocation of such businesses?

Also on the agenda in Sun Valley is a talk by Joseph Kasputys, founder of HIS Global Insight, which will probe global and national economies.

In Colorado, something similar is underway in Steamboat Springs. The community already has a more diverse economic base than most. It has 1,000 employees in location-neutral businesses. Among them is SmartWool, the maker of socks for rugged activities, and The Industrial Company, an international construction company, which both began operations in Steamboat and retain corporate headquarters. Outdoor recreation manufacturing employs more than 400.

Tom Kern, director of the local chamber, points out that healthcare has 1,000 full-time employees, energy and mining another 1,000.

“What the economic summit is trying to do is have the community devise a strategic plan regarding its future direction as it relates to economic development. Obviously, tourism will have a large part in that strategy but what are this community’s priorities as it relates to these other industrial clusters that presently reside here?” Kern tells Mountain Town News.

And in Whistler, a high-level brain trust of representatives from the municipal, hotel, ski area and other sectors has been summoned to help spend $6.35 million in provincial money.

While doing so, members of the Economic Partnership Initiative are expected to pool information about the impact of the global financial crisis, changing visitor travel and demographic patterns, exchange rate fluctuations, resort competition, revenue uncertainty, new emerging markets like China, increased global awareness of Whistler in the wake of the 2010 Olympics. and social media and other marketing shifts.

Vail tests health-related tourism

VAIL, Colo. – Vail continues to explore how it can make a better income through what is broadly called medical tourism.

It’s a rubber-band expression that can, depending upon who is speaking, refer to such traditional things as spa treatments and wellness seminars. Also traditional has been the hosting of conferences and seminars to attract medical practioneers.

In the early 1990s, Vail gained another revenue stream when Tahoe-based orthoepeadic surgeon J. Richard Steadman set up business. The clinic continues to draw the rich and famous, including professional athletes, to have their shoulders and knees worked on, but more ordinary people, too. Now, a third of the hospital nights at the adjacent hospital are because of the clinic.

Now, Vail is ramping up efforts to draw visitors for health reasons. One aspect is to draw conferences and other such meetings. The Vail Valley Partnership has added a staff member to specifically recruit medical groups and meetings. Chris Romer, the partnership’s president, reports that this has grown to more than one-fourth of the group business.

Altogether, the hospital and medical groups could account for as much as 6 percent of the towns’ economic base, according to Stan Zemler, the town manager, who spoke recently at a forum covered by the Vail Daily.

Another initiative is to promote seminars and activities appealing to people interested in physical fitness. That’s always been Vail’s forte, but this has a different tact.

Another effort involves special event programming. Last weekend,  an event called Living at Your Peak was held in Vail. There were sessions titled, “ Stress and Biological Aging: What’s lifestyle got to do with it?” and “Nutrition Translated.”

Participants had the opportunity to road bike through Vail with Freddie Rodriguez, who promised to tell stories from the Tour de France. Mt. Everest climber Ellen Miller  explained how interval training and using heart-rate monitors and zones can be used to best advantage. And professional tennis legend Martina Natrilova gave the keynote.

Jasper wants to test air service

JASPER, Alberta – Elected officials in Jasper have agreed to throw in $8,000 toward a $40,000 study to determine the feasibility for regional air service out of the local airport.

The Fitzhugh, the local newspaper, reported that the study was precipitated by the announcement made by WestJet that it had purchased 40 new jets to use for regional service.

Why wouldn’t WestJet and other airlines study the feasibility themselves? In the airline business, that’s the way it works, explained Maggie Davison, chief executive of the Jasper Tourism. Local communities must be aggressive in attracting service.

Main Street redevelopment

PARK CITY, Utah – Major renovation of two-story building on Park City’s Main Street is about to begin. When finished, the building will have four stories. The Park Record says the building is owned by Ken Abdalla, who has acquired several properties along the commercial street in the last several years.

No more butts in Jackson 

JACKSON, Wyo. – The Virginian, the last bar in Jackson Hole to allow smoking indoors, has done a 180. The Jackson Hole News&Guide reports smoking was banned four months ago to enable managers to evaluate the effect on business, and the ban will continue at least several months more. General manger Mike Kraft did acknowledge that the bar’s clientele has changed.

By Allen Best

The bigger the better 

TAOS, N.M. – Bigger and better. That’s the perennial quest of ski areas. It’s also a good marketing angle, near as good as having excellent snow.

