Column by Hal Walter
Climate – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
AFTER AN EXTENDED, warmer-than-usual fall, cold weather struck the Wet Mountains with a vengeance in mid-December. By the time the holidays rolled around, Heaven had indeed frozen over with nighttime temperatures regularly dropping below zero and hovering in the low single digits on the warmer nights.
Column by John Orr
Water – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
San Luis Valley groundwater
Water watchers in the San Luis Valley have had a lot to keep them busy lately. The State Supreme Court heard arguments about the state engineer’s confined aquifer rules and now everyone is waiting for a ruling. The rules mandate that those pumping from the confined aquifer are required to replace withdrawals with an equal amount of water.
Column by John Mattingly
Modern Life – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Resolutions gave way this year to a list of things that crossed my path in 2007 that fall into the category of, “I just don’t get it.” I admit my incomprehension of the items on this list is irrational, indefensible, and in some cases outrageous, and my only rebuttal is that I’m a farmer, notwithstanding his field.
Article by Sue Snively
Local Artists – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Card Game
They sit, five distinguished men on a hill, under the sprawling branches of a tree, concentrating intently on the card game they are playing. One of the individuals has thick white hair, and sits with his back against the tree, looking to be in deep thought. Perhaps his next move in the card game is the subject of his thinking, but I think not. My imagination tells me he is thinking about how to take cover from the ferocious wind. Another subject is looking off into the distance, as if the card game is trivial and he has better things to do; perhaps he is planning a polite escape. They all stand out in the picture, not because of who they are, but because of the way the artist has fit them into the unusual background.
Column by George Sibley
Development – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
CRESTED BUTTE has been getting media attention lately that ranges from the haughtily skeptical to the outright critical. A full-fledged resort community today — skiing in the winter and a diversity of mountain recreations in the summer — Crested Butte is now faced with a proposal from a mining company to put a major molybdenum mine near the town. Molybdenum is a mineral that could be considered foundational to the modern resort economy. A super lubricant and an alloy that makes steel lighter and harder, it is used in everything from the airplanes and autos the resort habitués arrive in to the skis and bikes they use while here.
Article by Christopher Rein
History – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER OF 1779, the Spanish Governor of New Mexico, Don Juan Bautista de Anza, led a remarkable military campaign into an uncharted realm of the Spanish Empire, fought two battles against the Comanche, and returned safely with his command after almost four weeks in hostile territory. As a direct result of this campaign, Anza eliminated the Comanche leader whose personal hatred had rallied his tribesmen against the Spanish. In subsequent years, Anza continued to deal such damaging blows to the Comanche that by 1786 they formally ended hostilities against both the Spanish and their Ute allies, ushering a thirty-year period of relative peace and prosperity in the New Mexico.
Sidebar by Allen Best
Energy – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
While hot water underground can produce electricity, another type of ground-source heat is warming — and, counterintuitively, cooling — homes.
The technology, often called geo-exchange, is decades old, but because natural gas and other fossil fuel energies in the West have cost so little to consumers, it has not been broadly deployed.
Article by Allen Best
Energy – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
SOUTHWEST OF ASPEN, at the head of the Conundrum Creek Valley, are hot springs. At 11,200 feet, just below timberline, they are among the highest hot springs in the nation.
But the Conundrum Hot Springs are also distinguished by what is in the water, helium isotopes consistent with rocks found in the Earth’s mantle, instead of its crust, according to research by Karl Karlstrom of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Essay by Martha Quillen
Politics – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
CHANGE IS THE BUZZWORD for the 2008 Presidential campaigns — at least for the moment. But initiating desirable change is harder than the campaigners contend. It’s even harder than Hillary Clinton professes when she insists that is takes hard work and experience (while simultaneously implying that her opponents would contribute neither).
Review by Ed Quillen
Railroads – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Great Western Railway
by Kenneth Jessen
Published in 2007 by J.V. Publications
ISBN 1928656056
Review by Martha Quillen
Colorado – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Colorado Journey Guide – A Driving & Hiking Guide to Ruins, Rock Art, Fossils and Formations
by Jon Kramer and Julie Martinezwith illustrations by Vernon Morris
Published in 2007 by Adventure Publications
ISBN-1591932084
Review by Ed Quillen
Science Fiction – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Plague Year
by Jeff Carlson
Published in 2007 by Ace Books
ISBN 044101514X
Review by Martha Quillen
Recreation – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Thrillcraft – The Environmental Consequences of Motorized Recreation
Edited by George Wuerthner
Published by the Foundation for Deep Ecology in 2007
ISBN: 1933392665
Letter from Slim Wolfe
Politics – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
Moment of truth: It was the night of the New Hampshire primary and BBC news anchor Dan Damon was on the line to his stringer in Concord: “So Jamey, what were the substantive issues in play?” With all the smoothness of the politicians surrounding him, poor Jamey had to sidestep the question. Americans have learned that we aren’t entitled to debate substantive issues, we just get to place bets on the horse-race called a campaign.
