Telluride Magazine summer 2021

Proposition 114 passed by AZADI Fine Rugs & Bella Fine Goods fewer than 60,000 votes, Donates $100,000 to T.S.R.C. with large support in for their global research in finding urban areas near Denver where wolf reintroduction a vaccine for COVID-19. is mostly an 213 West Colorado Avenue ideological concern. Azadi FINE RUGS Bella FINE GOODS Blanco’s County Commissioners support natural Since 1970 Be Inspired wolf migration from Wyoming and surrounding FINE CONTEMPORARY & ANTIQUE RUGS FINE JEWELRY, HOME FURNISHINGS, FINE ART areas, but they refuse to participate in “artificial” (i.e. human) efforts to increase populations. (970) 728-4620 (970) 728-2880 Colorado’s new law came just after President 213 West Colorado Ave (On Main Street) Telluride, CO Trump’s Department of Interior had delisted the gray wolf from federal protection under the TELLURIDE ‫ ׀‬JACKSON HOLE ‫ ׀‬SCOTTSDALE ‫ ׀‬SEDONA ‫ ׀‬SEDONA NAVAJO ‫ ׀‬HAWAII Endangered Species Act, which actually made it easier for Colorado’s law to be implemented, as The award-winning “Danielle Evans demonstrates, the state no longer requires permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate the pro- author brings her once again, that she is the gram. Also, Colorado’s “Threatened and Endan- signature voice gered List” imposes criminal penalties of up to $100,000 or up to one year in prison for unlawful and insight to the finest short story writer killing of a wolf, so wolves in Colorado continue subjects of race, working today.” to enjoy legal protection. But wolf territory along grief, apology, and the northern border is migratory, moving in and out of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Nearby American history. —Roxane Gay states, Wyoming in particular, do not have simi- lar laws, and Colorado officials have learned of at daniellevevans.com @daniellevalore @riverheadbooks least three wolves who were likely legally extin- guished in Wyoming. Prior to physically relocating wolves to the region, Proposition 114 requires Parks and Wild- life to develop a reintroduction plan using “the best scientific data available.” Local communities are intended to have a voice in the process through public hearings to gather input and share informa- tion. And although the law provides for “fair com- pensation” for loss of livestock, Rio Blancans are concerned whether this will occur. Official num- bers of livestock loss vary wildly from one agency to another—the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported 2,835 cattle and 453 sheep lost to wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain Region in 2014; U.S. Fish and Wildlife reported only 136 cat- tle and 114 sheep for the same region and period. While these numbers still represent less than 1 percent of total herd populations, many ranchers fear their losses will go uncompensated. For one thing, the confirmation and verification process is difficult, especially for ranchers with large parcels or difficult-to-access terrain. Additionally, there is no recompense for those animals who simply fail to thrive due to anxiety and stress on the herd when a predator is near. Voters who favored reintroduction hope the measure will help restore the balance of nature, but as the plan moves forward, CPW will also be forced to balance the often competing interests of conservation and progress. Finding a way to involve the ranching communities in the process and a solution that reflects their concerns will be key to the program’s long-term success. \\ SUMMER/FALL 2021 TellurideMagazine.com 101

102 • TELLURIDE TURNS Headlines & Highlights from the Local News BREATHING ROOM Recreational use surges in the San Juans By Jonathan Thompson For a brief moment last year, in embedded in emerald-hued, wild- The scene was replicated on pub- weekly basis, the hectic pace com- the era of COVID-lockdowns flower-smattered tundra. It looks lic lands all over the West. After a muf- plicated by COVID protocols. A busy and the ebb in tourism, the damned good on Instagram, in other fled spring, Telluride’s new Bridal Veil season for San Juan County’s search locals of the San Juan Mountains had words. A search of #icelakesbasin Trail was packed with a steady stream and rescue team was capped off by a the vast public lands almost to them- turns up a blizzard of eye candy that of hikers all day, every day. At Yellow- wildfire near the Ice Lake trailhead selves for the first time in recent includes marriage proposals, oodles stone, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, which necessitated the airlift of two- memory. It provided a bit of comfort of form-fitting yoga garb, champagne and Arches National Parks, visitation dozen people from the Basin. Winter during