Now, the Taos Ski Valley has a lot to talk about. The Taos News reports that the U.S. Forest Service has approved expansion of expert terrain at the resort by 60 percent.

Maybe this will improve business. Taos has had good snow two of the last three years. Four years ago, it dropped the ropes to snowboarders. But while skier visits increased, they weren’t as much as was hoped, said Gordon Briner, chief operating officer. “That’s why we think these improvements are important.”

A Forest Service official said the improvements are needed to allow Taos to compete with other ski areas in the Rocky Mountains.

“I am confident that, collectively, the projects approved will help Taos Ski Valley to reclaim its competitive standing in the Rocky Mountain Region,” said Diane Trujillo, acting supervisor of the Carson National Forest.

“Taos Ski Valley is unique in the ski industry, where it is renowned for steep, adventurous terrain and uncrowded slopes.”

Other expansions of ski area are also going forward on federal lands. Aspen Skiing Co. is expanding 250 acres at Snowmass, the busiest of its four resorts.

Vail Resorts, meanwhile, now has the authority to move forward with an even larger expansion at 550 acres at Breckenridge. Unlike Taos, which the Forest Service says has uncluttered slopes, the Forest Service justified the Breckenridge expansion because of how many people are already skiing there.

In a column published in The Denver Post, local resident Steve Lipsher finds the justification for the expansion wanting. “More mediocre skiing at a resort that already offers a ton of mediocre skiing,” he writes.

Lipsher says he’s skeptical the expansion will thin out crowds. That, he says, would require new lifts. Rather than spreading out the crowds, each new expansion attracts only more people, the result of the resort’s marketing efforts and the public’s constant desire for newer, bigger, better.

More Mac ‘n Cheese!

It’s the shoulder season, the time when ski towns attempt to put butts in beds with themed special events.

While Crested Butte hosted a somewhat conventional Chili and Beer Festival this past weekend, Aspen held its Mac ‘N’ Cheese Festival. Last year, the event’s first, drew 1,500 people. Some 4,000 were expected this year. It’s believed to be the only such festival in the country.

Some local restaurants in this high-end town last year were skeptical about a special event built around a pasta dish generally considered at the lower end of the food order. Not so Tico Starr, chef at Rustique Bistrow, who won first place last year. This year he ordered 65 pounds of pasta, 45 pounds of mushrooms, 50 pounds of gruyére cheese, six gallons of cream and three bottles of truffle oil. The mushrooms are to be soaked in herbs and flavorings like garlic and lemon zest.

In Whistler, the city government has appropriated money for the long-tenured Writer’s Festival a new event called Spirit Within Festival. The latter will focus on the the First Nations peoples who live near Whistler. In the United States they would be called Native Americans.

Pique Newsmagazine reports that Whistler tourism leaders are still trying to nail down plans for what is described as a signature fall festival that is intended to integrate arts and culture, sport and activity.

“Signature events have been shown to have the most impact on room night sales in the resort,” explained Michelle Comeau, the communications manager for the resort.

Scientists study tree deaths

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – From British Columbia to New Mexico, many forests have been struggling. No news there. Trees, like people, grow and die. They’re not static, immutable.

But the intense droughts of 2002 and again of this year, combined with generally warming temperatures, have my eyes open. There have been the giant lodgepole pine beetle epidemics, and also a decline of aspen trees, which composed a fifth of the trees in Colorado. Drought has been identified as at least a contributing cause in both cases.

Sam Pankratz, a forester with Colorado’s state government, told the Crested Butte News that it took until 2008 to see the full impacts of the 2002 drought.

Pankratz told the News that stresses on trees are native to the landscape. Assessing the overall health of the forest is better done over the long term, and not just looking at individual droughts, such as 2002 and 2012.

“As forest managers, we’re managing a forest that can sometimes live 400 years,” he said. “And while anecdotal evidence suggests a drier trend, it’s important to remember there are other factors at play, including 100 years of fire and disease suppression,” he said.

But his takeaway message is that over the long term, warmer temperatures and drier weather can add up.

That’s also the message in New Mexico, where a study is underway at Bandelier National Monument.

“Combine drought with warmer temperatures, and it’s no surprise trees are croaking,” notes the Santa Fe New Mexico. “But how fast do they die? Does it depend on the species?” Will some species survive no matter what? What will be the impact of massive tree die-offs on the climate, agriculture, watersheds and people?”

