Four full days of gear demos, organized skiing, panels and après events

For a ski town that appreciates geeking out on gear, a good party and getting outside, the third annual Blister Summit event in Mt. Crested Butte from February 12-16 is looking robust. The summit is not just another demo event with ski techs and screwdrivers, with numerous social and educational events now built in. But with close to 40 companies representing their gear and apparel and the addition of snowboarding and splitboarding gear this year, it might be the best demo event around. 

The summit events will take place at the Elevation Hotel and Spa at the base area of Crested Butte Mountain Resort beginning with an evening reception on Sunday, February 12 and running through Thursday, February 16. Each day there will be gear and apparel demos, resort ski meetups and backcountry ski tours. The daytime activities will be followed by a catered après event and nightly panel session with gear giveaways and pro athletes, industry leaders and Blister reviewers talking shop on a range of different topics. There will also be restorative yoga sessions to keep participants limber in between their on-mountain adventures. 

Everything except backcountry tours with Irwin (a $50 add-on fee) are included in registration, and Blister is offering 50% discounts to any residents of the Gunnison Valley to show appreciation for the company’s home base and to make it easier for locals to come and go as their schedules allow. 

Blister organizers are predicting a larger group of both brand reps and participants this year, with 37 brands confirmed in late January and between 150 to 200 participants expected. “And we are still actively adding brands, so we may have more before the summit starts,” says Blister Summit director Kristin Sinnott.

Sinnott says the event has evolved since it began in 2021, coming back each year with more educational, social and generally interactive opportunities for its attendees. 

“The first year we couldn’t have a welcome reception [due to COVID], and people wanted that,” said Sinnott. “But there was so much good energy, people were so happy to be there. It became super social, which was amazing. Even our Blister reviewers said it was their favorite event of the year.” 

The summit has appealed to a wide audience from the beginning with people travelling from throughout the U.S. and internationally to take part. But Sinnott says this year will be the biggest event yet, as organizers have added new elements based on feedback from both attendees and vendors. 

“So it isn’t just ‘here is some equipment, go have a good time,’” says Sinnott. “It’s educational and community building too.”

 All the brands will be bringing alpine touring (AT) gear, and Sinnott says the reps, reviewers and pro athletes like Chris Davenport, Wendy Fisher and Eric Hjorleifson will join participants in the backcountry, morning uphill sessions or on the lifts, “just plugging in wherever they want.

“Conditions permitting we’re going to have uphill access every morning on the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th, with a meet up at 7 a.m. at the base of Red Lady lift,” says Sinnott.

“A lot of attendees who come have never done uphill access, so this is giving them the opportunity in a familiar resort setting where vendors can show them how to use the equipment, and how to get it on and off,” she explains. 

From there, demo gear and apparel will be available all day for participants to test out at the ski area. 

Guided backcountry

Blister has partnered with Irwin Guides as well to offer morning and afternoon backcountry sessions, also organized for all levels from beginners to pros. 

“A lot of participants came from back East last year, and they wanted to know more about how to access the backcountry,” says Sinnott. “For these tours, they pay a little bit extra just to make sure they show up. We will have avalanche gear for people to rent and demo. We will separate people into groups, such as if you’re from sea level and you want an intro, or a quick run, etc. versus people with more experience and time. There will be three-hour tours and half days.”

Sinnott said locals generally make up about 30% of the participants, and they want to encourage as many locals to join in as possible. Blister Review, a gear review company, started in Santa Fe and moved its headquarters to Mt. CB in 2018.

“It is the homebase for Blister, so being able to actually give back to the community is important to us,” says Sinnott. “We love CB, and we love the mountain, and we talk about it so much in all our reviews. We want to show our readers what we talk about so much.

“And we also want locals to be able to participate in this. It can be hard because people can’t always have that much time off. With the discounts we are offering, you could go to work all day, and just come to the panels and get free drinks and food, etc. Or even just demo gear for an hour or two on your lunch breaks.”

Sinnott says there are also opportunities for locals who want to participate by volunteering.

With the plentiful snow coverage almost everywhere, there should be a range of ways and open terrain to test out gear. 

“And CBMR—when it’s good, its good,” Sinnot concludes.

Registration can be found at blisterreview.com and the 50% discount code for Gunnison Valley residents is BlisterSummit:Local50.

Next trip to include dental care in 2023

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

  his past fall, as most residents of the Gunnison Valley were getting in their last camping trips, bike rides and firewood collections ahead of winter, a group of eight local community members headed south to Central America instead.  The journey was not just about chasing warmer weather, but lending help to a nonprofit organization in Guatemala’s volcanic Lake Atitlan Basin that serves an indigenous Mayan population in a variety of ways. This year, the group helped with new home construction for a woman and her four children. And next year another trip there will include several more participants and a local dental practice.  

Serving “the lost, the least and the last” is the prevailing description of the nonprofit organization, named Porch de Solomon, with whom several Crested Buttians have formed close ties over the past seven years. Modeled in the spirit of the Biblical story of Salomon’s Porch, the organization opened in 2005 focusing on indigenous home construction, educational scholarships, outreach and sustainable economic development and humanitarian relief.  

Crested Butte Union Congregation Church’s associate pastor Kelly Jo Clark and resident Tom Stumpf have made several visits to Porch de Salomon over the past decade, and this time were joined by Matt Barker, Jim Withe, Ian Wrisley, Katherine Keller and Bill and Carol Kastning as part of a short-term service team to help in indigenous home construction.

The trips had been postponed by COVID and this was the group’s first trip there since 2019. But Clark says that they have done both the medical clinics and construction projects during different visits.

“In the past we’ve taken a doctor or two, plus a nurse or some other medical assistant type person,” says Clark. Through Porch, the team has run medical clinics in the remote regions near Panajachel. “We take the medical team and translators that Porch provides. And Porch has alerted the elders of the town in advance that we’re going to be there, because some of the people never get to see a doctor.”

Clark says they usually set up in an available facility, spend a day doing triage for as many as 200 people, sending each away with medications or supplies as needed and for those in need of more extensive care, they coordinate this through Guatemalan doctors.  “And Porch is critical on following through on that,” says Clark.

The mission

Wrisley, a local carpenter and Gunnison Congregational Church pastor, joined the team for the first time this year and shared his experience helping to create housing alongside local contractors for residents in need. They stayed at a nearby hotel the organization operates called Hotel California and worked alongside local contractors. 

“I am sometimes a little bit skeptical of mission work,” Wrisley says frankly. “It can seem a little bit patriarchal and objectifying.”

Wrisley says he found Porch well balanced in that the organization does not try to convert those who participate in or benefit from its work and that it brings visitors into a system as helpers but not to influence anyone.

