Summit County Citizens Voice

Tourism and tax revenues declined, the Hidden Gems wilderness debate heated up and stimulus dollars flowed into Summit County for road and recreation projects

By Bob Berwyn

Pine beetle impacts
When heavy rains fell across Summit County in early July, local streams swell to three or four times their normal level. High flows during thunderstorms are not unusual, but some local water watchers said vast areas of dead lodgepole pine forests may be leading to increased runoff. Since the trees no longer drink runoff, the water ends up flowing down into stream channels. Researchers at a Forest Service experimental forest near Fraser said they haven’t been able to pinpoint those effects yet, but local ranchers said on-the-ground observation of irrigation ditches leads them to the conclusion that the beetle-killed forests are causing higher flows. the effects could be short-lived, as new vegetation grows to fill in the dead forests.

Hidden Gems heats up
Also in early July, the Summit Board of County Commissioners got an early look at a plan to add more wilderness in Summit County. The commissioners agreed to support the proposal, provided the wilderness backers could build wide community consensus in favor of the plan. Once word of the preliminary endorsement became public, local mountain bike enthusiasts got vocal about their concerns and slowed the process down.

Unemployment climbs
As the ski season ended, unemployment figures reached new highs in Summit County, jumping from 5.9 percent in April to 9.2 percent in May. Colorado Department of Labor experts said May is usually a month of increasing unemployment in the state. A lull in tourism and an influx in seasonal job seekers boosts the numbers before summer kicks into high gear. But specialists at the Frisco Workforce Center said they did see an unusual number of skilled workers, including carpenters and plumbers, during May.

Forest health debates
Discussions about what to do with beetle-killed forests took a twist in July, as a group of researchers released a study emphasizing the importance of focusing thinning and removal of trees to the Red Zone, in the immediate vicinity of property at risk from wildfires. The study looked at some wildfires in California, where the forests had been thinned before the blazes started. Somewhat surprisingly, the scientists found that the treatments didn’t do much to reduce the severity of the fires. Instead, the study suggested that there should be a greater insistence on controlling development in fire-prone areas.

Small ski areas weathered the recession
A-Basin released final skier tallies for the season, announcing it had recorded its second-highest total ever, and Loveland Ski Area reported a record number of skier visits for the 2008-2009 season. The numbers showed that ski areas with an emphasis on skiing — as opposed to real estate development — could do OK, even in a totally new economic environment. Although A-Basin is owned by a Canadian real estate company, executives with the ski area said the Canadian market was not hit as hard by the real estate meltdown.

Endangered species flaws
A report from the General Accounting Office released in July showed that federal agencies don’t do the best job of tracking information on the many plants and animals listed under the Endangered Species Act. In fact, the report showed the agencies fall far short of required legal goals to maintain data on the species. Out of 497 species listed in the western states, federal investigators said the Fish and Wildlife Service only has a formal database for three of them — the spotted owl, the marbled murrelet and bull trout. Seven other species are tracked by informal means, leaving 487 species without meaningful tracking data. Congressional investigators found that federal biologists couldn’t come up with an accurate reckoning of the required data in 63 percent of the cases studied.

Stimulus dollars for recreation
Another big burst of federal stimulus money flowed into Summit County, as the Forest Service announced that it had awarded $1.45 million dollars for work on camping and boating facilities at Green Mountain Reservoir. The popular area at the north end of Summit County will get a makeover as early as the summer of 2009, with new boat launch facilities and improved access to shoreline camping spots.

Shuttle shakeup
Keystone Resort announced some big changes to its resort shuttle service. The resort decided to stop charging homeowners in some parts of the resort for service, and also cut routes to some of the more remote neighborhoods, including parts of the Keystone Ranch. Under the contract system, various homeowner associations around the resort paid an annual per-bedroom charge to buy into the system. Guests in those units could ride the buses but needed to show a bus pass

Mining plans on hold
The global recession also affected plans for a restart of mining operations at the Climax Mine, on Fremont Pass. Parent Company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., based in Arizona, had announced the reopening of the mine two years ago. But company officials said a drop in the price  and demand for molybdenum would delay the plans. The company had already spent about $200 million gearing up for a restart of the Climax Mine, with another $350 million to go. Officials said the Climax Mine would employ about 350 people when fully operational. Altogether, the company owns about 4,600 acres of land, along with significant water rights. Most of the active mining is in Lake County, with major tailings ponds located on the Summit County side of Fremont Pass.