A team from Los Alamos National Labs is mapping out the exact process by which a tree dies when stressed by lack of water and prolonged heat.

The big question is how much of this change is driven by human-caused global warming. Nate G. McDowell, from the Las Alamos lab, says that’s not clear.

“Now, are trees dying because of (rising carbon dioxide and temperature levels)? That’s what we can’t say for sure,” he told the New Mexican. “But, there are a bunch of lines of evidence suggesting that they are.”

He added: “I can’t say this with absolute certainty, but I don’t expect there to be conifers in Los Alamos or Santa Fe County in 50 years.”

Will park amuse? 

PAGOSA SPRINGS, Colo. – Pagosa Springs has wonderful hot springs, and magnificent scenery. It was one of the Colorado mountain towns that Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family passed through on their way to “Wally World” in that 1983 movie “Vacation.”

But would the Griswolds be inclined to stop in Pagosa if there were a chairlift, an alpine coaster and a tree-top zipline tour, which are among the roadside attractions planned by city officials at a community park called Reservoir Hill.

“It’s all about growing tourism in the community,” said Dave Mitchem, town manager. “It’s all about helping downtown businesses.” The town has more than 30 empty storefronts, he said.

The Durango Herald reports fears that a community park will be commercialized. Local resident Norm Vance predicted it would “destroy the ambiance of a nice, peaceful park to have mechanized and motorized amusement rides.”

The city owns the 110 acres and has a ski lift, which it dismantled and moved from an abandoned ski area elsewhere in Colorado. Total cost of creating the new amusement park would be $4.3 million, and city officials aren’t sure whether to form a public-private partnership to run the amusements or seek voter approval for an issuance of a bond.

The Herald notes that the local newspaper, the Pagosa Sun, has described the project as ill-conceived, unlikely to produce much revenue, and a misuse of public land. “Such amenities will not draw additional tourists here, nor will they keep tourists downtown,” the newspaper said.

This month is your last chance to get out on the trails, reference these hours when planning your trip:

Sept. 16 – Last day of full bike park operations
Sept. 21-23 + 28-30 – Limited weekend operations – Chair 2, Chair 4 Express Shuttle, The Village shuttle
Sept. 30 – Final day of bike park 2012 operations

Pictured: DFG orders Mammoth Chevron to take down stuffed mountain lion (Photo: Geisel)/

Visitors to Mammoth Chevron have for decades ogled, ooohed and aaahed at the stuffed mountain lion that has been hanging just inside the main entrance. Chevron proprietors Karl Teller and Tom Cage said that the animal, recovered in Nevada after being killed by a vehicle in 1984, has been part of the station’s history, hanging long before they took over ownership in 2005.

“Guests would come in and ask about it, and since they’re indigenous to the Eastern Sierra, we would tell them some educational things about them,” Teller related. “They loved it.”

One guest apparently didn’t love it, and recently filed a complaint with the State Department of Fish and Game. Within the last week DFG came by the station, tagged the display as evidence, and ordered Teller and Cage to remove it or have it confiscated.

“People don’t get to see those [mountain lions] very often, even though they’re always out there … mostly they stay pretty stealthy,” Teller elaborated. “It’s a shame that one person is spoiling it for everyone else. It’s going against what has historically been a positive thing.”

By spoiling it, Teller and Cage think the complaint triggered DFG to address the issues, digging up a 20-year-old law to use as enforcement. According to Lt. Bill Dailey, DFG Supervisor for Inyo and Mono counties, under the rules set forth by Proposition 117, which was passed by voters in June 1990, no one is allowed to possess a mountain lion, unless it was taken before the law was passed, and the owner has proper documents verifying its history and status with the DFG.

Here’s where it gets sticky for Mammoth Chevron. According to the law’s provisions, even if the display predates the law the possessor has to be the original owner.

“You can’t sell, trade, buy or transfer ownership,” Dailey said, meaning that whether the display was or wasn’t part of the Chevron station’s inventory at the time of sale in 2005, such a handoff isn’t technically legal. “We’ve done a lot of research into this, in light of some recent efforts to skirt the law. If a complaint is made, DFG is required to enforce the laws as they apply. And this law was one passed by voters,” he added.

Bailey also pointed out a recent case in which a mountain lion was killed just across the border in Nevada, under a legal depredation permit issued there. Transfer into California was not allowed, due to Prop 117 restrictions.