times of economic struggle. flutes, meaningful gazes into the dis- dipped dramatically in the spring then brought tragedy as five people tance, and even a slice of pizza—all before shooting back up to record-shat- were killed by avalanches in two sep- It didn’t last long. Just as the set against the Ice Lake backdrop. tering levels in the late summer, fall, arate incidents near Ophir Pass; it wildflowers were hitting their peak, That, in turn, lures more people to and even winter months. When the was one of Colorado’s deadliest sea- public land recreation came roar- embark on the seven-mile round-trip snow fell, the crowds strapped on sons in decades. ing back due, perhaps, to pent-up hike in hopes of capturing their own skis and hopped on snowmobiles and demand, the lack of other entertain- such image or perhaps a personal flocked to the backcountry. Local and federal land manage- ment options, or just a collective best on the climb to the lake. ment officials are hoping to tackle desire to be in the great outdoors As the numbers go up, so do the Ice Lakes Basin issue with a rather than cooped up inside with In the pre-pandemic era, this the chances that something will go combination of education, monitor- potentially virulent hordes. In any unintentional yet effective marketing wrong, requiring a response by the ing, and possibly user limits via a case, it became far more difficult campaign drew a solitude-smashing already spread-thin local emergency permitting system. To that end, San to social distance in even the most 200 people per day—or about one- services, which are staffed mostly Juan County’s stewardship program remote areas. third of nearby Silverton’s winter by volunteers or part-timers. People received a $260,000 grant from GOCO population—to the Ice Lake trail- fall, become dehydrated, drive their (Great Outdoors Colorado, which is Ice Lakes Basin, near Silverton head, according to U.S. Forest Service vehicles over the tundra and into funded by the state’s lottery, so you and just over the ridge from Ophir, estimates. But as the first wave of the wetlands, crash their OHVs, come can feel good about buying LOTTO has played a starring role in the story coronavirus subsided, the number shot down with altitude sickness, get tickets). In the meantime, Ice Lakes about the escalation in recreational up to 500 per day, on average. And over buried by avalanches. In San Miguel Basin will get a bit of a reprieve this use and its impacts. Ice Lake’s aqua- Labor Day weekend alone, 2,000 peo- County, rescuers were dispatched to summer, since the trail is closed due marine water, reflecting surround- ple made the trek to Ice Lake. backcountry accidents on at least a to last autumn’s wildfire. \\ ing thirteeners, is like a gemstone TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2021

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104 • TELLURIDE TURNS Headlines & Highlights from the Local News SILVER ANNIVERSARY Telluride Adaptive Sports celebrates twenty-five years By Elizabeth Guest It started with a simple idea, during the 1992- instructors and upwards of 160 volunteers who help rock climbing, paddling (rafts, SUPs, kayaks), 93 ski season, when Bill Glasscock and his with lessons as well as events and fundraising,” says biking, and on other outdoor adventures. Since Australian friend presented the concept of Stuecheli. “It’s pretty special to have so many volun- one-third of participants are military veterans an adaptive ski program to the resort. They found teers in such a small community.” with disabilities—180 per year—the Stars, and repaired an old sit ski from the basement of Stripes, and Summits program caters specifically a sports store, located some outrigger skis, and TASP’s mission is to supply therapeutic recre- to these individuals. In June, veterans who were made their own “blind skier” bibs. ation while fostering confidence and independence injured in service will be offered an all-expense- in athletes of all ages. Crucial to those efforts are paid, multi-day rafting trip on the San Juan River. Enter Colleen Trout, who shepherded the pro- the organization’s highly trained instructors and TASP also offers a women’s-only Military Adven- gram from its beginnings as a department within volunteers; to ensure success, TASP offers extensive ture Week and two fully supported bike trips to Telluride Ski School into its own nonprofit institu- training, year-round, for free. Instructors are taught Moab, one for hand-cyclists, and a second specif- tion, with Trout as its founder and inaugural exec- how to facilitate a range of experiences, from ically for amputees. There are weekly programs utive director. That was twenty-five years ago, and adaptive skiing to rock climbing