2008 Newsletters

Something unexpected happened on New Year’s Day! A simple chair lift conversation led to an epiphany. We were riding Elkhead when Maggie Berglund mentioned the example of Bernie Madoff, positing how unbalanced US values have become. I can hear Maggie now: “I am sick of the Yang, where’s the Yin?”

Deep Ecology. Over a cup of hot chocolate, Maggie explained that in grad school she discovered Fritjof Capra and embraced the worldview of Deep Ecology described in his book, The Web of Life. Later I recalled how I had used the Deep Ecology movement (among other environmental groups) when I taught the ethics of community planning, action, and development. We agreed that if the US had more citizens and leaders who were committed to the Deep Ecology perspective, we might not be where we are today. We need the Yin of an integrated, collaborative whole community rather than the unrestrained Yang of self-assertion with its tendencies towards expansion, competition, quantity and domination and Newtonian, rational, linear thinking that sees the parts, not the whole.

Within the worldview of Deep Ecology, communities are ecosystems, the living ecological, holistic systems with repeating patterns, network structures, and communicative, interactive cycles and processes. In shallow ecology, the humans are the center of all living creations, humans are above and outside nature, nature is for our use, it is simply instrumental. Deep ecology, however, does not separate humans from other living beings or natural biosystems. The world is interconnected through the networks of living systems and interdependent phenomena. All of nature has intrinsic value and humans are just one strand in “the web of life.”

Capra traces the emergence of the Deep Ecology paradigm through threads of conscious reflection on deep questions in The Romantic Movement of the 19^th century, past the shallow ecology of Darwinism, for example, through late 20^th century organismic biology, cybernetics, systems thinking, the mathematics of complexity, quantum physics and Gestalt psychology.

The Community Alliance. Why do I delve into Deep Ecology? Because its thematic threads weave a fabric connecting the members of the Community Alliance. We feel we are a part of the Yampa Valley and it is a part of us. From the Yampa Utes to recently arrived residents, I think valley residents have always felt as if they are bound together in a living, interconnected and interdependent system.

In the last e-newsletter, I introduced the concept of community as the structure of interactions and relationships known as networks. I mentioned two kinds of networks, bonding (within-group) and bridging (between-group). Then I reviewed high quality research that showed that during bad times in communities between 500 and 10,000 in size, the within-group networks and between-group networks weaken, making the communities less resilient. I concluded that:

“The more we cherish and strengthen the networks of our Yampa Valley community within our groups and between our groups and others, the more our community will sustain itself. If we pay attention inclusively and openly to all of our relationships, we preserve our community character. “

Corresponding to Deep Ecology theory, I now realize I was merely expressing an axiom of Deep Ecology: for communities to sustain themselves, rich bonding networks and bridging networks are essential, even indispensible for evolving, learning communities as living ecosystems.

The Western Slope and Yampa Valley. After reading Limerick’s The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, I think there are three patterns of the Western Slope’s cultural context and history that relate to Yampa Valley’s present and future challenges:

Tensions between first residents and new immigrants, between natives, locals and newcomers
Repeating cycles of boom and bust
Competing approaches to resource management and development

The tensions pattern converges with the pattern of the boom and bust cycle. New settlers make a space their place. They are adventuresome, sometimes desperate, risk-takers, otherwise they would have stayed where they were. Believing themselves to be rugged self-reliant individuals, settlers often are fiercely independent. Thus, the very competitive individualism that flourished during the times of the 19^th century mineral boom and 20^th century commercial oil shale boom hindered the development of cooperative, collaborative holistic ties of between-group networks necessary for mutual assistance in the whole community during the busts. Thus, now and in the future, as I have said before, to sustain the Valley through the boom and bust cycles, we need to form and strengthen within-group and between-group networks so we can cooperate and collaborate.

More than 100 years ago, the nature-loving John Muir and Clifford Pinchott, founder of the US Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture, realized that if they argued simply for the preservation of nature, developers would eat them alive. They needed to demonstrate the relationship between a sustainable yields and resource management. They also needed allies in the federal government like President Theodore Roosevelt to garner the authority to implement their strategies.

Now and in the future, we can’t advocate for no growth. We have to manage growth with supportive government policies so we can preserve the inclusive, welcoming, friendly character of Steamboat Springs and Yampa Valley. If growth proceeds, unrestrained, we lose the unique character of the community. And if we don’t collaborate to support work force housing, we may lose our middle class and our sense of community. Without work force housing, Yampa Valley may become merely a resort community without a heart and soul.

To meet these challenges, congruent with Deep Ecology, the Community Alliance pursues its mission…”to preserve the natural environment of Yampa Valley, enhance the quality of life, retain the unique character of our community, and build a sustainable society in harmony with nature.”

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Poetic and Profound Reflections

"We are part of the earth and it is part of us."

~Chief Seattle

http://www.unitedearth.com.au/chiefseattle.html

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."

~Black Elk

http://www.unitedearth.com.au/blackelk.html

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Deep_ecology

“I was born a thousand years ago, born in the culture of bows and arrows ... born in an age when people loved the things of nature and spoke to it as though it had a soul.”

~ Chief Dan George

“There is no better way to please the Buddha than to please all sentient beings.”

~ Ladakhi saying

“Ecology and spirituality are fundamentally connected, because deep ecological awareness, ultimately, is spiritual awareness.”

~Fritjof Capra

“Every social transformation ... has rested on a new metaphysical and ideological base; or rather, upon deeper stirrings and intuitions whose rationalised expression takes the form of a new picture of the cosmos and the nature of man.”

~Lewis Mumford

“... there is reason to hope that the ecology-based revitalist movements of the future will seek to achieve their ends in the true Gandhian tradition. It could be that Deep Ecology, with its ethical and metaphysical preoccupations, might well develop into such a movement.”

~Edward Goldsmith

“The main hope for changing humanity's present course may lie ... in the development of a world view drawn partly from ecological principles - in the so-called deep ecology movement.”

“The deep ecology movement thinks today's human thought patterns and and social organization are inadequate to deal with the population-resource-environmental crisis - a view with which I tend to agree. Within the movement disagreement abounds, but most of its adherents favour a much less anthropocentric, more egalitarian world, with greater emphasis on empathy and less on scientific rationality.”