Bailey said the identity of the person filing the complaint was to remain confidential, while the case is open and investigation remains ongoing. He did say that large voter blocks in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California helped pass Prop 117 back in the ‘90s, and indicated that the complaint might have originated in Southern California.

“It makes no sense,” Cage said, having to chuckle at what he deemed the bureaucratic hypocrisy of the law, especially the amount of money and manpower deployed on a display that’s probably as old or older than the officers sent to enforce the law.

“Here’s the DFG, spending its time and our tax dollars on something such as this. Don’t they have bigger, more pressing issues to focus on?”

Cage and Teller were also surprised not only at the attention being paid to the stuffed mountain lion, dead years before the law took effect, but also that two DFG officers arrived on Labor Day, a holiday, to make sure the Chevron station complied with the law, two days earlier than originally scheduled.

“If they had planned to take it, I was ready to fire up a chainsaw and cut it into pieces,” Teller said. “Thankfully we worked it out so that I can keep it, as long as it’s not up on display.”

Teller, meanwhile, is looking to put up a banner instead, reading something to the effect that the animal previously on display in the station was ordered removed by DFG. He also plans to explore his options with the International Safari Club, the National Rifle Association of stuffed animals, and is looking into possibly filing for a permit that would allow him to keep and possibly show the mountain lion for educational purposes, such as in museum or school settings.

The permit, Teller said, might also be the only way the stuffed animal would ever be displayed again inside the Chevron.

By Allen Best

Can you have too much music?

JACKSON, Wyo. – Lovers of contemporary music were in heaven this summer in Jackson Hole. There were shows by up-and-coming bands and well-known performers like Emmylou Harris every third night during July and August. Many were free.

Too much of a good thing? Those who charge money for shows told the Jackson Hole News&Guide that the freebies hurt. “It’s hard to get that cover ($20) out of people, because they could see up-and-coming to big-name bands for free,” said promoter Dom Gagliardi.

How much will people pay? Concert-bar promoter Harper Hollis said he tries to keep the cover charge down to $5. At $10 to $15, customers turn around at the door.

Killing bad bears hard for law

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – In a moving, poignant essay published in the Crested Butte News, state wildlife officer Chris Parmeter tells about having to kill a three-year-old bear that he had come to know well.

“This is part of my job as a district wildlife manager, a part that I despise,” he wrote. He told of being summoned to a house in a rural subdivision where a bear had repeatedly tried to invade to get food. There was no choice but to kill the bear. But that did not make him feel good about what he had done.

Parmeter said he first encountered the bear in a Dumpster, when it was a cub, and then again several times more. “He’d pull down birdfeeders and I’d give out ‘Living with Bears’ brochures to the homeowners. A month later I’d see the birdfeeders out again, right against the picture window.”

For the bear, says Parmeter, the choice was easy: four hours of picking berries, one by one, versus four minutes munching down birdseed for the same caloric gain.

People whose behavior – leaving birdfeeders and other food accessible to bears – always wanted the animals kept remain alive, but taken elsewhere. But in the end, they created the circumstances that left wildlife officers with no choice but to kill it.

Slowing the growth gorillas 

ASPEN, Colo. – Mayors of Aspen from 1973 to the present assembled recently to share notes in a public forum. The first of them, Stacy Standley, had initially arrived in Aspen in 1966, poor and a college drop-out, but taken with the town.

Over beers with other 20-somethings, he expressed his unhappiness with the direction he saw Aspen going. It was headed toward real estate development, with a gutting of everything about Aspen that had drawn them in the first place.

“To get that vision in Aspen, we had to have a vision, and the mission was to get control of the process in some way, and to do that you had to have passion,” he said at the forum, which was covered by the Aspen Daily News.

“To me, it really came down to that, a shared vision, a mission and a commitment, and a passion to see it through to the end. Really (Aspen) was just doing business as usual by the people who had lived here forever, and God bless ‘em, they didn’t see this bulldozer coming down Highway 82 that had nothing but growth gorillas in the cage on the back.”

Says the Daily News: “The rest is history, as Standley was elected mayor in 1973, served for six years, and the battle between members of the community and developers began that is still being waged to this day.”

Bill Stirling, mayor from 1983 to 1991, said it wasn’t until the 1980s that people began to view Aspen as a potential source of wealth, a commodity.

When he arrived in Aspen in the 1960s, 80 percent of the people lived and worked there. By the end of his mayoralty, about 45 percent of people lived and worked in town.

