Around Your Region

Matt Zalaznick, mzalaznick@vaildaily.com
July 16, 2008

Scooting past gas prices
Eagle County – A growing number of Vail Valley residents are giving up their cars in favor of scooters.

Spending less money on gas and pumping fewer greenhouse gases into the environment were given as reasons for the switch by the new scooter commuters.
They also said it’s easier to park a scooter.

Local scooter enthusiasts also were planning a Scooterfest at 5:30 p.m., July 18, at Finnegan’s Wake in Avon.

Brook Portman of Edwards said her cream- colored Genuine Buddy 125 isn’t fit for the interstate but it can go 55 mph — plenty fast to keep up with traffic on U. S. Highway 6.

“You’re outside getting fresh air,” Portman said. “Normally you have a mundane commute.”

Big season on the water
Eagle County – All that snow that buried the ski slopes this winter is making for an extraordinary summer on the valley’s creeks and rivers, local boaters say.

“It’s been a phenomenal season,” said Paul Siratovich, who works for Alpine Quest Sports in Edwards.

Rapids on the Eagle and Colorado rivers and some creeks — though not exceptionally high this year compared with past seasons — have remained consistently high after runoff from heavy snow this winter and lower spring temperatures delayed the snow melt.

Water levels on the Eagle and Colorado rivers haven’t stayed this high this late in the summer since 1957, said Greg Kelchner, owner of Timberline Tours.

This was the first Fourth of July in a decade, for example, that Timberline guides took customers on trips on the Eagle River, said Kelchner, whose Eagle-based business has thrived this year.

Siratovich hopes to kayak on the Eagle River until August. Parts of the river can be too shallow by mid-July.

Campaign-spending spat
Eagle County – Democrat Christine Scanlan, who is running for re-election as Eagle County’s state representative, criticized her opponent, Muhammad Ali Hasan for trying to buy the election with intense spending on advertising.

Scanlan made the charge at a lunch meeting with local Democrats in Edwards July 10.

“I don’t need to buy this race; I think it’s insulting to think you can,” Scanlan said.

In his defense, Hasan said the majority of money he has spent has gone to local businesses, including the Vail Daily and its Web site.

Repairing the Eagle River
Edwards – A local conservation group will soon start making a stretch of the Eagle River in Edwards deeper and, consequently, colder.

The part of the river from about the Edwards Spur road to the water treatment plant has been battered over the years by farming and development.

Large amounts of silt fall into the water, and the sediment piles up, smothers insects and provides a breeding ground for trout-killing whirling disease. The shallowness, along with the absence of trees on the river’s edge, leads to high water temperatures and low amounts of dissolved oxygen, which aren’t good for trout.

The Eagle River Watershed Council plans to make the river look more like it did 100 years ago by narrowing the river so the water will move faster and dig a deeper channel. The faster moving water should remain colder.

Trees also will be planted on the riverbanks to provide more shade.

Vail’s parking pinch
Vail – With the town short on spaces for skiers and snowboarders, one homeowners group has suggested banning parking on Vail’s frontage roads.

While such a move is unlikely, the Vail Homeowners Association said it would make the town safer to drive around and encourage the use of mass transit.

Several doors of parked cars on the frontage roads have been torn off by passing cars in recent years.

One member of the homeowners group said banning parking could force the town, the community and Vail Resorts to come up with a real solution to the parking problems.

Town Council members, however, responded to the idea with little interest.