Around Your Region

Sarah L. Stewart
April 9, 2008

Private ski resort goes to vote
Voters will soon get a say in whether to annex into Minturn 4,300 acres of land owned by the Ginn Development Co., which wants to build a private ski and golf resort.

In February, the town council unanimously voted in favor of the annexation, which is a major step toward allowing Ginn to proceed with its plan to build the resort, golf course and 1,700 homes and condominiums on and around Battle Mountain, south of Minturn. Activist Frank Lorenti successfully gathered 89 signatures for a petition that forces the town to give residents a vote on a referendum to approve or deny the Ginn annexation. The vote will take place in six weeks.

If voters uphold the annexation, town councilors will vote again, possibly later this year, to finally approve or deny the project. If residents vote against the annexation, Ginn could walk away from the project, or Red Cliff or Eagle County could strike a deal with the developer, town officials have said.

“The majority of the citizens can have a say — that’s all we’re asking,” Lorenti said. “If the citizens want yes, then good. If they want no, then we’ll take it from there.”

Open space debate
Eagle county – The county has enlisted some help to decide the best way to preserve its open spaces for future generations.

Representatives from Boulder County Parks and Open Space talked to local government officials, wildlife experts and open space advocates in March at the county’s open space summit.

Boulder’s program began in the mid-1960s, but this area is just getting started, said Cindy Cohagen of the Eagle Valley Land Trust.

“We’re addressing these (open space) issues kind of late in the game, when many areas have already been developed,” she said.

Representatives from the county and its towns discussed their preferences for land preservation — such as saving land along the valley floor, so residents can get more use and enjoyment from the land than if it were in remote locations in the county.

County Commissioner Peter Runyon said the goal is to eventually make an agreement among all the valley’s towns like Boulder County did.

“It’s something we need to work toward,” he said. “Boulder went through something like 37 versions of it before they came up with a something everyone liked. That’s what we need to do.”

Construction season
Eagle County – The close of ski season means the start of another, less popular season: construction.

The Dowd Junction project, which begins in late April, will resurface 1.5 miles of Interstate 70 and make guardrail and shoulder improvements. Following complaints from the first phase of the project last summer, all the work will be done at night, Sundays through Thursdays.

A project on five miles of Highway 24 north of Leadville will widen and make safety improvements including adding guardrails, flattening slopes and building a new bridge over the Arkansas River. The work will start April 9 and is scheduled to end in October.

A portion of Highway 6 near Eagle will also be repaved and the shoulder will be widened.

A costly season
Vail – A grim state record was set in Vail last week: Following a skier death in Blue Sky Basin, more Colorado skiers have died this season than any other year.

At least 20 people have died from skiing or snowboarding accidents in the state, including three who were in the backcountry — two of those in the East Vail chutes.
Lakewood resident Martin Fierro, 32, was wearing a helmet when he had an accident last weekend at Vail and became the 17th skier or snowboarder to die at a Colorado resort.

Aspen concerns
Summit County – One of Colorado’s most identifiable trees could be in big trouble.

Forest Service scientists have found that more than 56,000 acres of aspens have recently died in the state, likely the result of a prolonged drought in the first few years of this century.

“I didn’t feel comfortable making the direct link between climate change and aspen decline,” said James Worrall, one of the primary authors of the study. “But it’s safe to say, if the climate change predictions turn out to be true, we’re going to see more aspen problems.”

The rapid decline of aspens in southern Colorado appears to be unprecedented. Aspen mortality in one part of the San Juan National Forest increased 58 percent from 2005 to 2006, researchers found.

“After years of drought, they’re basically starving to death,” Worrall said.

Mussel trouble
Summit county – Wildlife officials are keeping an eye on local waters for invasive species such as zebra mussels and an aquatic plant called snot algae that could devastate fisheries and damage reservoirs.

In the East, governments have already spent billions of dollars trying to eradicate the mussels, which are nearly impossible to get rid of.

The mussels can wipe out an aquatic ecosystem by filtering tiny organisms out of the water, including single-celled plankton that forms the basis of the food chain in Summit County’s lakes and streams.

“That’s the doomsday scenario, the really scary thing,” said aquatic biologist Jon Ewert. “It knocks out the base of the food chain. There’s no way to sound the alarm too loud on this.”

With the discovery of zebra mussel larvae in Pueblo Reservoir, Colorado officials want boaters to take extra care to avoid spreading them into clean lakes and rivers. The key is to carefully inspect boats for signs of the mussels or larvae, said Bob Evans, manager of the Dillon Marina, one of the hubs for boating activities on Dillon Reservoir.

“You need to keep your boat dry for a week before transporting it between reservoirs.” he said.