~Paul Ehrlich

http://home.clara.net/heureka/gaia/deep-eco.htm

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Commentary -The Effects of Economic Shock on Small Towns – Social Networks and Localism

Like everyone, I wonder how the current economy will affect Yampa Valley as a community. Similar to others when trying to find answers, I begin my pondering with what I know. Fortunately, I have friends, colleagues who very recently have explored the impact of a range of economic shocks on the quality of life and social networks in nearly a 100 small towns between 500 and 10,000 in population using an elegant, longitudinal design covering the ten years between 1994 and 2004 (Besser, et al., 2008). This topic - understanding how the impact of sudden and slow-motion economic shocks might change our community - is rather important.

Before I share their research findings, I’d like to start with a few fundamental concepts. For this commentary, we need to lead off with the essential the nature of “community.” Within the context of this valley and its history, our face-to-face social interactions shape our identities and communal relationships. From our social interactions and our relationships, we interpret community and develop a sense of belonging, which in turn is influenced by what is familiar, what is safe, and what is shared.

We tend to think of a “community” as the mix of individuals. However, when thinking of community, I think we actually refer to the structure of interactions and relationships, i.e. to people’s networks in the community. Scholars speak of two kinds of networks, bonding networks or within-group ties, and bridging networks or between-group ties, as the crucial structures of community. Bonding ties develop when people have bonds with people with whom they share a lot, like people in their neighborhoods, their churches, their families and their interest groups. Bridging ties develop when people form relationships that link a variety of diverse people from different neighborhoods, religious groups, interest groups into more loosely connected interactional patterns.

Bonding networks and their deeper personal relationships enhance the network’s ability to influence individual behavior and motivate members to act for the groups benefit. Bridging networks bring people together who have diverse sets of resources and connections to resources within and beyond the community’s region with which to serve and promote the community as a whole.

Now, I bet you have a clue as to where I am going. After almost two decades of domestic and international community development research, we know that communities with both strong bonding and bridging networks are more resilient - they marshal their resources to solve problems and launch strategies to better their communities. So, what happens when sudden, negative economic shocks disrupt and destabilize communities the size of Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek, Yampa or Hayden?

That’s the question. How will the Yampa Valley respond to shock of unplanned, lost sales tax revenue 4% or greater, of slackening building permits and housing starts, of more people laid off or let go, of vacant store fronts, of friends and family moving away?

For this commentary, I’ll restrict my report to economic shocks with negative effects. My friend Terry Besser and her Iowa State colleagues found that:

1) The nature of the shock (e.g., natural disaster, employment losses, school closings, housing expansions, declines in governmental services) or its strength matters less than the cumulative impact of several smaller shocks or one larger shock.

2) During the ten years between 1994 and 2004 the negative shock of losing employment or declining the quality and quantity of government services reduces the strength of within-group ties, i.e. feelings of closeness and kinship between neighbors and friends.

3) In 2004 they found the impact of the net sum of negative shocks on weakened both within-group and between-group networks.

What does this mean for us? Now is the time for us to strengthen our ties to both people with which we have close relationships and to people with whom we have bridging relationships.

The more we cherish and strengthen the networks of our Yampa Valley community within our groups and between our groups and others, the more our community will sustain itself. If we pay attention inclusively and openly to all of our relationships, we preserve our community character.

This is not an idle wish or a pie-in-the-sky platitude. This conclusion rests on a strong empirical foundation given data on similar sized communities after experiences with all kinds of economic shocks.

Herein lays the promise of localism and the work of groups that bring locals and their networks together, groups like The Community Alliance, Deep Roots Local Food Trust, and the Community Ag Alliance. In The Ecologist ( 7:4, 1977) Edward Goldsmith claimed that "The problems facing the world today can only be solved by restoring the functioning of those natural systems which once satisfied our needs, i.e. by fully exploiting incomparable resources which are individual people, families, communities and ecosystems, which together make up the biosphere or real world."

The within-group and between-group networks of Yampa Valley are natural systems – ones we must protect and nurture to sustain our valley’s community, ecosystem and the region’s bioregion. This is something we control.

Web Sites worth Perusing

http://communityadvocate.org

http://www.commondreams.org/category/broad-topics/localism

http://www.edwardgoldsmith.com/

http://localfuture.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localism_(politics)

http://localfuture.org

References

Agnitsch, K., J. Flora, and V. Ryan. 2006. Bonding and Bridging Social Capital; The Interactive Effects on Community Action. Journal of the Community Development Society. 37(1): 36-51.

Aigner, S. M., V. J. Raymond, L. J. Smidt. 2002. “Whole community Organzing” for the 21^st Century. Journal of the Community Development Society. 33(1): 86-106.

Albrecht, S. R., G. Amey, and S. Amir. 1996. The Sitting of Radioactive Waste Facilities: What Are the Effects on Communities? Rural Sociology. 61: 649-73.

Besser, T. L., N. Recker, and K. Agnitsch. 2008. The Impact of Economic Shocks on Quality of Life and Social Capital in small Towns. Rural Sociology. 73(4), pp. 580-604.

Freudenburg, W. R. and T. R. Jones. 1991. Attitudes and Stress in the Presence of a Technological Risk: A Test of the Supreme Court Hypothesis. Social Forces. 69: 1143-68.

Paxton, P. 1999. Is Social Capital Declining in the United States? A Multiple Indicator Assessment. American Journal of Sociology. 105:88-127.

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The New Pioneers of 2008

For the last three years The Community Alliance has honored and celebrated the valley’s New Pioneers, our friends and neighbors who demonstrate sustainable practices, make personal investments in the pursuit of sustainability, innovate, creatively and practically, and invest in the future of our community.

This year we invited nominations from the more than thirty people who are part of the community's networks to obtain candidates who contribute in diverse ways to the sustainability of our valley. The efforts of every nominee and awardee should implement the underlying premise of sustainability. They should benefit the local culture, economy, and ecology because their sustainable practices are affordable, accessible, and equitable. Generally, the individuals, groups or organizations fall into one of these areas: land stewardship and conservation, community stewardship and culture, building construction and design, youth projects or resource conservation technologies and practices. The Community Alliance proudly congratulates the 2008 New Pioneers:

Laura Lamun - for founding and leading Little Moon Essentials, a totally natural, aromatic, biodegradable, fun, humorous, planet-friendly, paraben free and chemical free product line for the skin and comfort of athletes, lovers, children, stressed-out, and exhausted men and women.

Les Liman - for his leadership at Twin Enviro in reducing waste disposal and increasing recycling creating industrial level composting, recycling metal, for supporting Home ReSource, using recycled waste materials to line pits, and researching a joint venture in Biodiesel.