Clark notes that there are many powerful ways the population has kept its heritage intact, which is honored. “They’ve been able to keep over 15 Mayan languages around the lake,” she says, and traditional Mayan clothing is worn almost exclusively, especially among women. 

Wrisley says in keeping with indigenous practices and the realities of the area’s remoteness, the team was instructed not to bring their own tools except for maybe a favorite hammer. 

“I think the thing to do is enter into the way things are,” he says. “So everything can’t be done the way it would be done here.” For example, instead of using excavators or other heavy construction equipment so common in the U.S., the group was digging a septic system and leach field by hand and moving cinderblocks one by one along dirt roads and through tall rows of cornfields. 

Wrisley said it formed more of a human connection. “We dug a hole from about two feet deep to about 10 feet deep. And we only had a seven-foot ladder to get out,” he describes, remembering the comical process of pulling one another out of the hole toward the end.

After seeing various projects and even attending a ceremony for another home that had just been completed, Wrisley summarizes, “The houses are well-built, legally compliant structures. It’s not just a way of giving American do-gooders something to do.”

Wrisley says the organization seems to function well as an integrated part of the community. And the experience sparked his curiosity, as he wanted to learn more about the local history and how the socioeconomic realities there evolved to leave the oldest, most indigenous population the least prosperous. 

Wrisley said it was a fulfilling way to travel, as well, from gorgeous scenery and a sense of “eternal spring,” to learning new things (such as spinning and dying yarn and how to weave textiles).

“It’s not overly curated but it isn’t too open-ended in terms of what you can do. It’s an opportunity to see that part of the world and an opportunity to do something for people that isn’t going to be in the wind,” he says.

“If you’re going to travel anyway, you might as well do something useful for other people. They [Porch] did a good job of creating both a vacation and arranging our help.

If you have things, I think you should give them away. Whether that’s energy, or time. Try to experience where other people are,” says Wrisley.

Clark agrees, saying the reason she keeps going back is that it is a beautiful and fulfilling experience. “Anyone we take on our trip comes back more gifted somehow by the people there. We got more out of it than we gave,” she says. “My goal is to do those sorts of things and do other things to help create systemic change. Because we know these are one-offs.”

Next up, dentistry 

And for the first time ever, the team is planning a dental clinic for 2023. Local dentists Chelsea and Dave Stengl will be bringing a whole team and some family members with them next October. 

“Dave and I did a service trip to Ecuador when we were in dental school together,” says Chelsea. But that was in 2009, and she says they are ready to get back into it. “We were super excited to be able to connect with somebody that is doing the trip already…and the group that they go with already has a set up to be able to do dentistry,” she explains. This includes dental chairs, generators, and hand pieces (drilling instruments).

“To be able to bring dentistry to a place that has none is a huge win,” says Chelsea, who expects to be able to take about 20 people including three dentists, three hygienists, assistants and some family members. “Anyone from our team who wants to go will be able to go…Our hope is we’ll be able to fundraise to cover the majority of the cost for team members,” she said. 

“We should be able to do fillings, extractions and hygiene, which is periodontal care. Periodontal care is so important because that is linked to so many diseases,” she reflected. 

 “And a huge piece is education. In many third world countries there is an excessive amount of candy. So auxiliary staff can do more of the education and outreach. Also helping sterilize our equipment, whatever else can be done.”

Fundraising for the group will kick off in April after the attendees are confirmed and will be used in part to bring along supplies like toothbrushes, toothpaste and flouride. 

The Stengls will bring their two children, who are both in primary school. “It will be a nice way to expose our kids to what the rest of the works looks like and in a positive way, showing them how we are able to make a difference,” says Chelsea. 

“And we have such a great team at our practice. I can’t imagine a better team to be able to go do this service practice with,” she adds. “I’m so grateful to Kelly Jo, who made the whole thing so easy by putting us in contact with everyone.”

Progress is rarely instantaneous. It takes time. Good progress can be a series of trials and errors and there is nothing wrong with either the trial or the error — that is where knowledge is gained. Bill Gates once observed that humans over-expect quick change (and are usually wrong) and they can’t grasp how much things will be different in a decade. Given that, he suggests that people should not “be lulled into inaction.” Progress is a steady march. Little steps matter. Continuing action matters. 

There appears to be progress in the workforce housing situation in the valley. Both Crested Butte with its Sixth and Butte project and the county with its Whetstone housing endeavor are taking steps to get a significant number of roofs over the heads of local workers. Both major projects are experiencing the expected issues, from rising costs to public discomfort with the citified location of placing big buildings next to the highway in the most visible part of the project, but the march is continuing forward on both developments and that is a good thing. 

Even the town of Mt. Crested Butte finally appears to be getting serious with its Homestead workforce housing project that blew up over a number of issues and has sat idle for more than a year. That was waaaaay too long. There is finally real communication about finding a settlement with the developer to have someone hopefully move forward with some sort of housing. No resolution has been announced but actual talks in the form of mediation meetings have started. As sad as that sounds, that is actually progress! It also appears the Village at Mt. Crested Butte (the North Village) is seeing potential progress for a start and that too could include more workforce housing in Mt. CB. 

Meanwhile the county is working on new units in Gunnison by the fairgrounds and entities like the RTA are jumping in on their own to make sure there are places for their drivers to sleep at night. Throw in the Crested Butte push for more ADUs and the Valley Housing Fund’s Paul Redden workforce housing project about to go live in the CB mobile home district and there is some light in the tunnel. 

The key to me and the light to focus on with every such project is community. Adding hundreds more people to the North Valley will bring both positive and negative impacts so making these places livable and comfortable for neighbors and friends and not just constructing worker camps for pass-through employees is critical. Creating good places for expanded, deeper community is progress.

Word is (not directly between Mark Walter and me) that at least a couple of Mark Walter’s vacant Elk Avenue restaurant properties will be seeing progress in the coming months. A patron of one of his current establishments got the skinny from one of the workers that the ideas being batted around included that “the Brick will be refurbished and reopen in July, the Princess also will be refurbished, and the Forest Queen building will be demolished and rebuilt with a high-end restaurant as part of it.”

The Crested Butte building department confirmed that “high level meetings” with members of the local Walter’s team have been held recently. The goal is to submit plans to BOZAR for a Brick Oven building upgrade in the March/April review cycle. While the Forest Queen is a historical building and cannot be “demolished” the goal for that building at Second and Elk is to submit plans to BOZAR for a lift/rehab to the building in April/May. Submitting plans make the chit chat real. The town hasn’t heard anything new on the Princess building. 