Snowmass now #2

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo. – Come winter, Snowmass will be the second largest ski area in Colorado. The addition of 230 acres that has been in the works for about a decade will give Snowmass 3,362 skiable acres. Largest is Vail, which has 5,289 acres. The Aspen Daily News reports that a new $15 million restaurant is set to open this winter at Snowmass.

Wonders at Whistler 

WHISTLER, B.C. – Looking back on a busy summer, people in Whistler are now thinking ahead to ski season.

The ski area operator is kicking off a promotional campaign called “Wonders at Whistler Blackcomb.” Skiers and snowboarders will be encouraged to “map” their wonders by uploading photos and video to the WB Wonderground website.

Season passes at Whistler Blackcomb this year are $1,489 if purchased by Oct. 8.

Locals want cheap passes

WHITEFISH, Mont. – Reading about all the swell, low-cost season passes now available in Colorado’s I-70 corridor and California’s Tahoe Basin., skiers at Whitefish Mountain Resort wonder why they have to pay so much.

The Whitefish Pilot reports discontent on the Internet after the resort announced it would charge $550 for a season pass. Compare that with Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass, which costs $639 and allows unlimited skiing at 10 resorts.

Deep discounts are possible when you do big numbers, responded Nick Polumbus, the marketing director at Whitefish Mountain. Whitefish does 290,000 skiers annually; Vail and Breckenridge about 1.6 million each.

More realistic comparisons are to Bozeman’s Bridger Bowl ($580) and Big Sky ($999), or Durango ($819) or Crested Butte ($999), he said.

Squaw Valley growing rapidly 

SQUAW VALLEY, Calif. – The new owners of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows continue to pour money into the two ski areas, with another $24 million in capital improvements planned for this winter.

Topping the list: snowmaking. Worse than almost any other ski resort, Squaw was high and dry well into January this year.

A new high-speed six-pack chairlift is another planned improvement.

After buying first Squaw and then Alpine, Denver-based KSL Capital Partners announced plans for a five-year, $70 million upgrade to the two resorts. The company was founded by former executives of Vail Resorts.

Meanwhile, Squaw continues forward into government review with its plans to nearly double the bed-base and expand amenities. Included are plans for an aquatic center, an entertainment center and indoor zip lines, reports the Sierra Sun.

Chevis Hosea, the senior vice president of development for Squaw Valley Real Estate, said the improvements are designed to provide a better destination ski experience. Altogether, the upgrades are intended to provide a “critical mass of bed base for international financial stability and to compete with all the other great alpine ski resorts in the world.”

By Allen Best

More courses than golfers 

VAIL, Colo. – Is the Vail resort complex oversupplied with golf courses? You could make that argument, as several of the valley’s 17 public and private clubs have struggled enormously in the wake of the Great Recession.

In the 1980s, a columnist for a now-defunct newspaper in Vail joked that someday it would be possible to golf continuously from Vail to Glenwood Canyon, a distance of nearly 50 miles.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, developers seemed determined to make that come true. There was even a proposal to build a golf course atop an abandoned landfill. At another location, a developer proposed to cap an old pile of mine tailings and create a golf course, as was done at Anaconda, Mont.

Then golfing, as had happened with tennis in the 1970s and skiing in the 1980s, started losing its luster. The growth flattened, nationally as well as at mountain resorts.

Those golf courses that suffered most substantially in the Vail area were those farthest from the ski slopes and resort centers of Vail and Beaver Creek. Brightwater, a project located south of Gypsum, about 45 miles from Vail, is now in bankruptcy. A beautiful course called Adam’s Rib, south of Eagle, reportedly sold very few memberships and has revised its fees.

Harry Frampton, managing partner of Avon-based East West Partners, which has built golf course-based higher-end real estate, says there are two problems with Vail-area golf. First, the season lasts only three or four months. Second, he thinks too many of the golf courses take four to five hours to play, too much commitment given dozens of other things to do.

Frampton, an avid golfer, told the Vail Daily that in a survey of his company’s high-end real estate buyers, 20 percent had been driven by golf. It’s still important, he said, but golf does not drive the economy of the Vail Valley.

Research done for the Vail municipal government that showed hiking was the top activity of summer visitors.

Debate about ski interconnect

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The debate about a gondola called SkiLink that would link ski resorts, Canyons and Solitude, located on opposite sides of the crest of the Wasatch Range, has been heating up.