Mike Roberts - for Habitat Design’s designing and responsibly building Colorado’s first “Green Subdivision,” Tamarack Point, a 29 unit subdivision of highly efficient, entry-level single family homes; for recognizing and acting upon the principle that to preserve a vital and stable local work force, families must be able to purchase affordable homes and that home ownership is the greatest commitment a family can make to a community, and for pioneering numerous building techniques, design strategies, and awards.

The Dean and Jim Rossi Families and R&R Land and Livestock - for innovating to keep ranching alive in their family and the valley, for using sustainable land use practices, and pioneering the use of conservation easements on agricultural lands.

After the awards ceremony, Keynote speakers Marsha Daugenbaugh and Tammie Delaney of Vision 2030 shared the desired outcomes and recommended actions of the fall 2008 gatherings that will form the framework for the final report which goes to the Routt county Board of Commissioners and the City Council. Thanks for holding our rapt attention, Marsha and Tammie, and for developing localism.

The Community Alliance appreciates the good, heartfelt work of Deep Roots Local Food Trust who made it possible for all of us to dine on locally grown and prepared food and who strengthens our localism.

Of course, we are grateful to have you as our friends and neighbors. See these stories and photos…

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/nov/24/alliance_names_new_pioneers_yampa_valley/

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/nov/21/new_pioneers_honored/

http://www.steamboatlocal.org/ (see this issue’s “Fortnight in Photos”)

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The Pithy Remarks by Wallace Stevens

If knowledge and the thing known are one

So that to know a man is to be

That man, to know a place is to be

That place, and it seems to come to that;

And if to know one man is to know all

And if one’s sense of a single spot

Is what one knows of the universe,

Then knowledge is the only life,

The only sun of the only day,

The only Access to the true ease,

The deep comfort of the world and fate.

~Wallace Stevens, “the Sail of Ulysses,” 1957

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CAYV helps the Steamboat Community fix the Leaky Tax Bucket –A MUST Read

Before I bring you up to date on reports, developments, the key events of November, I must first alert you to a major victory and offer proof that the community is better off because the Community Alliance exists and does its duty, as well as to upcoming events critical to our present and the future, New Pioneers and Vision 2030.

The Community Alliance’s $4.6 million Use Tax Victory

This is somewhat complicated but please read the whole story. On September 16^th the City Council reversed itself, preserving $4.6 million for its budget from building materials sales and use tax revenue. How did this happen?

In 1973 the City Council passed an ordinance that authorized the city to inspect and audit building materials used to complete homes and commercial buildings that received a permit and paid an initial deposit on the estimated building materials. If there were differences between the starting estimate and the final audit, the City would refund an overpayment if the deposit was too large or the builder would pay an additional amount to reconcile the account.

But the City has never implemented the 1973 ordinance, allowing contractors to obtain a certificate of occupancy without having to reconcile the difference between the initial deposit of a use tax on estimated building materials and the actual building materials used to finish the project. Thus, if there were change orders that required more materials or upgrades, the contractor and developer never had to tax additional taxes. Because the City did not enforce the ordinance between 1973 and 2008, Steamboat Springs lost lots of “use tax” revenue.

When the former city manager, Alan Lanning, brought this error to the attention of the 2005-2007 City Council, they authorized him to hire necessary staff and fix this leak in the tax bucket. During the spring of 2008, City staff offered training on the enforcement processes of the use tax inspection and the audit and reconciliation process. The City sent letters to all the affected building contractors, giving contractors a three months “heads up.”

Then, according to the ordinance’s introductory language, members of the construction community questioned the fairness of enforcing Use Tax procedure neglected since 1973.

On September 2 the City Council voted, 4-2, to not to inspect, audit and require reconciliation on building projects started in 2005 but not finished and issued a certificate of occupancy. There are 130-150 such “open permits.”

Then, on September 10^th, Bob Enever, one of CAYV’s founders, wrote a letter (“Swept under rug”) to the Steamboat Pilot & Today editor. Bob asked the editor why the newspaper why it “failed to make the public aware that it has lost $5 million.” Immediately, Bob’s LTE prompted an online dialogue and another CAYV member moderated the informative, clarifying conversation.

When the ordinance was read for a second vote on September 16^th, eight citizens, all but one were members of CAYV, advocated the defeat of the ordinance – principally because 1) the ordinance was unfair, inequitable to retailers and citizens who pay taxes owed and to some builders and developers who have already paid, voluntarily, the amounts they owed upon reconciliation; and 2) the City’s councilors had a legal obligation to enforce the law, to collect all taxes and to protect Steamboat citizens.

Six representatives of the building trades community spoke for the ordinance, i.e. in favor of relieving builders from their liability for unpaid use taxes on 130-150 projects with “open permits.”

On the second 4-3 vote, the ordinance to exonerate contractors with open permits of all unpaid taxes failed. Councilors Bentley, Ivancie, Magill, and Quinn voted it down, while their colleagues Antonucci, Hermacinski, and Myller voted for it. Jon Quinn reversed his previous vote. Walter Magill was absent for the first vote.

Lisa Rolan, Director of Financial Services, and Kim Weber, Revenue Services Supervisor, estimate the defeat of the ordinance means a gain of at least $4.6 million in tax revenue.

Maybe councilors Quinn and Magill would have voted against it anyway but the record is perfectly clear. Except for one person, the only citizens to write and speak publicly in favor of tax fairness, equity, and protection of the community were members of the Community Alliance of Yampa Valley.

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The WCC-CAYV Relationship

As we hope you all know, the Community Alliance of Yampa Valley has decided it is time to seize its destiny and no longer rely on Western Colorado Congress for financial support. Since 2000 CAYV has been one of WCC’s community groups, meaning that WCC would pay most of our bills, including the salary of our organizer and office expenses. After another, nearly a fatal economic crisis, early this fall, WCC reduced its staff from 11 persons to 3 persons. At the pinnacle of accomplishments, WCC’s early 20^th century structure failed to keep pace with 21^st century complexities of issue and community organizing.

What does this mean for the members of the Community Alliance? WCC will attempt to rise from the ashes, raise enough money to stay in business and work on Western Slope issues. Heather Tischbein, the new WCC executive director hired in May, is a warm and competent leader. Aided by key staff like Mark Schofield, director of organizing, and Paul Chubbock who works on information systems and membership base, WCC has every chance to survive and thrive.