So, there will still be lots of dark buildings on Elk Avenue this winter and there has still been no communication outreach from the billionaire to the community, but hey – behind the scenes progress!

Our U.S. Postal Service contact in Denver has been busy answering a bunch of questions about post offices all over the state of late. CB is not the only place with PO problems. Following up on last week’s story in the Crested Butte News about the postmaster quitting along with two delivery drivers that service the cluster boxes for Skyland and CB South, James Boxrud this week said that “Mail service (to the cluster boxes) was restored last Thursday. The carrier made two trips that day to get caught up and is current now also.” Progress! 

Tuesday morning’s steady snowfall has the 2022-23 winter progressing nicely and the phone forecast says to keep expecting more bliss from the heavens. Crested Butte is looking like the postcard we all imagine and actually experience. We are progressing toward a pretty fine winter scene.

In that regard, CBMR took advantage of a cold fall to make snow and then took advantage of a couple natural snowfalls to get late December skiing going by early December. The skiing on the hill has been soft and fun — words not normally used to describe the first week of December. I will say the wind appears to have played havoc with Rachael’s by the North Face Lift, but that snow had to have been blown somewhere and that could help with progress in getting the Extremes open (hopefully). I hear the packers are prepping to get on the steeps and that is always a sign of progress for those who like to ski off the T-bars.

I finished reading How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil last month and he makes the point that making progress to go from fossil fuel energy to renewables, while good for the planet, cannot be instantaneous. There is no magic wand to decarbonize the world and he says magic is not likely. What he calls the four pillars of modern civilization — cement, steel, plastics and ammonia — take intensive fossil fuel use to manufacture. Growing, developing countries like China and India with populations that want to live like us Americans are adding to their use every day, so carbon will be pumped into the atmosphere for a while no matter how electrified Crested Butte and Gunnison become. 

Smil suggests the best, quickest, most impactful way to keep making carbon mitigation progress is to move toward things like using triple-paned windows and retrofitting existing buildings with better insulation. I’d add planting trees that absorb carbon can’t hurt. Little things can eventually have big consequences. Again, take the steps that can be done.

And let’s stay clear-eyed and honest with ourselves…while we can do what we can and electrifying is one action while putting in a solar farm at the entrance to town is another, let’s not pretend to be holy environmentalists. We all choose to spend winters living and working at 9,000 feet in the mountains while promoting and subsidizing an economy that depends on people driving and flying here from all over the world to ride motorized chairlifts before eating gourmet asparagus flown in from South America. That’s not the greenest template in the world. Still, being honest with ourselves and taking actions that matter even a smidge is progress.

The actual Bill Gates quote is that “we tend to overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change happening in the next 10.” While progress may not be instantaneous, it will happen if we — the Crested Butte and Gunnison Valley community and the whole wide world — keep marching forward and learning from our trials and errors. Let’s keep taking the little steps while focusing on the directions that can makes the most difference.

—Mark Reaman

Hoping to begin methane capture next summer

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

As far as innovation goes, Christopher Caskey and his company Delta Brick and Climate Company have hit on many levels by creating solutions to environmental challenges while producing something beautiful, sustainable and useful. The company and its newly formed sister brand, Particular Tile, produce bricks, pavers and custom tile using clay sediment removed from Paonia Reservoir, helping maintain the reservoir’s water storage capacity. But the company started in response to a different mission: capturing methane from abandoned coal mines. If things go well, captured coal mine methane will soon be used to run the kilns Delta Brick uses to fire its clay products. That final aspect of Caskey’s plan might start as early as next summer thanks to a grant Caskey received in November from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

In 2018, Caskey and other stakeholders were brainstorming ways to use the methane leaks from North Fork Valley coal mines rather than letting it all continually enter the atmosphere. Coal mines have operated there since the 1890s and vent the potent greenhouse gas to prevent underground fires. According to Caskey, methane venting has climate impacts 84 times higher than carbon dioxide. 

Caskey has an extensive science background as a former research assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and materials science consultant. His interest in climate science and energy informed the move into entrepreneurship, with the idea to help remove sediment from Muddy Creek filling up the Paonia Reservoir and power his kilns using methane energy. The business incorporated in 2018 and a factory in Montrose opening at the end of 2019. 

The company has grown in the past three years, with a steady routine of collecting clay from the reservoir in October when the water levels are lowest and the clay dries out. Caskey says the company makes use of that harvest for the rest of the year to produce its clay products.

“We got about 50 cubic yards this last time around, and it weighs about 3,000 pounds per cubic yard. That’s the most ever,” says Caskey. “We got about 40 last year. Prior to that, it was about 30. We’re on the upswing.”

The clay is high quality to begin with, says Caskey. “We don’t have to take anything out of it; we do try to avoid rocks and roots. Then we add a material called grog that’s basically sand but with low quartz content. We mix that up, add some water and do a process called extruding—basically a big playdough fun factory that sucks the air out of the clay and pushes it through a shaped opening. So if we’re making tile we get a ribbon of clay from that and use what’s basically fancy cookie cutters to punch out the shapes. We stack them up and let them dry.”

The forms go through a bisque fire at almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. “That’s when we get the beautiful red terra cotta color,” says Caskey. Then the forms get glazed for a second firing and the final product is shipping nationally, from New York to Alaska. “But we’ve sold the most here in Colorado which is where we advertise and benefit from word of mouth,” he says. 

Just a few years in, Delta Brick has already started breaking even and sometimes turning a slight profit.

“We stopped losing money in the spring of 2022,” quips Caskey. He says there is no danger of ever running out of clay to use. 

“Unfortunately, there’s no point at which we’ve solved the problem,” he says of the sediment in Paonia Reservoir. “Muddy Creek lives up to its name; A lot more clay comes in each year that what we take out, by a factor of about 10,000. So we’re only slowing the problem, or pointing the way to reducing the problem.”

But he does have ideas about how to use more sediment in the future through methane capture. Caskey lives in Paonia, and says production is outgrowing the factory in Montrose.  

 “The whole vision is that we want to power the factory with waste methane leaking out of an abandoned coal mine somewhere outside of Paonia,” says Caskey. He has a few prospects for moving the factory to Paonia, although nothing is confirmed yet.  

In one mine he has his eye on, Caskey says there are between three and eight places where the mine is leaking methane. “The goal would be to seal up those leaks as best as you can and put a pipe into the mine void to draw the gas out. We could seal those leaks and around the pipe using grout, so that would use a large amount of clay.” 

Caskey says it is a fairly new technology, but he is ready to jump in. 

“Methane capture is not something we’ve done in the U.S. a lot so we don’t have a lot of expertise. The exact geometry and techniques tend to be all different.” He describes another technique using a grid of perforated French drainpipes that branch together and are covered with sheets of plastic. 