Democrats, environmentalists, and Salt Lake City seem to be on one side of the argument, and Republicans and at least some of the ski areas are on the other. Proponents want to take the federal government out of the decision-making. To that end, U.S. Rep. Bob Bishop, a Republican who represents Park City, has introduced a bill in Congress that would require the Forest Service to sell the two ski areas, Solitude and Canyons, 30 acres of land.

A counterpart from the Democratic party, Rep. Joel Briscoe, of Salt Lake City, says the bill before Congress “subverts the democratic process – and process matters. It sets an awful precedent for other public lands in Utah.”

If the bill goes through Congress, the decisions would be made by local officials in Summit County, where Park City is located, and in Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City gets its water from the canyons of the Wasatch area, including those that contain the ski areas of Alta, Solitude, Snowbird and Brighton.

Opponents see the SkiLink as a Trojan horse for future ski area expansions. A map of proposed and rumored ski-resort expansion shows the terrain near the top of the Wasatch canyons not currently used by ski areas would be consumed by the ski areas. “It would transform the Wasatch into developed ski-resort areas on an action-by-action, piece-by-piece basis,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, who was an environmental planner before gaining public office.

Taxpayers challenge carbon tax

WHISTLER, B.C. – The United States remains divided in a cultural war, and climate science has been sucked up into the chasm, leaving the nation fundamentally unable to create a cohesive response.

In Canadian, the federal government is drunk on the vast revenues from its deposits of bitumen, otherwise known as tar sands, if you dislike the mining, and oil sands, if you approve. It, too, has no consensus about howt o move forward on containing greenhouse gas emissions.

While California still is putting together the structure for a cap-and-trade system, British Columbia did what most economists said made a lot more sense: put a tax on carbon and let the market figure out how to reward innovators.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is making the case for dropping this grand experiment. The tax was introduced in 2008 and now costs 6.67 cents per litre of gasoline.

The federation clams that of the $1.2 billion raised by the tax each year, only $228 million goes back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts. The remainder is given out in the form of venture capital and industrial property credits, or for research and development.

Boomers decline, millenials rise

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Baby boomers are starting to retire, and many are moving to mountain towns for their golden years. No news there, right? But Patrick Phillips, president of the Urban Land Institute, downplays the economic impact of that phenomenon. Instead, during a recent presentation in Steamboat Springs, he said that boomers as a group will be challenged to achieve their ultimate retirement lifestyle. Many will be cash-strapped and unable to make the big move to the mountains.

Instead, Phillips advised Steamboat to continue to focus on making room for millenials, the children of baby boomers, and otherwise being attractive to investment capital?

How to do so? According to a report in Steamboat Today, Phillips urged Steamboat to continue to invest in amenities.

The climate, mortgage nexus

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Speakers on a panel in Bozeman recently observed that climate change and the subprime mortgage crisis share two trends: they had early signs that some people ignored or denied, and they can strain the economy, reported the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Speakers representing sportsmen and environmental groups on a recent panel said that climate change is a threat to Montana’s economy and way of life. “We believe that sportsmen are actually among the first to recognize climate change, even if they don’t say the word,” said Bill Geer, who has spent 39 years with fish and game organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Pilot, plane at fault in Reno crash

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Transportation Safety Board determined earlier this week that deteriorated locknut inserts found in the highly modified North American P-51D Mustang airplane that crashed during the 2011 National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nev., allowed the trim tab attachment screws to become loose, and even initiated fatigue cracking in one screw. The condition reportedly led to aerodynamic flutter at racing speed that broke the trim tab linkages, resulting in a loss of control and the eventual crash.

According to the NTSB report, on Sept. 16, 2011, the experimental, single-seat “Galloping Ghost,” piloted by veteran air racer Jim Leeward from Ocala, Fla., was traveling at 512 mph on lap 3 of a 6-lap race when it experienced a left-roll upset and high-G pitch up as it passed Pylon 8.

The airplane’s vertical acceleration peaked at 17.3 G, causing incapacitation of the pilot. Seconds later, a section of the left elevator trim tab separated in flight. The airplane descended and impacted the ramp in the spectator box seating area, killing the pilot and 10 spectators and injuring more than 60 others.

“Contributing to the accident were undocumented and untested major modifications made to the airplane, as well as the pilot’s operation of the airplane in the unique racing environment without adequate [in-flight] testing.” Lawsuits against the Galloping Ghost’s owners and Reno Air Races organizers have been filed. -NTSB