Yet we need to remember, about 50% of non-profits fail to survive recessions. This recession will be longer and deeper than most. Only time will tell. Because CAYV is a WCC “community group,” WCC will retain 80% of your annual dues and CAYV will receive 20%. We live on the western slope so WCC contributes to our quality of life, but CAYV cannot continue to exist without more substantive support from its members.

The Yampa Workforce Housing Demand Report (http://www.yvha.org/ at the bottom-right of the YVHA home page)

The demand analysis report emphasizes that the lack of affordable housing hampers Steamboat’s economy. It is hard to recruit and retain the healthcare, transportation and utility professionals we need for a functioning and effective community. Turnover and training costs increase the cost of doing business and that too affects all of us. (See page 10 of the report).

80% of those living in the county but working in Steamboat prefer to live in Steamboat (see page 24). But the current types of affordable housing choices do not match the options that people seeking affordable housing want, especially those families with heads between 30 and 49 with incomes less than $100,000 seeking to start a family. While people want to work and live in Steamboat, they also want more space and more bedrooms than the current condo’s allow and they prefer more grass around their home. Many in that age group and house hold type are willing to trade-off some square footage and a preference for a single, detached family dwelling for a deed restricted, smaller and attached home in Steamboat. But more bedrooms are critical - they would allow a family to increase in size without having to move.

The analysis also stresses the importance of more rental housing, including 3 and 4 bedroom homes for people at a greater range of the AMI (the area median income).

CAYV recommends its members study the report. The report is mostly graphs, charts and visual displays of the findings – it is not pages of text. Pages 148-152 lay out the demand gaps for affordable housing by the seven levels of AMI, from below 60% AMI to 160% AMI. Pages 154-157 recommend the options and tools for each AMI level.

The City’s Planning staff and its negotiating team will use The Demand Report during negotiations with S 700 and 360 Village with regard to how those projects comply with community housing needs to yield sufficient benefits to justify possible annexation.

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The Pithy Remarks

(In lieu of poetry not yet submitted by CAYV members I have chosen these sayings …they might resonate with your beliefs about community, place and the land.)

Community is not a sentiment. It has to do with necessity – with people needing each other. If you allow the larger industrial system to remove the pattern of needs that is the force holding people together, then you lose the community.

~Wendell Berry, Safe Food News, 1994

We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.

~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

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The Sociology of The Growth Machine and Community Development

The Growth Machine. For more than two decades Yampa Valley residents have asked themselves “just how much growth can we handle?” In one form or another, subsequent conversations pivot around the poles of different, conflicting values and world views about land and how we use it. The topics may be open space, the natural environment, big box stores, locally owned businesses, development, affordable housing, traffic, the various community plans (SSCAP and the WSSAP) or now the UGB and annexation. Two competing values underlie community conversations regarding land use – use value and exchange value. (Molotch, 1976; Logan and Molotch, 1987; Logan, et al., 1997).

As a place, the Yampa Valley means an awful lot to us. Use-value refers to the view of place as a location of community, intangible benefits and an emphasis on value gained through the service/use it provides. When we hike, ski or ride, bike, skateboard, walk our dogs, and commune with nature, we build memories, strengthen personal relationships, and reflect more deeply on our fit with nature. Our use of the land gives rise to sentiments; it enriches the quality of our lives and forms a major part of who we are. Land is to be lived and experienced.

The other view of place, exchange-value, refers to the value, material benefits, gained from treating land as a commodity to be developed for profits or rents. As a medium to be exchanged for money, land has exchange-value; land is to be bought and sold.

These two values attract people who see the world differently. Typically, proponents and advocates of use-value are longer-term residents, smart growth or no growth advocates, recreational users, “greens,” and people on fixed incomes. Proponents and advocates of exchange-value comprise The Growth Machine and include the construction industry, real estate agents, architects, banks, landlords, investors, owners of land on the edge of the community’s growth, newspapers, universities, i.e. anyone with a direct financial stake in increasing the population, the built environment, or more “growth.”

When disputes, contests about land use unfold, both sides - The Growth Machine & those who oppose unmanaged growth - articulate their values in order to frame 1) their position on land use and 2) those who oppose their position to push express their values and proposed solutions. Each side develops and uses interpretations to suit their world view. This leads to a dynamic process of framing, counter framing and reframing. Scholars of the sociology of community use these concepts to breakdown and interpret land-use conflict. Maybe you’ll find them useful too.

Community Development. The Community Alliance has adopted the forward-looking world view expressed in the Steamboat Springs Community Area Plan (SSCAP) and the subordinate West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan (WSSAP). We think a use-value approach to growth fulfills our mission “to preserve the natural environment of the Yampa Valley, enhance the quality of life, retain the unique character of our community, and build a sustainable society in harmony with nature.” The CAYV mission captures the essence of community development. Public projects, programs, and investments in the economic and social infrastructure should foster growth and development of the community’s character, enhance each individual’s quality of life, respect the natural environment and build towards a sustainable future. That’s what community development scholars and practitioners (Kaufman, 1959; Summers, 1986; Wilkinson, 1991) mean by development-of-the-community. Local examples like the Rotary Club’s Board Walk, the Yampa River Core Trail, and the Botanic Park come to mind.

Such projects lead to development-of-the-community because they necessitate people coming together across differences and clusters to create a benefit that serves the whole community. Thus, community development projects move the whole community forward.

However, we often hear of projects, programs and investment proposals that promise to benefit a sector within the community, or a set of private, or more narrowly construed interests in one sector of the community. Such development-in-the-community serves interests of a portion of the community, maybe in a way that disadvantages the rest of the community, usually the less powerful or less well-connected. Thus, this distinction between development-of-the-community and development-in-the-community rests on the sector’s original intentions and the distribution of benefits. These two questions,” What do proposers intend?” & “Who benefits?” come into play when we consider the UGB amendment proposals and the SSCAP.

References

Kaufman, H. F. 1959. “Toward an interactional conception of community.” Social Forces 38 (1): 8-17.

Logan, J. R. and Molotch, H. L. 1987. Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Logan, J. R., Whaley, R. B., & Crowder, K. 1997. The character and consequences of growth regimes: an assessment of 20 years of research.” Urban Affairs Review, 32(5), 603-630.

Molotch, H. (1976). The city as a growth machine: toward a political economy of place. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 309-330.

Summers, G. F. 1986. Rural community development. Annual Review of Sociology 12:341-371.

Wilkinson, K. P. 1991. The Community in Rural America. Westport, Connecticut; Greenwood Press.