“We’d like to start doing our own methane capture project in summer 2023,” he says. “We will experiment, but we’re assuming the experiment works. At least a little bit.”

Water production

Last, the climate side of Delta Brick and Climate Company is also looking at how to capture steam from burning methane and produce relatively large volumes of clean water for a thirsty food producing region such as the North Fork Valley.

“Methane (CH₄) is a hydrocarbon,” he explains. “When you burn a hydrocarbon, including gas, you make carbon dioxide and water (dihydrogen monoxide, or H₂0). That’s why you see steam coming out of a car pipe on a cold day.

“We’ve got this methane that is leaking. When we burn it for our tile, we had a successful previous pilot project where we put it into a heat exchanger…and the steam collects into liquid can make a few hundred gallons at a time.”

 Caskey’s goal is to aid in the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable ones and create future job security for workers in the industry. His vision of solving many problems and also producing things has so far been quite successful, with previous grants from Gunnison County, Delta County, State of Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Colorado Water Conservation Board and Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and additional support from private ventures. The company also completed the ICELab accelerator at Western Colorado University. 

The latest grant of $250,000 was awarded November 17 by the global business development division of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). Grants went in various amounts to 32 Colorado companies and eight researchers through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program, to “promote the growth and sustainability of advanced industries in Colorado by driving innovation, commercialization, and public-private partnerships that move this vital aspect of Colorado’s economy forward in communities across the state, from Aurora to Penrose and Buena Vista to Paonia,” according to a press release from the OEDIT. 

“The state grant will help us hire some new people, and one new employee will help with the project of moving the factory from Montrose to Paonia. We are extremely grateful to the state agency and the many, many volunteer judges and to the tax payers for taking this chance on us,” says Caskey.

“It’s great to actually be making stuff. In western Colorado we’ve got a lot of skills in oil and gas, etc. We can redeploy some of those skills into the manufacturing industry too. I think it’s part of the economic transition that we should strive for.”

“A steady parade of scientists”

[  By Kendra Walker  ]

It’s been one year since the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility made its home in Gothic, as part of a two-year study of the atmosphere in the East River Valley. The project, called Surface Atmospheric Integrated Laboratory (SAIL), is done in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), Colorado State University, among others, and is collecting atmospheric data to help scientists better understand mountainous water cycles. The project began in September 2021 and will now extend through June 2023.

The ARM facility holds advanced scientific instruments measuring everything from precipitation, clouds, aerosols, winds, radiation, temperature, and humidity. Teams are studying how plants, soils, forests and bedrock take water from snowmelt and other precipitation and ultimately release it back into the atmosphere.

Over the course of the study, several hundred people are involved with approximately 48 different data streams at the facility, said SAIL principal investigator Daniel Feldman of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Each instrument has its own mentor, a person responsible for making the data high quality for the science community, he said. And while each instrument is typically monitored remotely, sometimes the mentor will come to the site to make updates and adjustments. As Feldman puts it, a steady parade of scientists has come out to Gothic over the past year. “It’s a big group of folks involved and continues to grow. Everyone is really excited to learn about how these mountain systems are evolving the Upper Colorado River during this intense period of observations.”

Winter storms

Feldman shared some findings one year into the project, starting with last winter.

“We looked at several of these storm events that happened, for example the ‘Santa Slammer’ at the end of 2021,” he said, referring to the holiday storm of nearly 100 inches in 10 days. “That was so intense, and almost half of the snowfall for the entire season. That storm was really fascinating to look at what extreme snowfall means for this area and where is the extreme snowfall.”

Feldman noted that the total snowfall last winter was just about average compared to the last 30 years. “But we got there on a crazy roller coaster,” he said. “We had very little precipitation and then a whole bunch all at once, and a long pause, and then late winter storms. That was a great opportunity to understand these big snowstorms, what happens if the snowpack hangs around without fresh snow for a while and if that starts to compact and sublimate.” 

Detailed measurements of where the snow fell were also compared to the area’s estimates of the snowfall. “That was really a bit of an eye opener,” said Feldman. “We saw that it had varied quite a bit from north to south, and the estimates that didn’t use our measurements were quite a bit off.” 

For example, on Christmas Eve the weather forecast estimate showed close to 50 mm of precipitation near Gothic, but the SAIL measurements showed 35 mm. In Brush Creek, the weather forecast estimate was 28 mm and the SAIL measurements showed 55 mm. 

“The numbers are all off for where snow is actually falling and how much without these SAIL measurements,” said Feldman. “That was a fun result to unpack and try to understand where the forecast can be improved and why it’s off there. It’s known the radars from Grand Junction aren’t able to reach Crested Butte because of a lot of mountains in-between, but at the same time we’re trying to fill these gaps without direct measurements.”

Feldman also noted lots of cold, dry and windy days. On those days, the snow will blow up, but not all of it comes back down to the surface. “We found in the first winter that there’s a lot of times that sublimation happens during the day, but at nighttime it’s the opposite of sublimation. We saw this cycle of water coming out of the snowpack into the atmosphere and then going back down at night. That’s really relevant to this community to understand whether or not there’s water in the atmosphere during the day and if it’s then creating a hoar frost, which has implications for how unstable snowpack becomes,” he said. 

Windy spring

“The spring was really windy and really dusty,” said Feldman. “We were able to make measurements of the dust when it got onto the snow when major dust events came in and darkened snow right away. But sometimes the dust came along the way in winter and got exposed during melt out, and we were also able to measure when the dust emerged from the snow.”

Feldman noted that in general, the snow was a lot darker this spring than normal.  

Rainy summer

Feldman documented the numerous thunderstorms that took place over the summer. “We had a very active North American monsoon and that brought a number of storms. I counted at least 38 days where we measured precipitation in the SAIL instruments. So we had a lot of different storms to test out.”

Feldman said they were able to measure details that make up the actual structure of these storms, including how tall, how big, where is it raining, are other forms of precipitation occurring like hail, how much.

And while Feldman noted the total amounts of summer precipitation are still being unpacked, he said the storms experienced here in Crested Butte had a very similar structure to those that form in the Great Plains. “They were very similar, with strong updrafts and the same general core structure. They go just as high as a thunderstorm in the Great Plains, but they start at 10,000 feet above sea level and cap out at the same place.”

Feldman said overall it was a banner year for the monsoon. “But at the same time it was not a super banner year for the actual amount of water going down to Blue Mesa Reservoir,” he said. “That’s going to be an area for not just SAIL, but for our partners at RMBL, the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, for interested parties around Crested Butte and throughout Gunnison County to be considering. That is a big deal and lots of different types of science and user perspectives are needed for that.”

