The Colorado State Open Thread is for all things Colorado. Not just modern buildings. Not just ancient mountains and fossils. Not just for politics. It’s for all things and hopefully you can find something of interest in these columns. Please add any comments down below, including suggestions for new columns (or even volunteering to write one of your own).
This item came from my yard. It was found by a work man and I’ve been here for nearly four years and I hadn’t run across it. It definitely pre-dates me by at least sixty years, according to the Google wayback machine. My house is thirty years old this year, so this can of Cragmont Root Beer, a Safeway brand, has been sitting outside for some sixt+ years, since they went to pull tabs and then attached tabs starting in the mid-1960’s. No wonder I didn’t even remember soda where you needed a can opener to get at the sugary goodness. I am imagining this sitting through decades of snow, sunshine, chipmunks scurrying over the top of it, maybe various insects using it for protection… Of course, it all started when some reckless young person (well, likely younger than I am) finished a soda, maybe purchased at the Safeway in town, and then left it behind as they hiked down the hill on YMCA land (before it was part of my subdivision). The mind can wander when an artifact of some bygone age surfaces to plead for attention.
I found some interesting things this week — one was an effort that included my own Democratic US Representative Joe Neguse. For many years, there have been efforts to add another National Park site here in Colorado. The site, one to acknowledge history, is currently the Camp Hale National Historic Site which is on White River National Forest near Red Cliff. This is where during WWII, the 10th Mountain Division trained for high altitude and winter fighting conditions like they expected to face in Europe in the Scandinavian countries as well as southern Germany, Austria and northern Italy. The 10th Mountain Division earned high marks for their ability to fight in terrible wintery conditions due to their training here in Colorado.
There has been a bill in Congress, passed awhile back in the House, but of course there’s no chance of it getting through the Senate. The National Park Service designation would be a National Monument, which would be the first such designation by Joe Biden, and it is allowed by the Antiquities Act which has stubbornly resisted being updated. No surprise that the Antiquities act allows for way-below-market valuations for minerals above and below the surface, as well as fees charged for other exploitation of the land. At the same time, the Antiquities Act allows the President to designate areas as National Monuments. This was what President Obama used to designate Bears Ears and other National Monuments in the southwest and California, and now President Biden could use that act to create a National Monument. President Trump tried to undo President Obama’s designation for protection for Bears Ears and other National Monuments, but the court cases that challenged Trump’s ability to decrease designated areas never made it all the way to the Supreme Court because Trump became TFDP and President Biden restored the designated boundaries and I believe added a little bit.
After WWII, the 10th Mountain Division moved to Texas, but the camp continued to be used to train people in warfare as the CIA trained Tibetans on weapons and cold survival so they could be a threat to Communist China.
In addition to the military uses of the land, some of the people who trained there, including Pete Seibert, who was among the soldiers who trained at Camp Hale and then returned to the area after the war, founded the Vail Ski Resort nearby.
In addition to the historic landscape, the National Monument will also protect surrounding natural resources along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDT), including in the Tenmile Range. This section of the 3,100-mile trail that spans from Mexico to Canada acts as a primary habitat and connective corridor for wildlife, as well as a continuous footpath for recreationists and others hoping to explore the scenic ridgeline trail between Leadville and Breckenridge.
In other news, there’s a study going on near Crested Butte to study water as it transitions from the atmosphere (and what the water contains, like dust, sea salt, etc) down to the ground and then percolates down into the bedrock. Water studies like this should be useful to water managers in the future, since water isn’t just from runoff, but also from underground sources.
I may not have been the only one who was surprised at just how much attention was paid to Colorado State Senator Kevin Priola who announced he was switching parties from Republican to Democrat. Senator Priola is now, of course, going to be forced to run again for his seat in the state Senate as there is an effort to force a recall on him. Colorado Republicans have a history of forcing recalls and they have often been successful. One possible monkey-wrench in this plan is that Priola’s district is changing borders, so the Secretary of State’s office has to decide which district a recall would take place in — the current one, or the one from next year where it’s more tilted towards the Republicans. I have a feeling if it’s the current one, the Republicans might wait until next year to hold the recall, since they’d have a better chance to oust Priola. There is no Senate election in that district this year, which must have played into Priola’s plans for his change in parties. At least they’re not going to have an election, followed by an immediate recall.
Get ready folks — fall is on its way, with winter seeing whether it can beat fall to the punch. No, we haven’t had snow at our elevation. Yet. But we could see snow on some of the higher peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park. I saw this fellow this morning, getting all fat and sassy ahead of his time on center stage with the rut. Estes Park’s Elkfest is the first weekend of October!
Just another comment before I turn it over to you. Did you read the diary about David Brooks and his puzzlement about why people don’t talk to one-another? I ask, because I had someone I considered a friend in my neighborhood who is, indeed, a Trumper who flies a Gadsden and a Blue Lives Matter flag from his deck, has a son who’s in the Seals and while we don’t talk politics, I thought we got along. I have tried to be friendly to his new wife, inviting them to come over some evening for drinks, inviting them to come to a Newcomers meeting or two so she can meet some local folks (they attend his church, but she’s from Castle Rock so she’s new to the area), and in a couple of emails — not even giving me the courtesy of a discussion, he has been fairly vicious and cold as he has told me not to walk my dogs on the common driveway adjacent to his house and his attitude has spread to another newer neighbor who told me in no uncertain terms to keep my dogs off his land and his deck. I had thought they were friends, but with these quick directives, they have destroyed any feelings of community and really confused the hell out of me. The first guy is from Oklahoma, the second guy is from Texas, and I don’t know whether they’re conservative and just getting grumpy these days at the fate of the world, but I’m trying to be nice and they have just been awful.
Sorry to lay that out, but I am just confused, hurt and I’m so grateful to have the DailyKos world where I can talk to people of similar world views and not have to deal with people like them. Thanks for y’all being you.
Now, the floor is yours...