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A Retrospective: The UGB Decisions Affirm Community, Yet Provoke Questions

When the Routt County Board of Commissioners (BoC) met jointly with the City Council (CC) to assess the three proposed amendments to the UGB, the BoC voted unanimously against the three proposals and the CC voted in favor (4-2) of Steamboat 700 LLC (S 700) but against two others totaling 171/2 acres.

The Community Alliance presented its the position in writing ahead of time and orally during public comment that no changes should be made to the UGB because 1,100 acres still exist on which housing can be built and these acres are enough to accommodate the next 20 years of growth at the same rate we have experienced in the last 6-7 years. The BoC and two members of the CC agreed completely with the CAYV position, using the same reasoning and often the same phraseology. The cause for CAYV’s agreement with the BoC was that both agreed with the original Steamboat Springs Community Area Plan (SSCAP) and the subordinate West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan (WSSAP) that the UGB is the essential and only tool to control and manage growth. Thus, the Community Alliance and the Routt County Board of Commissioners affirmed, honored the community’s participation as it tried to shape the future.

However, the four CC members who voted in favor of S 700’s proposal to expand the UGB chose words and reasoning that contradicted, in our view, the SSCAP and the community’s preference that governmental entities use the one and only growth management tool at their disposal.

During the exchange between the S 700 development team and the two authorities, two intellectually interesting points were raised. First, the S 700 lawyer asked rhetorically, “How do we know when the UG B will be “largely built out?” To answer this question, he suggested, requires a more precise discussion of what “largely built out” means. Does it mean more than half the 1995 acres are developed? More than 75%? Or more than 87.5%?

Second, CC President Antonucci characterized the SSCAP as a “theory” and he proposed another “theory.” (B. Gee, “Projects tout public benefits,” Steamboat Pilot and Today, pages 3 and 12). Why do some of us regard the SSCAP as a binding commitment produced by extensive community input over time and others regard it as just one “theory” among other equally tenable theories?

The next chapter of the UGB-Annexation story will be either decisions on the 360 Village and the Emerald Mountain Project or the Community Housing Demand Analysis study, which is due out any day. Rest assured that the Community Alliance will pay careful attention.

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The Poetry Corner –Margo McCombs’ gem of a poem draws all of us into its meaning. While researching the Ute legacy at the Tread of the Pioneers Museum, I found Tom Ross’ “Ute Indian wants healing to begin,” Steamboat Pilot, October 10, 1997. Tom begins his story with Ms. McCombs’ poem. By the way, I preserved her use of space and her choice of font.

Yesterday and Today

Margo McCombs

Yesterday in the afternoon, I hiked

into the wilderness,

On a path silent beneath dark pine

Through narrow alleys of bright

aspen,

Beside a roaring, tumbling stream,

Climbing upward until I reached my

goal -

A shimmering lake with three

islands.

Resting along the way, I noticed

distant peaks –

Shining, specks of mica reflecting

sun.

And I thanked my God for such good fortune

To experience this beauty – the

work of his hands.

Yesterday, in the evening, I listened to

the story of the Utes –

Original residents of our rich Yampa

Valley

Who call this the land of shining

mountains,

Treasuring the earth, its creatures,

and their Creator.

But it was my ancestors who lacked

respect,

Greedily grabbed all the beautiful

wealthy land,

Forcing the natives away to an arid

and ugly place.

An ancient story of man’s inhumanity

to man.

Now on hundred years later we

understand.

No one really won – everyone lost.

Today, in the morning, I dreamed of

mountains and Indians.

Awoke with tears trickling from my

eyes,

A heart bruised – aching from the

injustice.

Surely this glorious land is free for all

to enjoy.

What if I were the one denied residency?

I asked my God, sought His wisdom

A solution to right the wrongs –

bring justice back.

It’s true we cannot change the past,

But we can work to change the

present -

Bring healing to this grievous situation.

Today, from His spirit deep within my

soul

I heard an answer form into these

words.

“Bring with the choice to love-

Love truth, love justice, love your

Fellow man.”

I saw our hands reaching out-

Across ancient cultural barriers,

Touching hearts, joining purposes,

Leading us to walk together-

Up into the shinning mountains

Singing a song of joy.

Singing of yesterday,

Singing of today,

Singing together a song of joy.

~ Margo McCombs

In response to Larry Cesspooch

In 1997 Larry Cesspooch, Director of Public Relations of the Northern Ute, spoke at CMC about the need for people of West “to face and acknowledge the way his people were hounded from their traditional lands. “ In the audience Margo McCombs took Mr. Cesspooch’s words to heart. So may we all!

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The Urban Growth Boundary & Annexation

In Steamboat Springs the development process that leads to growth of a community proceeds along three steps. First, developers with projects in mind need to make sure their project fall within the UGB. Second, the developer who owns the land negotiates a pre-annexation agreement with the City Council that flows into a petition to annex, and then City Council passes an annexation ordinance. Third, the developer submits a development plan. Hayden has a similar annexation and development sequence and Oak Creek is considering annexation as its updates its comprehensive plan.

UGB. Steamboat Springs' UGB is a line drawn around SS to indicate where future development of urban density is okay (inside) or not okay (outside). First created in 1995, the UGB is part of the Steamboat Springs Area Community Plan and it is intended as a tool to manage growth (SSACP Policy GM-1.1).

Thus, it is not permanent: SS can expand the UGB if and when proposals to change the UGB satisfy specific criteria according to the judgment of the City Council and the Routt County Board of Commissioners using the assessments of their Planning staffs and their Planning Commissions. Both elected bodies have to decide to expand the UGB in accord with specific proposals to amend a current segment of the UGB.

The line was drawn in order to 1) maintain a compatible character for each planning area as development occurs, 2) fit major natural or geographic features to define a boundary that could be maintained over time, and 3) allow the City to provide urban services (water, wastewater, police protection, and schools) and maintain the infrastructure (roads and bridges). When the two planning commissions assess how well a proposal to "amend" the current UGB, they employ five criteria. The proposed change to the UGB must be: 1) consistent with the goals and policies expressed in the community area plan, 2) offer a "positive measurable benefit," 3) consistent and compatible with the surrounding land use patterns within the UGB, 4) suitable land without sensitive environmental features like a wetland or hazardous waste, and 5) logical, efficient, contiguous and maintains a reasonable compact form.

The two planning commissions forward their assessments and votes on each proposed change to their respective elected officials. Both the Routt County Board of Commissioners and the City Council receive and use the recommendation of their Planning Commissions and vote as advice. Once, a proposed change is approved by both elected bodies, then the parcel of land is eligible for annexation.