Heading into year two

Currently there are three full-time technicians at the SAIL site. “They are really responsible for making SAIL run and are so central to the data collection for SAIL,” said Feldman. “Those 48 different data streams need a lot of tender loving care to actually happen.”

The technicians also launch weather balloons twice a day to monitor how the atmosphere will evolve over the course of the SAIL campaign. “That evaluation is really important for understanding when snow comes in and how much colder is it at the surface compared to rest of the atmosphere,” said Feldman. 

Going into the second year, Feldman says SAIL will continue to bring in friends from the science community. This week, the National Center for Atmospheric Research is deploying a set of instruments that will target the way snow sublimates and evaporates. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is engaged in a study of precipitation called Study of Precipitation, the Lower Atmosphere and Surface for Hydrometeorology (SPLASH), which aims to improve the weather forecast in this area and other mountainous regions and the upper Colorado River. “It’s highly complementary to what we’re working on. They’re studying the science of how water really makes its way from atmosphere into streams, rivers and ground water,” said Feldman. 

Additional partners are bringing new instruments this winter to measure snowflakes and capture what snowflakes look like. “We’ve got a camera that takes 200 pictures each second of snowflakes,” said Feldman. “It is true that every snowflake is unique, but they don’t always look like those pretty dendrites that you see in Frozen. Snow can look very different from that depending on the temperature and humidity it was formed at. How dense and heavy that snow is, and how much water is in them are all strong functions of the shapes of snowflakes.”

Ultimately, Feldman said, the focused efforts around the SAIL project are important for understanding what’s going on in the Crested Butte area but also the entire region of the upper Colorado River. “With this data, we have a deeper understanding of how these models actually work, and they start to become very useful and very powerful at making predictions of what storms will look like in the near term and how they will evolve longer term,” said Feldman. “It motivates us to think about all these little details — from snowflakes and what they look like, to the distribution of precipitation, what it looks like and how quickly it melts out, to what’s causing the monsoon season — and look deeper into what is causing those things.”

Feldman has enjoyed his visits to Crested Butte and Gothic. “It’s a fantastic place, I really enjoy the opportunities to explore and enjoy the landscape and get a direct feel for what the atmosphere is doing. It’s not just science but also enjoying the plentiful outdoors of the area, and it’s been great to experience it across the seasons.”

Feldman has also been impressed by the community’s interest and support for the project. “RMBL has been a fantastic partner here in making sure the community is aware of all the things happening and that students and members of the community have some information to learn about what is going on with SAIL and where it fits into the larger research activities. That’s been really great to see.”

Symbolism matters. 

Symbolism can be the first step to real action and ultimate change. It can send powerful messages but also set in motion unintended consequences. This week has been filled with a lot of symbolism – good and bad – on the local, national and international fronts.

Locally, the Crested Butte town council approved new building code standards for the town that will basically mandate that most new construction must be electrified. The idea is that electricity is or soon will be, cleaner than natural gas so it is better to be used for things like heating your house and cooking your food. The move is largely symbolic in the sense it will not save the world. Not even close. It won’t put a dent in the world’s climate crisis and there’s some irony as the valley leaders, including this council, continue to promote jets and SUVs bringing in the tourism economy that make the economic wheels spin (which I appreciate BTW). But it could send a message and set an example to those living and visiting here. It is tangible action applicable at the local level.

There are less than a hundred empty lots in town that this new standard would apply to, and the biggest impacts would likely be to the upcoming Sixth and Butte affordable housing project that the council has already committed to be sustainable and the future Sixth Street Station hotel complex which is owned by our quiet billionaire friend Mark Walter. I doubt price is a concern for his ultimate plan, whatever that is.

No one currently using natural gas would have to give it up. Commercial kitchens could still use gas. Several local builders support the future electrification idea and say the latest technology makes it affordable, comfortable and good for the client and the earth. Natural gas will still have a major role in the North Valley and in electricity production.

The idea is that by mandating electricity for new construction in CB, most of the new power used here through that medium would ultimately be generated through renewables as power suppliers pull away from coal-fired generation plants and invest more in solar, wind and hydro. It’s not happening tomorrow but the promise is there. Crested Butte is one of those towns that punches above its weight given the people it draws here and the attitude that doing something locally matters. The council believes that some of those people visiting or living here part-time are influential in other places. Seeing a successfully working example of renewable energy as a primary power source might motivate others to do the same. It is starting with the symbolism. They want to plant a seed that might grow beyond our little garden. 

And as a sidenote, I asked my capitalist apartment developer friend Gary Gates this week what he uses for heat at his Paintbrush development. He said it’s all electric. He added that the square foot building cost of his project was really low and monthly utility costs are about $30. Gary is no rainbow hippie promoting wind power so I’m guessing he’s doing it because it makes economic sense. Just FYI.

The new owners of the Elevation Hotel and Spa seem to understand the importance of the symbolism that comes with meeting with their neighbors, the town and the small-town newspaper editor more than the aforementioned Mark Walter. Brady Wood and his WoodHouse team this week purchased the Elevation from the Boxer Group. That’s a big deal for Mt. CB and the ski area. The Elevation is the equivalent of beachfront property on a really nice beach. 

I sat down with Brady and some of his team last week and they made it clear that while they own several entertainment-type properties, they do not believe in any single model like a franchise formulaic business. They try to uniquely mold their properties into something that reflects the local community. They don’t want the Elevation to be like their properties in Miami or Dallas. They want it to be Crested Butte. They know that what might work in Dallas won’t necessarily work here.

Despite being from Dallas, they said they hope to revitalize the Elevation into a place comfortable for both Crested Butte locals and visitors. It is early in the process, and they’ll start with a pop-up restaurant from one of their already successful places, but they truly seem to have an open mind of what to do with the property with the intention to respect the local culture. We’ll see how far they go on the fire and nudity fronts. They have made the effort to reach out and coordinate with the owners of other property in the Base Area and they profess to have a love of Crested Butte uniqueness. Brady told me he asked some employees living on the hotel grounds how they liked the mountain trails and was told most didn’t have mountain bikes because they were here for the summer to work. He thought that was awful and told me an early order of business after closing would be to try and purchase bikes for employees so that they could experience the joy outside their door. 

We’ll see what ultimately emerges from the change of ownership but the symbolic moves of trying to immediately reach out and communicate with the town, the neighboring business owners and the community in general (through the paper) is a valuable start. So is stepping up to take care of his workers. We wish them luck.