Letter from Virginia McConnell Simmons
History – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Ed:
Your review of my book, Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker, in the January issue was greatly appreciated. One statement made prompts me to offer a correction, since it involves the effect of the outbreak of the Civil War on prospecting in Colorado in general and in the San Juan Mountains in particular.
Letter from Mike Hartmann
Literature – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
My father is looking for a book. He can’t remember the title or author, but it’s a mystery novel written sometime in the 1970s about cloud-seeding in the San Luis Valley. It involves a rancher from Colorado Springs who moves to Monte Vista, and does part-time work as a private investigator. The plot revolves around his investigation of cloud-seeding.
Article by Lynda La Rocca
Winter – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
BABY, IT’S COLD — and snowy — outside. And the snow just keeps coming. Thanks to my husband Steve, a.k.a. Mister Weather-Statistics Answer-Man, I can accurately report that here in the village of Twin Lakes, we’ve received a whopping five feet of the white stuff from December 1 through January 11. We’ve been snowed in several times, and we’d probably still be housebound if not for some very kind neighbors with advanced snow-plowing skills.
Brief by Allen Best
Marketing – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
If your town were a piece of furniture, what kind would it be?
Brief by Allen Best
Entertainment – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
The bulldozer rampage through Granby in June 2004 will be re-enacted on an episode of “Shockwave,” a television program on the History Channel.
Brief by Ed Quillen
Local News – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Cold and snowy
The climatologists predicted a “La Niña Winter” — that is, an easy one that would be relatively dry and warm. That held up until mid-December, and since then it’s been a season of ample snow and bitter cold.
Brief by Allen Best
Wildlife – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Crawling under a rural cabin to look at some frozen pipes, plumber Josh Pierce decided he wasn’t getting paid nearly enough. After crawling about 20 feet into a two-foot high space, with not even a wrench in his hand, he encountered what he quickly realized was a young mountain lion.
Brief by Allen Best
Recreation – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ski and other manufacturers and retailers are exploring how they can make their products and operations more “green,” reports the Summit Daily News.
In a program that in some ways mirrors Sustainable Slopes, the program sponsored by the National Ski Areas Association, the retailers and manufacturers are working on such things as recycling old skis and snowboards. David Ingemie, president of the Snowsports Industries of America, told the newspaper it’s not as easy as recycling newspapers.
Brief by Allen Best
Recreation – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Mountain bikers are disturbed by a recommendation from the U.S. Forest Service to create a new wilderness area between Durango and Silverton that would close 20 miles of the Colorado Trail to wheels.
The recommendation, if adopted by Congress, would also make at least six other trails off-limits to biking, reports the Durango Telegraph.
Brief by Allen Best
Recreation – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Helmets were supposed to make skiing and snowboarding safer. In fact there has been no significant reduction in ski area fatalities in the last nine seasons, even though the use of helmets has increased to more than 33 percent.
However, helmets have reduced the number of head injuries, according to a study cited by the National Ski Areas Association.
Brief by Central Staff
History – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
The 2008 conference of the Anza Society will be held March 6-9 at the Presidio Chapel in Santa Barbara, Calif. It starts with a reception on March 6, followed by speakers on March 7, and a field trip on March 8.
Brief by Allen Best
Commerce – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
For some towns, having a big box store is a sign of homogenization, a repulsive emblem of Anywhere USA (or Canada).
Not so Leadville. After years of seeing everybody spending their money at Wal-Mart and Target stories in Frisco, Silverthorne, Avon, and Salida, the town will soon have it’s own bigger box variety store, an Alco.
Brief by Marcia Darnell
San Luis Valley – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Citizens Rise from Dead
Citizens for San Luis Valley Water lives! The non-profit formed to combat AWDI’s proposed water exports is back, this time battling the seekers of oil and natural gas. The group will sponsor the Water Preservation Coalition.
Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck
Mountain Life – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Brief by Central Staff
Poetry – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
There will be no SPARROWS poetry festival in Salida this year, for reasons that remain unclear.
SPARROWS stood for something like “Songs, Poetry, And Rhymes Raise Our Winter Spirits,” and it was a bright spot during the dark times of late winter, for it was held in February or early March every year since the first one in 2001.
Brief by Allen Best
Environment – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Various lakes and reservoirs in the San Juan Mountains have elevated levels of mercury. People are advised to limit how many fish they eat from Vallecito, McPhee and other lakes and reservoirs because of the high mercury levels.
The question is where the mercury is coming from. Sometimes mercury is found naturally in the environment.
Essay by Matt Hutson
Winter – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
I HATE WINTER. I realize that sounds pretty funny coming from a guy who lives in Gunnison County, the part of the state best known for its brutal winter conditions. But it’s true.
I think it all dates back to my teenage years. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, through a variety of mishaps and stupidity, I ended up having multiple knee operations. Somehow I spent part of five or six winters limping around Carbondale in a full leg cast. Mucking around in the slush in a cast is not a good time; the toes of the affected leg never quite seem to warm up. To top it all off, one is deathly afraid of slipping, falling, and enduring yet more considerable pain. I haven’t been on a pair of downhill skis in over 25 years.