Currently, approximately 1,100 acres within the UGB have not been yet developed at urban levels of density, i.e. 1-14 units per acre. At current rates of growth, 1,100 acres could supply 15-25 years of housing. Thus, the current proposed changes in the UGB seem to fall short in satisfying the #1 criterion, consistency with the goals and policies of the community area plan.

Annexation. Municipalities annex contiguous (at least 1/6^th of the boundary of the parcel of land to be annexed must be contiguous with the City's boundary) territory to secure benefits for the current residents after covering the costs of providing infrastructure (e.g. water, roads, schools, transit or other transportation costs related to increase in traffic) and services (e.g. police, fire). The Steamboat Springs Area Community Plan (SSACP) requires that development pay for itself, that annexation is "revenue neutral." This is why changes to the UGB need careful scrutiny – does the parcel of land offer positive measurable benefit (over the costs it will take to incorporate the parcel within the City's boundary). There are three aspects we need to wrap our heads around.

First, contiguity is an important issue, particularly for SS. A parcel of land must share 1/6^th of its border with the City. A piece of land that sits out there, disconnected and, therefore, noncontiguous with the City fails to meet the requirements of state statutes. For such a parcel to attain eligibility for annexation, the owners seeking annexation would have to acquire the land between their land and the City so that the parcel they want annexed is somehow adjacent, touching City land. Lawyers call this a "flagpole" approach to annexation. In the west of Steamboat area we have metro districts like Steamboat II, Silver Spur, and Heritage Park. To our knowledge, the boundaries of metro districts do not qualify as City boundaries.

Second, there is also a timing issue. Cities bear the costs up front, early in the process but the property taxes won't come until later. So the developers who petition for annexation must figure out how to finance the necessary construction up front. They may consider calling the development a metro district and a city may use an approach called "concurrency management" to assure that infrastructure and services increase as the demand in the annexed area increase.

Third, the most important point about annexation is that it is discretionary. Petitioners seek to get annexed so they can reap the benefits of development and obtain the rewards for the risks taken. But to obtain the reward, the pay off, they have to negotiate with the City who represents current residents. Cities cannot just say okay, we'll annex you without considering the net costs to its current residents. There is a fiduciary responsibility to benefit the current stakeholders. To put it bluntly, the City just can't just cave in to developers, they can't give away the store.

Minturn gained a net $180 million in public benefits, including land donated for schools. Durango gained its only hospital, health medical service jobs, housing for health and medical personnel as wel as land for schools. Those city councils were excellent negotiators and their residents received exceptional benefits.

For the first three month of 2008, CAYV was very concerned that the City would let the opportunity to negotiate and secure substantial benefits slip through its collective fingers. The City had approached annexation as a development application, its staff and the Planning commission actually reviewed a master conceptual plan and land use issues prior to the start of negotiations. Then the City hired Gerald Dahl, a lawyer already known to CAYV as able and competent during annexation negotiations and a lawyer whose name we had circulated informally for three months.

CAYV is also concerned that the City Council has not invited the public to contribute to the front stage of the negotiation process. Sure, CAYV's Growth Committee submitted a list of specifics on May 15th, but the City has never organized a public hearing or forum on what the community wants to gain through amending the UGB or annexation. And that's why we are holding the meeting on July 23^rd. We have to discuss the UGB-Annexation-Development sequence openly.

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Renewable Energy

Members may know that CAYV has partnered with Twin Enviro, which owns and operates the Routt County Landfill, to launch the Home ReSource Salvage Center (HR), Northwest Colorado's only building materials recycling and architectural salvage organization. Let your neighbors and friends know that HR offers new options for homeowners, contractors, businesses and community housing by diverting and re-sourcing hundreds of tons of reusable, surplus, recyclable building, architectural, and vintage materials. Twin Enviro supplies land and operational services to HR through a cost recovery service agreement and CAYV contributes grant writing and business plan expertise as well service as the fiscal sponsor.

Currently, HR has a revolving inventory over approximately 5 acres and in 5500 sq ft dry storage and retail spaces. To keep pace with the high demand of resort driven deconstruction, HR is erecting a new facility to add 3000 sq ft of dry storage for a total of 8,500 sq ft for its increasing inventory. Since 2006 through March of 2008, 75 single family and multi-family dwellings have been demolished in Routt County (37%) and Steamboat Springs (63%). Of course, the ski Time Square demolitions have added significantly more materials for recycling.

So, keep your eyes open for the Grand Opening of the new expanded facility in early October.

Thus, HR edges closer to its mission of diverting up to 50 percent of all building materials from the landfill by providing effective recycling and re-sourcing programs and services and through these educate, advocate, and provide resources for sustainable consumer practices.

Give Bikes Back - During the last week of May, in cooperation with Wheels and Orange Peel (give them you bike business maybe) CAYV collected over 50 donated bikes. Volunteers came to Home ReSource to refurbish these bikes. We completed 12 bikes to be distributed to individuals in need from organizations like Partners of Routt County, Lift-up, and the Boys and Girls Club of Craig.

CAYV's Renewables Energy Committee, chaired by Rich Levy, continues to collaborate with Twin Enviro and Home ReSource in seeking grants while HR's revenues also grow commensurately. In 2008 we have seen a number of newspaper stories and we are sure the publicity warms the hearts of the Renewable Energy members and all CAYV members. A cordial appreciation to you all!

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The Poetry Corner

Through the Eyes of a Child, Our Future

~Townsend Anderson~

You plow the same ground

And drink the same water

You reap the same harvest

And enjoy the same fruits

Of those who labored before you.

We describe a future

Unknowing of plans wrought

From too much money.

Wishing what is, will be,

What we see from our front doors,

Changed, beautiful

Like two trees planted twenty years ago,

We describe ground

Common to all of us

Who have descended Rabbit Ears

Into the valley's sunset.

You tell us

we are wise beyond our years.

Please lay aside differences

Find our common ground

Listen to us

Work together

To build for our future.

A desired future whose

description does not change.

Remember to honor

those who labored before you,

for they described a future

which is your bounty today.