Nationally, some high-profile Democrats, including some with Crested Butte ties like former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth who owns a home here, released a letter criticizing those in the Democratic party trying to support what some Dems see as the weakest Republican candidates for state and national offices because they are basically election deniers. The symbolism of respected politicians issuing a public letter against a sleezy tactic that is being used by people within their own political party is powerful. Look, it is not uncommon in politics to hope for and even support those that a political party thinks will be easiest to defeat in a general election – but to try and prop up candidates that do not believe in the very foundation of democracy and want to erode the trust of our fair elections is crazy. It is risky and fool’s errand and Democrats should be ashamed to sink so low. That’s not playing hardball, that’s playing dumbball. Democracy is indeed fragile and to play with fire can come back and bite the Dems in the ass. Supporting election deniers in a primary with the goal that you can call them unpatriotic cultists who would tear down the country’s ideals in the general election, is horrible, deceitful strategy.

Speaking of playing with fire, is the symbolism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi showing off her balls to the world really that important? Thomas Freidman of the New York Times lays out the case of why her visit to Taiwan at this particular time is “reckless.” A politically meaningless visit that will not make Taiwan more secure or prosperous but will provoke one of our archrivals is all show and could lead to unintended consequences. Friedman said not to expect her plane to be shot down but postulated that China could perhaps start supplying Russia with military equipment in its disastrous war against Ukraine. Is her symbolic trip worth that price in a war that is already costing all of us quite a lot? 

There are times and places where a symbolic visit would be productive, but this seems not be one of those times. Despite accolades from both Republicans and Democrats for her “courage” this symbolic visit seems like it will simply destabilize and already destabilized world. More symbolism that just might bite us all in the ass. Great.

Symbolism is all around us this week. Going all electric, making strong efforts at communications, delivering puffed up messaging. While not representing ultimate outcomes…yet… it all matters. 

—Mark Reaman

Correction: The editorial originally stated that major renovation projects in town would trigger a mandate to electrify the building. That is not correct. If council approves the staff recommendation, major renovations would trigger a requirement to make the building “electric ready.”

The move to mandate electrification of new construction in Crested Butte was described at one point as a baby step during council and staff discussions over the matter on Monday. In some ways it is, given the size of the town and what is left in terms of CB build-out with fewer than 100 vacant lots remaining in town. But it is a bold move and honestly, one that will likely come with some sort of unintended consequences. That is not something to ignore and the council is aware that they may have to pivot in the future.

The town council appears willing to take the big leap to that “baby step” and require that starting in 2023 pretty much all new commercial and residential construction (with some exceptions like commercial kitchens) be electrified.

The town has always made clear it wants to contribute to mitigating climate change if it can. It was pointed out that just in the past few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is making it harder for the federal government to do so and the decision by Senator Joe Manchin to not support a climate action program supported by the rest of the Democrats in the senate makes it clear that the feds won’t be able to do much now.

So as so often happens, small communities and local governments have to lead the way. The Crested Butte town council appears ready to do that by being the first municipality in Colorado to mandate electrification of future building inside its town limits. I’m not sure why other liberal communities in Colorado (Hello Boulder!) have not done it already and town planner Mel Yemma said other towns are considering and working on electrification policies, but Crested Butte has never been afraid to be out front. 

Councilmember Beth Goldstone summed up the council mood by touting the example it will set. She said Crested Butte has the opportunity to be a leader in climate policy and show that it can be done. She also pointed out that the smallness of the town will allow it to pivot if something unexpected happens as a result of the legislation. 

The action would indeed set a new standard. Crested Butte, like other resort communities, draws people from around the country and the globe. If those visitors see success here, our example can be taken to other communities in Texas or California or Australia. Crested Butte could be the seed that helps sprout a new garden of ideas.

It seems to me that the council would certainly be putting its eggs in a basket not yet completely woven since the electric power grid isn’t super “clean” but is heading that way as major power suppliers like Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association actively shift away from coal generation to more renewable types of power such as solar and wind. In gambling parlance, council is betting on the come. Town staff is using some data to show that natural gas is also not as clean as it claims to be, given leakage of the product. Nothing right now is perfect, but I was comforted by local builder Don Smith saying he has built all electric homes in the valley and they work and are extremely successful.

Valid arguments made by Atmos Energy and valley resident Peter Dea show that natural gas is a good, probably currently “cleaner” source of energy today than Tri-State’s electricity. Natural gas also provides a strong, affordable, resilient backup in case the electric grid goes offline which is happening more often because of climate change ramifications. Maybe Kent Cowherd’s idea of stretching the mandate over a couple years is valid. Maybe that would just dampen the impact. I don’t know.

The council is still asking questions and it wants to see clear and comparable price numbers that will impact its citizens as a result of the electrification action. They want to know what it will mean for the upcoming Sixth and Butte and Paradise Park affordable housing project slated to start next year. Mayor Ian Billick said Monday that there’s a certain responsibility to lay out the logic of the decision when you are the first one in Colorado to do it. That makes sense and so this step is not totally done at this point, but the wheels are turning and the dirt is getting prepped for a seed that might be planted next month.

This council has been clear all along about its desire to jump into the climate change arena. They have not been shy about their desire to take strong action when it comes to climate. The fact they are supportive of total electrification should surprise no one. They are still in the consideration phase and want some more information before the August 2 council meeting where they will likely make an official decision. They are also asking for more public input on the idea, so reach out to your representatives and let them know what you think. 

Will electrifying Crested Butte save the planet? No. Any such climate mitigation garnered through electrification in our small town would likely be wiped out by one Chinese coal fired powered plant running for about an hour, but it is a start. If the numbers add up and the logic makes sense over the next couple of weeks, I have no doubt the council will make the big leap and start taking new baby steps. If it plays out, it could be one seed that helps spread a new garden of ideas that will be really important for us, our kids and our grandchildren.

—Mark Reaman

[  By Dawne Belloise  ]

It made perfect sense to Nicole DelSasso that she was destined to wind up in the mountains of Crested Butte, especially after she discovered that her surname referred to the Gran Sasso mountain range in the Abruzzo region of Italy where her family hails from, “sasso” literally translates into “rock.” Her Italian grandfather started a cabinet-making business out of his garage in Joliet, Illinois, where her dad and younger brother still work. Nicole’s mother was a dental hygienist and now leads an oral systemic health organization. As kids, the family would take yearly summer road trips out west visiting national parks and enjoying whitewater rafting, “I wanted to be a river guide after those trips,” she recalls.

From the time Nicole was 10 years old until she went to college she was an English riding equestrian, spending her time in training and show jumping. “It’s very proper, your horse has to look a specific way, along with your form and posture. It’s very graceful,” she explains. 