Motorized users rally
As Summit County considered closing a popular network of dirt bike and ATV trails near the landfill, motorized users packed a hearing at the courthouse in Breckenridge to advocate for their right to recreate. The county commissioners had previously announced their intention to close the area completely, but after hearing passionate testimony from scores of locals, they back-tracked. Instead of a closure, they decided to give motorized users a chance to come up with a new plan for managed use at the same site, albeit under some new restrictions.

Mine cleanup costs soar
Local stakeholders working on a cleanup of the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine, along Peru Creek, found out that a treatment facility to remove toxic heavy metals from the water could cost much more than previously estimated. The latest estimates for treating drainage from the abandoned mine range as high as $20 million, according to Trout Unlimited’s Liz Russell, who has been leading the effort the past couple of years. That amount includes construction and annual operations and maintenance for as long as 20 years, but it’s still much higher than expected. When Trout Unlimited entered the picture, there was speculation that a treatment plant could be built for under $1 million.

Health care debate
The national health care debate reached Summit County in August, as locals packed the community center in Frisco for a town hall-style meeting with elected officials. Passions ran high on both sides of the issue, as some residents espoused full support for President Obama’s plan to revamp the country health insurance system. Other residents said the plan would cost too much and would take away individual choice.

Dillon Reservoir fish studied
Complaints about the quality of the fishery in Dillon Reservoir prompted local officials to conduct a study of the waters. The crystal-clear water doesn’t make for the best habitat conditions for fish. Aquatic plant life and microscopic organisms form the base of every aquatic food chain, and those elements — by design — are in short supply in Dillon Reservoir, aquatic biologists said. For the most part, the water also remains relatively cold year-round, another factor that limits the growth of fish. “The bottom line is, Dillon is not a productive lake,” said Jon Ewert, in charge of local fisheries for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “Millions of dollars have been spent to keep the water quality high, and the fishing suffers because of that.”

Endangered by warming?
One of Summit County’s most endearing high country critters, the tiny pika, was proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The tiny mammal relies exclusively on habitat in the Alpine zone, and that area may shrink significantly as the climate heats up. Federal biologists said they woud also revisit threats to wolverines — rare alpine scavengers that survives in remote areas of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. In a revised wolverine study, the scienties said they would consider new scientific information about the projected effects of climate change on the Rocky Mountains and Northwest.

Smoky skies
At the very end of August, smoke from a series of western wildfires filled Summit skies, making for some pretty sunsets, but also raising awareness about the potential threat of wildfires in the area. The biggest fires are in California, where a blaze in the Angeles National Forest threatens 12,000 homes, with flames surging toward a mountaintop broadcasting complex in a 20-mile-long swath of flame and smoke. The fire that burned at least 18 homes and was moving north, south and east through the rugged foothills northeast of Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart remodel eyed
In early September, Frisco officials confirmed that Wal-Mart was studying plans to remodel its Frisco store, potentially adding a bigger grocery section as well as sales of alcoholic beverages. To make room, the store may also eliminate all or part of the fabric and crafts section, much to the dismay of a group of locals who buy their supplies for fund-raising projects and senior and youth activities at Wal-Mart. A store employee said the local residents had started to circulate a petition to draw attention to impending changes. Other Wal-Marts have also recently shut down similar departments.

More open space money?
During a board meeting in Silverthorne, Great Outdoors Colorado said it might expand grant funding for open space and recreation during the down economy, citing opportunities for improved buying power. GOCO director Lise Aangeenbug said the organization may consider upping its spending in the next couple of years to capitalize on relatively lower costs of land, as well as materials for building parks, playgrounds and trails. Up-front investment of lottery funds for such projects could help the state’s economic recovery and add long-term value to its precious natural resources, she said.

Local developer for Frisco housing
David O’Neill, developer of the Wellington Neighborhood in Breckenridge, was chosen to build a new affordable workforce neighborhood in Frisco. In partnership with Breckenridge architect Matt Stais and Frisco builder Dan McCrerey, O’Neil plans to develop the 12.8-acre parcel with about 71 units in a mix of duplexes and single-family homes. Earliest estimates for the price of the project came in at about $19 million.

Tourism down
Reports released at the end of the summer showed that the recession took a big bite out of Colorado tourism, along with the rest of the country. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced that the number of overseas visitors to the U.S. dropped about 10 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the same span the previous year. Internationally, the number of visitors to the world’s top 50 tourist destinations was down about 8 percent for the first half of 2009, according to the World Tourism Organization. The organization expects world-wide tourism to decline by about 2 to 3 percent during 2009. Along with the recession, the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus has also affected the tourism market, the group said in a report.

Filed under: energy, Environment, Forest health, pine beetles and wildfires, public lands, recreation, Ski Resorts, Snow and weather Tagged: | 2009 news, Colorado, conservation, Forest health, Summit County News, year in review