And the future you describe

And labor to build

Will be ours

To bear -- or celebrate –

Tomorrow

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Straws and "Drainage" on the Western Slope

Our Milkshake

In the film, There will be Blood, the main character, Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day Lewis), explains to a neighbor, Eli, how his actions harms Eli's the future prosperity. Plainview's oil wells encircle Eli's land, draining the oil from underneath the property of unwitting Eli. So, Plainview offers Yampa Valley residents a clue to our future when he says:

"Drainage! Drainage, Eli! Drained dry, you boy! If you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and I have a straw and my straw reaches across the room [it] starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up! "

To keep our milkshake intact, we need to pay attention to what our neighbors are doing and how it might affect us. Fifteen months ago I was naïve about life in northwest Colorado. My head was buried in the snow. Then I joined the Community Alliance of Yampa Valley and the Western Colorado Congress.

Western Colorado Congress Actions Benefit Us

WCC represents the western slope on oil and gas issues as well as many others.. Finally, last year WCC's ten year oil and gas campaign paid off. Under Governor Ritter the legislature passed two bills, one will change the composition of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission by including representatives of the public and decreasing the number of industry advocates. The second bill improves monitoring and enforcement and responses to accidents and citizen complaints through better coordination between COGCC and the CO Dept of Public Health and the Environment.

Reading the Clarion has kept me informed about the progress in making new rules that constrain oil and gas drilling protect the public's health, restores land and minimizes harm to wildlife and watersheds. Now the rules are in draft form. To take action and urge strong rules, visit the first page of the WCC web site (http://wccongress.org/) or read the attachment "Support Safer Drilling ."

Colorado's "Drill Me" Approach (term courtesy of the High Country News May 12 edition cover)

Colorado has a "Drill Me" approach to the oil and gas industry. To answer industry advocates, like Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis who complain about the new drilling rules (http://www.gjsentinel.com/search/content/gen/ap/CO_Oil_Gas_Rules.html , reprinted in May 11 Pilot), Bill Grant, WCC's immediate past President cites an international study of the oil and gas industry by the Fraser Institute, a conservative and libertarian think tank based in Canada, to document just how far Colorado is from creating a regulatory atmosphere that would discourage the industry.

"Based on a comprehensive survey of 'people who are employed by companies that are directly employed in the upstream petroleum industry through participation in oil and/or natural gas exploration and development, and by companies engaged in providing support services to such companies,' the study evaluated 16 criteria, including taxation, cost of compliance with government regulations, regulatory uncertainties, environmental regulations and labor regulations and availability 'to determine which jurisdictions (worldwide) pose the greatest barriers to upstream petroleum industry investment.'

Based on these criteria, Colorado stands out as the only United States market to place among the five (emphasis added) ' most attractive locations for upstream petroleum investment.' This study places the Colorado regulatory and tax environment solidly among such Third World markets as Malaysia, Romania, Qatar and Thailand as jurisdictions posing the least barriers to oil and gas development."

It is not surprising that drilling permits in neighboring counties have more than doubled over the last three years. But Coloradoans don't necessarily benefit through the severance tax. Randy Udall notes (High Country News, February 4, 2008), the state tax exemption and stripper well exemption reduce our benefits to nearly nothing.

Straw and Drainage

The Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado and the Department of Local Affairs project huge impacts from the developing oil and gas industry in our neighboring counties - Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield and Mesa (see the attachment, Executive Summary). As a result the Routt County population is projected grow 71% over the next 20 years to almost 40,000 residents. Our strained housing stock will become even less affordable. I think we have an initial understanding of population growth and workforce housing.

More bothersome to me by far is the air pollution that results from oil and gas drilling. Jeremy Nichols of Rocky Mountain Clean Air (http://rmcleanair.blogspot.com/ ), an ally to WCC, has shared some web sites and images with me that compel me to point out that oil and gas drilling threaten to jeopardize our clear views and our lungs. As I stood on top of Mesa Verde recently, I winced at the haze produced by ozone that approaches Denver's. Similar ozone levels contribute to the haze over Rocky Mountain National Park.

I consider air pollution the final straw that drains our milkshake, Yampa Valley's quality of life.

That's why I am grateful the Community Alliance is part of the Western Colorado Congress. WCC takes necessary, critical action for all of us and its spokespersons, like Bill Grant, speak for us saying don't give the state away. Otherwise, the Daniel Plainview's of the world will drink our milkshakes.

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Treasurer's Report from John Whittum

CAYV's bank account generally runs a balance averaging about $5000. At the moment (May 1) we have $6332.12, of which $2000.68 is a custodial account from donations to Home ReSource. CAYV's revenues come from three standard sources: direct major contributions ($500 to $3000 a year), rebates ($1500-2500) from Western Colorado Congress (WCC) which handles our membership dues, and events such as the Annual Meeting and New Pioneers which can run a profit or loss. This year we made about $550; last year we lost about $630.

CAYV's expenses are quite different each year but include an annual membership fee of $1200 to WCC, conference/seminar/transportation and food costs and fees (about $1000), office costs (about $500. Note: our office rent and equipment expenses are borne by WCC, as well as our organizer's salary). Special expenses included the purchase of a lap top computer in 2006 for $1000; a special fundraising appeal (generally held every 3rd year), an affordable housing campaign, and a city council candidate survey for $750 in 2007), and special stationery and envelopes
for $1000 in 2008.

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The Poetry Corner

Several members appreciated Art Goodtimes' poetry and desired more. We'd like to devote a "corner" of each newsletter to the creative side. Please submit your favorite example of poetry or song lyrics, especially if written by a local past or present resident, and we'll share it with members of Community Alliance of Yampa Valley.

Just imagine...can you see one of us stopping on Hwy 40 to spare a spider the fate of road kill?

BURROWING IN

By Art Goodtimes

what good fortune in the canyon this morning
down by the Beaver Creek ford where
they're doing the new construction
& the sign says slow

usually i'm lost in the whiz by
of the morning rush
but for once i was driving slowly enough
to see a tarantula crossing the highway
as they do in the fall

i stopped the car & stood in one lane rerouting traffic till it got off
the road

giant spider

with spiky brown hairs
on its punk black abdomen &
a right back leg that it dragged
more than stepped on

run over perhaps
or maybe broken in an earlier
arachnid battle of the minature titans Xochipilli & Pegleg
in a dance to the death

his front feet
arms really
stubbed & padded to protect his face
climbing up
& down gullies & down the gravel bank
on his trek towards the river
or maybe her trek
who knows?

not stopping until hid
in a pocket of rock a couple yards
off the pavement

& there
rested a moment in the still
snowless sun
before winding down
the canyon labyrinth of greasewood
oak brush & narrowleaf cottonwood
and finding soft alluvial earth
to burrow in for the winter

http://www.coyotekiva.org/t-bear-burrow.html http://www.coyotekiva.org/t-bear.html

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Art Goodtimes Speaks about Paths to Solutions

On March 8^th at the annual gathering, the members of Community Alliance of Yampa Valley listened and laughed, reflected and imagined as our honored guest, Art Goodtimes, held our attention with stories, poems, and insights rooted in experience as a Green, a politician, a poet, an organizer, a father and a husband.