She competed at midwestern shows, traveling with her barn pals. “All those adventures made me want to move away out of the city and suburbs, but I didn’t know where.”

Nicole graduated from a Catholic high school in 2000 and attended Ohio State University, thinking she wanted to be a veterinarian since she loved animals. However, after a few classes she realized she couldn’t memorize anything and then there was organic chemistry, so she switched her major to humanities and “Mostly cultural studies because it’s so broad,” which she says was the attraction for her. “It was more about chasing a path to a career that had a broad perspective with a taste of a lot of different things. I wanted to try something new,” so she enrolled in a Semester at Sea. “It’s a three-month study sailing across the globe on a cruise ship,” Nicole explains. “I went to 11 different countries. We studied each country on the ship before we got to the country.” They started in Vancouver, then two days on open seas to Japan, traveling from there to China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Africa, Brazil and Venezuela, before being dropped off in Florida. “What other time in life do you get to spend time doing all of that travel at once? It made me want to travel more and have more adventures,” she determined, and graduated in 2005 with a BA in Comparative Cultural Studies.

After college, Nicole returned to Chicago and got her first real job as a program manager for the Chicago Humanities Festival. “It’s a two-week long event with many different happenings from poetry to theater. You plan for it the whole year.” After a couple of years, she realized she needed more of a business background. “It was great to learn about culture, history and social problems but what are you going to do with all that? I wanted to do something that would positively affect society.”

It was 2008 and the recession had hit, so Nicole decided that enrolling in an MBA program at DePaul in Chicago would be the best use of her time. She was working part-time as a restaurant server but really wanted to work in environmental issues. “I wanted to work on helping our planet survive all the destruction we cause to it,” Nicole says. She was hired by an energy non-profit that was leading programs to help municipalities reduce their energy use. She earned her MBA in 2010 and went to work for the U.S. Dairy Industry, helping farmers across the country reduce their energy use. “I’d fly all over and talk to farmers about the equipment they were using on the farm and I’d talk to them about using different, more energy efficient equipment which would also save them money,” she explains, like a more efficient way to pump milk that uses less energy. “The dairy industry at the time had a goal to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. They were really ahead of their time as an industry for a goal like this,” she says.

In 2013, Nicole became a sustainability consultant at Guidehouse, where she’s still employed today. Guidehouse is a global consultancy for corporate, government and utility clients where Nicole helps big corporate clients reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. “I work with corporations like Pepsi and Taco Bell, but I also work with small governments, like Crested Butte,” where she led the Climate Action plan in 2019. She moved to CB six years ago when her company let her work remotely. She and her hubby, Jeremy Herzog, found CB on one of their many adventures. They had met in Chicago and traveled all over looking for the perfect mountain town to relocate to. “We wanted to live in a small town where we could give back to the community and enjoy the outdoors. When we moved here in 2016, I started volunteering for Sustainable CB.” She’s been board president for the past three years. 

Nicole is pretty excited about all the things Sustainable CB has accomplished for a small organization. “Our mission is to reduce waste in the Gunnison Valley. We have a program called Waste Free Events where we rent event place settings for businesses, weddings and events. It’s really competitive pricing compared to other services who provide this but we’re keeping the waste out of our landfill. We also have a program called Boomerang Bags, recycled material made into bags that you pick up at stores in town and on the mountain to be used instead of paper bags, then you return them to store,” Nicole explains. 

Another successful program she’s proud of allows residents and businesses to recycle items that curbside and CB don’t accept, like electronics, hard plastics, outdoor furniture and bike parts. “Unfortunately, we had to stop the program because we need to find a permanent location (for drop off) and secure more funding for it. But we’ve diverted over 40,000 pounds of material from the landfill. It’s quite costly which is why we really need the support of the town and county to continue this service.”

Nicole takes time to go to yoga, hike with her golden retriever Bruce, and in the winter she’ll take to the trails to Nordic ski. “I love the community. I love that it’s small and everybody knows each other and wants to help each other out. I’ve met a great group of friends and I love that I can just walk out my door to enjoy all the activities and the outdoors. I feel like I’m able to experience a bit of the adventure I was seeking but I also love my role with Sustainable CB and giving back to the community by being part of the change that we need to see in the world to keep our town sustainable and thriving.”

Coordinating with BLM and Forest Service

By Katherine Nettles

The warm weather, high winds and persistent drought conditions have tipped the scales for Gunnison County to join with most other surrounding counties on the Western Slope in issuing fire restrictions this week. The Gunnison County Sheriff has issued a Stage 1 fire restriction order for all of Gunnison County starting on Wednesday, June 15, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service did the same in coordination with one another as members of the Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council.  

Stage 1 fire restrictions mean fires are allowed in permanently constructed devices on private property and in developed recreational sites such as campgrounds or picnic areas. Fires not contained in permanently constructed devices are prohibited, and fires in portable devices such as tiki torches or fire pits are allowed only on private property. Personal fireworks are prohibited, as are explosive targets and agricultural burns. A full list of restrictions can be found at gunnisoncounty.org/852/Wildfire-Information.

Gunnison County sheriff John Gallowich issued a press release on Tuesday stating, “In order to protect life and property, the entirety of Gunnison County will enter Stage 1 Fire Restrictions, effective 12:01 a.m., Wednesday June 15, 2022.”

The press release described the process used to determine fire restrictions, which include federal guidelines using the National Fire Danger Rating System. “If the Energy Release Component (ERC) and Burning Index (BI) fire indices reach the 90th percentile in the Gunnison Basin, then a meeting with the Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council must be convened to discuss restrictions.”

The BLM and USFS collect the data used in these guidelines, and as of 10 a.m., June 13, the ERC and BI exceeded 90%. A Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council meeting was convened the next day to discuss conditions and the possibility of fire restrictions. 

“We’ve been watching this closely and those meetings started about three weeks ago,” said Gunnison County emergency management director Scott Morrill of the determination process. “A lot of criteria and data go into these restrictions, and the conditions finally deteriorated enough that fire restrictions were necessary,” he said. “And really there’s no relief in sight.”

Morrill was referring to the current weather forecasts, which as of Tuesday afternoon called for a cool front approaching at the week’s end but no meaningful precipitation and possible dry lightning. “A couple of spring storms have given us relief when we really needed it until now,” said Morrill.  

The decision for the County to move in or out of fire restrictions is then based on the following criteria and summary of current conditions: 

1) Is local resource availability reduced where a significant fire would be difficult to staff adequately?

Summary: Recent fire starts in Conejos, Teller, Montrose and La Plata Counties, as well as those in New Mexico, are drawing local, state and federal resources out of Gunnison County. The National Preparedness Level is 2, Regional is 2, and locally is 4 (level 1 indicates the most preparedness, while Level 5 indicates the least preparedness).

