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Friday, September 16, 2005
Browns Canyon ‘go’
Friday, September 16, 2005
The Browns Canyon Wilderness Area as currently proposed by Rep. Joel Hefley represents a reasonable compromise between various users and outdoor enthusiasts.
Originally, Browns Canyon was presented as 35,000 acres, which has been scaled back to just over 20,000 acres. The smaller area makes sense in that it will be easier to manage and define, with boundaries for the most part running alongside existing roads and trails, the Arkansas River, railroad tracks and other readily-recognized features. This will make it easier for users to understand what’s wilderness and what’s not and easier for officials to educate the public and enforce.
The new area leaves out Railroad Gulch, which had been a point of contention with motorized recreation groups who want the area to remain accessible to four-wheeling and other travel. Also left out is a portion of public land to the south and east which is being considered for timber harvest and insect control.
Rep. Hefley, a Colorado Springs Republican in his 10th two-year term representing Colorado’s 5th District, said Browns was not proposed for wilderness by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agencies which oversee the land. Rather, he said the proposal came at the suggestion of citizens.
He said the current proposal has the support of environmentalists, motorized recreation groups, commercial rafters, the USFS and BLM.
Because of its relatively low elevation and dearth of moisture, Browns is a fragile area. These elements make the area accessible and susceptible to abuse. At the same time, because of its wild, untamed and rugged nature along with its unusual rock formations and outcroppings, Browns is deserving of full wilderness protection.
Rep. Hefley is asking Chaffee County and Upper Arkansas Valley residents for comments, because they would be most affected by designation.
Based on the new boundaries, we urge Rep. Hefley to ask Congress to establish Browns Canyon as a new Colorado wilderness area.
— MJB
Grand’ thank you
Some of the world’s most unique and expensive – a half-million dollars to priceless – automobile creations, their drivers and owners will travel through Salida today, stopping for lunch at Riverside Park.
For several years, Salida has served as a host for the Colorado Grand, a world famous tour of old sports cars. It’s an opportunity for area residents to see up-close classics from Porche, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and many other exotics, and to talk to owners and drivers in a relaxed, informal atmosphere.
But the Grand is more than just a tour of expensive cars bearing unusual, difficult to pronounce names. Each year, the tour contributes thousands of dollars to communities along its route.
Indeed, the Colorado Grand has been a major contributor to local scholarship programs. Each year the tour has visited Salida, which is 13 or 14 years of the 16 years of the tour, the Grand has donated something like $3,000 annually to local students through Salida Rotary Club.
And in ’05, the Grand gave an additional $8,000 toward the beautiful new Salida Rotary Amphitheater in Riverside Park.
This noon, come out to have lunch at Riverside, enjoy the traveling world-class rolling automotive museum – which is what the Grand really is – and visit with drivers and owners.
And while you’re at it, tell Grand participants thanks – thanks for the generous scholarships through the years and thanks for their part in helping to make the new band shell a reality.
— MJB
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