Nestled at candle lit, clothed tables with flowers in the center, 86 members and guests absorbed Art’s hard won truths, his performed poems, and his pearls of wisdom wrought from walking-the-talk of a “green” committed to social justice and grass roots democracy.

In his third term as Commissioner of San Miguel County, Art finds himself in positions of influence in Club 20, the bastion of oil and gas industrial power, Western Colorado Congress, CAYV’s parent organization, and the National Association of Counties, among many other local regional and national groups and organizations.

With a retrospective glance, Art first emphasized collaboration. In contrast to his earlier predisposition, one many of us might share, Art now refuses to write off people just because they don’t agree with him. Rather, Art suggests we “live and let live,” listening to what people want. It takes work to get to that pint. Art reminded us that “back in the day” radicals made fun of people who compromised. Now, however, Art encourages us to reject demonizing the “other.” If we seek to understand those with whom we differ, we will do more than just hang out with people with whom we agree.

We can learn to hang with others, be who we are, and find the elusive common ground.

Winding his way from stories about his seminary time to learning about traditions from time on the reservation, Art explained the context for “Learning to Smile.”

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Learning to Smile

"I follow Freud's opinion that at birth there is no consciousness, accordingly, there can be no awareness or conscious experience ... Thus it is rare to find the smiling response before the third month of life."

-Rene Spitz

(The First Year of Life: A Psychoanalytic Study of Normal and Deviant Development of Object Relations)

Floating in the sac

I sucked the blood of my mother's cigarettes.

Her breath fed me.

When kicking in her belly I began

to make my move, they rushed her

fast car & sirens

to a monolith of brick.

Laid her flat on a gurney

& wheeled her helpless

into the sterile room of deliveries.

We both felt the sudden vertigo

the whirl & loss

as the anaesthetic took effect.

Unconscious

drugged into dreams

she was made to push me

out of the house her body had been.

Unconscious

I slid head-first

into the assault of their bright lights

forceps, antiseptics.

A masked man held me captive

upside down.

Too soon his rubber gloves

cut the cord that pumped me

mother's air mixed with blood.

Too soon.

My face turning blue

asphyxiated, brain throbbing

until those brusque hands

hung me by my heels

& slapped the life into me.

Still groggy from the drugs

was it any wonder that I cried out

howling at the world?

Raw atmosphere jammed my lungs.

Silver nitrate burnt into my eyes.

I was born craving nicotine

& the smell of her skin.

But they hauled me away

to be tagged, guarded

& quarantined.

My own father, criminal with germs

allowed only a peek through glass

at his first-born son.

There in the nursery

tended by strange, masked women

I was given a blanket to calm my fear.

So my first bond was made

with impersonal cloth.

First comfort found in hugging the material

close around me

as later in times of stress I would grab hold

of objects as though they

could help soothe the loss & aching.

There in the arms of obstetrics

my heart dangling from the thread of

its own frightened beat, I slept

& slept & slept.

My body retreating into shock

that instinctual safety valve

releasing me

from the merciless onslaught of

modern technology.

And then they wondered

why I cried

when they hauled me back

to the birthsmell of the Mother.

Why I couldn't focus

& look her in the eye.

Why it was months

before I learned

to smile.

Seeing life like “learning to smile” from another perspective, Art opines that to exercise political power those who govern must listen – “In every good dance, there is always a step backward. The dance of democracy with a small “d” requires that people listen, trying to find out why people believe and feel so strongly about their issues. Listening with patience is essential for fairness, balance and win-win solutions.

In addition to collaboration, and listening with patience, Art used the contest between off-road “jeepers” and nonmotorized users to introduce us a new word, panarchy - the notion that complex systems are interconnected but resilient. We must focus on building resiliency to accommodate change. We can no longer choose just one cycle or system, say the cycle of ecology or ecosystem, to frame an issue – “We need to understand all cycles and systems, the economic, the social, the political, and the ecological, simultaneously.” But as we encounter the tumult of change, Art underscores that we must maintain our integrity. Just as he keeps his hair long and his beard scraggly to reinforce his core vales, Art proposes that we reinvigorate our beliefs with trust, hope, and faith that we can achieve what we want for Yampa Valley. With sufficient political will, the Board of Commissioners and the past City Council have provided the tools for workforce housing, we have to acknowledge that tools are not enough. Proponents of any issue must pay attention to power. At this point Art performed

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Skinning the Elk

“There’s a whole lot of life in these animals,”

George nods, almost like a prayer

as I hold the hoofed leg

steady for the knife,

mist rising from the gutted belly,

skin still warm.

Tempered steel peels back

thick hide. Fur.

The dark meat of the interior.

Secret organs slide steaming into full moonlight

on the bed of Greenbank’s battered pickup.

I can’t stop peering

into the glazed crystal

of those antlered eyes.

Two perfect rivets

welded to the girder of that

skeletal moment when

the bullet’s magic

cut life short.

Later,

after the carcass is hung

in a cottonwood tree,

I go inside to wash my hands.

But the blood won’t come off.

There’s no mistake.

I am marked for life.

I wear the elk’s tattoo,

as its meat becomes my meat

& its blood stains my blood.

Spirit leaping

from shape to shape.

I think art chose “Skinning the Elk” to illustrate that solutions are embedded in the “matrix of a culture” and the interconnected systems and boundaries that interlace the species in a bioregion. For example, Art noted that perhaps deed restrictions and appreciation caps are not the complete answer but we do know that not having caps is definitely not the answer. Maybe solutions lie in the relationships, Art hypothesized, between the County to the City. And that, Art implied, may be the role of the Community Alliance of Yampa Valley – to get the governments to work more effectively together.

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www.laalamedapress.com for As If the World Really Mattered by Art Goodtimes

Other web sites that feature Art Goodtimes are:

http://www.coyotekiva.org/t-bear.html

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/archives/art-goodtimes.html

http://sanmiguelcounty.org/goodtime.htm

http://www.zianet.com/lunarosity/goodtimes.html

The web site that expands upon “panarchy” is: http://www.sustainablescale.org. Art cited a book, Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems by Lance Gunderson, and C. S. Holling, editors.

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