2) Consider whether local area human caused occurrences are predicted to continue or is risk expected to increase.

Summary: Human starts continue to increase, as well as numerous unattended campfires being found. The Fourth of July weekend is expected to bring many more campers/hikers to the area. 

3) Consider if weather patterns and potential risk are predicted to continue. Are conditions going to change or remain constant?

Summary: Weather models show warm, dry and windy conditions for the foreseeable future. Scattered thunderstorms later this week, with minimal precipitation, and high chance of dry lightning. 

4) Are federal partners, such as the BLM Gunnison Field Office and the Gunnison National Forest, going into restrictions?

Summary: Gunnison area USFS, BLM, and NPS are all moving to Stage 1 restrictions at 12:01 a.m., June 15, 2022.

A combination of the fire indices and discussion on the above criteria at the Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council led the Council to recommend Stage 1 Restrictions for all of Gunnison County, and Gallowich signed off.

The Gunnison Basin Wildfire Council is made up of the Crested Butte Fire Protection District, Gunnison County Emergency Management, Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, Crested Butte Marshal, Mt. Crested Butte Police, Gunnison Volunteer Fire Department, USFS, BLM and the National Park Service. The Council also coordinates closely with the Carbondale Fire Protection District and the White River National Forest.

Includes Mt. Emmons Mine mineral withdrawal language

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

After more than a decade of effort, a major public lands protection bill that would cover significant portions of Gunnison County and withdraw the mineral extraction rights of Mt. Emmons Mining Company on Red Lady reached the U.S. Senate for consideration this week. On Tuesday, May 3 the U.S. Senate considered its first-ever committee vote on the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act. This is the first Senate vote on the bill, but the House of Representatives has passed the bill four separate times. 

The CORE Act would protect more than 400,000 acres of public land in Colorado and establish new wilderness, recreation, and conservation areas and safeguard existing outdoor recreation opportunities, which its proponents say would also boost the state’s economy for generations. This week one final provision was added to include thousands of acres near Crested Butte in Thompson Divide protections, because of recent talks between Freeport McMoRan (of which Mt. Emmons Mining Company is a subsidiary) and various community members and local officials. The CORE Act would also establish Camp Hale in Pitkin County as a National Historic Landscape. 

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held its first-ever mark-up of the bill on Tuesday, and in advance of the markup, U.S. senators Michael Bennett, (D), John Hickenlooper (D) and Colorado U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D) held a virtual press conference on Monday, May 2 to express their support for it. Bennet, who drafted the bill and has championed it for years, spoke first.

“This afternoon I am pleased to share an important change to the title of that particular bill,” said Bennet. “For decades there has been controversy surrounding a proposed mine outside of Crested Butte. And I am pleased to share that the community has reached an agreement with Freeport McMoRan. And under the agreement, which we have enshrined in the bill, about 19,000 acres will be added to the Thompson Divide to prevent any future mine in the area. In return the community will coordinate with Freeport McMoRan to expedite a mutually beneficial land exchange,” continued Bennet. “This is exactly the kind of local, carefully constructed agreement that you’ll find throughout the CORE Act…every line in this bill reflects local values and local interests.” 

The senators were joined by Gunnison County commissioner chairperson Jonathan Houck, San Miguel County commissioner Hilary Cooper, Pitkin County commissioner Greg Poschman and rancher Bill Fales from the Thompson Divide. Bennett and Hickenlooper personally thanked each of them for helping carry the legislative effort forward. 

Local impacts

Houck spoke to the importance of the CORE Act for both ends of the valley as well as all who live in or visit the state and appreciate its public lands. 

“We never tire in Gunnison County of talking about the CORE Act,” said Houck, “It’s something folks in Gunnison County are deeply connected to because we are deeply connected to these public lands and the landscape that really makes up what we like to call our backyard.”

 He reviewed that Northern Gunnison County connects to the Thompson Divide and the southern part of the county connects to the Curecanti National Recreation Area. 

“And in acreage over half of the CORE Act is in Gunnison County,” noted Houck. “We’re really proud of the efforts that started literally at coffee shops and kitchen tables,” between ranchers, recreationalists and conservationists. He called these public lands major economic drivers in the entire geographic area that the CORE Act represents. 

The CORE Act would formalize a 43,000 acre boundary around the Curecanti National Recreation Areas, making it an official unit of the National Park Service. “Although it was congressionally designated the boundary was never clearly established,” said Houck. Blue Mesa Reservoir is part of the area. 

The Thompson Divide, where several counties come together, would involve the newly added mineral withdrawal language for the Mt. Emmons Mining Company.

“The CORE Act aims to protect the upper watershed of the Gunnison River, a large tributary to the Colorado [River] but also to the benefit of ranching, recreation and the livelihood of the folks of the town of Crested Butte and the Upper Gunnison Valley,” he concluded.

The party-line committee vote allows the Senate to proceed with consideration of the bill for a final vote, which would then send it to President Biden to become law. 

“This is the furthest that our bill has made it in the Senate so far, and even though we still have a lot of work ahead of us to get it over the finish line tomorrow is going to be an important step,” said Bennet.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Gunnison, San Miguel, Eagle, San Juan, Summit, Pitkin, and Ouray counties and the cities of Crested Butte, Ouray, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Telluride, Basalt, Breckenridge, Ophir, Ridgway, Mountain Village, Vail, Snowmass, Town of Frisco, and the Town of Dillon have expressed their support for the bill as well. 

Senator John Hickenlooper, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, advocated on behalf of the bill at Tuesday’s committee markup.

At the markup, Hickenlooper objected to Senator Mike Lee’s amendment to remove the Thompson Divide provision from the bill. The Lee amendment failed.

“As a rancher who relies on the Thompson Divide for our summer grazing, I am hoping for the passage of the CORE Act. It will bring needed protection to this area which is so important to myself and fellow ranchers and also for the entire community, who utilizes these amazing lands for hunting and year-round recreation,” said Bill Fales of Cold Mountain Ranch. “The pandemic makes protection even more vital as our USFS lands are seeing unprecedented levels of use by the public.”

“The CORE Act was written for Coloradans, by Coloradans who’ve worked really hard to make sure it reflects local interests and local values,” said Bennet. “After over a decade of work, we’re now one step closer to passing this legislation to protect more than 400,000 acres of public land and support our state’s economy. Coloradans have waited a long time for this moment, and I look forward to getting the CORE Act over the finish line.”

The bill’s progression can be followed at www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/2022/5/business-meeting-to-consider-pending-legislation-and-a-pending-doe-nomination.