and everything in too, including Warrior Wednesdays for veterans Telluride Adaptive Sports Program (TASP) has between. “Training is really important because it and Rad Friday outings for young people with dis- since flourished into a world-class organization, provides a unique set of skills,” says Smith. “We put abilities, including kayaking, rock climbing, and facilitating an array of sports in addition to skiing lots of brain power into training—from beginner more. “We are grateful to be able to offer unique and continuing to provide recreational and adven- volunteers who have less experience with disabil- and professional programming that people seek ture opportunities to individuals with disabilities ities, to how to guide hand cyclists on a mountain out from around the world,” says Stuecheli. that promote independence and personal growth. bike trail. Our goal is to reach the highest level of professionalism in the industry.” TASP also hosts a supported international As the program expanded, more help and adventure most years to destinations like Chile, staff was needed to nurture that growth. Courtney TASP education extends beyond just its volun- Japan, and elsewhere. “It’s exciting to offer the Stuecheli, the current executive director, came on teers; their Enabling All initiative teaches all fifth possibility of international adventure travel to board in 2006, followed in 2007 by Tim McGough, graders in the district about people with different individuals who might not think that a solo trip is who became program director, and M’lin Miller, the abilities. They introduce local kids to the adaptive within their reach,” says Stuecheli. “It’s all about operations director and volunteer manager; Kendal equipment and the idea that people with disabili- promoting independence so that our participants Smith was named assistant program director in 2016. ties are regular people who enjoy the same activities can discover the power of their own abilities. And just as it is with adaptive ski lessons, whether that they do; some of them go on to be volunteers Through travel and adventure we focus on ability it’s the instructor guiding a blind skier or lift opera- or stewards. “The program has really impacted our and share the belief that anything is possible. We tors helping to load adaptive gear on the chairlift, it community by promoting inclusiveness, the idea are honored to be celebrating twenty-five years of takes a team to make it all happen. Stuecheli man- that the mountain-based activities we love can be challenging, inspiring, and empowering individu- ages fundraising and steers the administrative ship adapted and shared by everyone,” says Stuecheli. als with disabilities through recreation and adven- while McGough and Smith are in the field overseeing ture. The stories that participants have shared activities and training; but the team also depends on Summer season is integral to TASP’s oper- with us as to how our programs have changed or Miller and a boatload of instructors and volunteers ations. They offer a variety of adaptive experi- even saved their lives are humbling.” \\ to stay afloat. “In a typical year, we have ten paid ences for individuals or groups, and they have the equipment, permits, and staff to take people TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2021

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106 • TELLURIDE TURNS MICHAEL MOWERY Headlines & Highlights from the Local News MISSING THE MAGIC Telluride Free Box closure spurs memories The Free Box was closed by a public health order at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and remained boarded up even as the town’s businesses opened and small events started up again this spring. While the Free Box remained shut, people opened up. They were eager to share their own experiences about the treasures they’d found there in the past: props and costumes for local theatre productions, a complete set of dishware and glasses for a low-budget wedding, a shirt with cash still tucked in the pocket, and myriad houseware and clothing items that helped people sur- vive when money was tight. It’s kismet, locals will tell you, the way that you find the exact thing you need, at the exact moment you need it, in the Free Box. It is the very soul of Telluride, a vestige of the heady hippie days when love was free and sometimes it came in the form of a really nice pair of skis stashed in a cubby for the next person to enjoy. It seems everyone in Telluride has a magical Free Box story; but the Free Box has a story of its own. The iconic wooden cubbies have been the subject of a book, an article in Smithsonian Magazine, and doz- ens of news reports in publications near and far. Tel- luride’s Free Box even has its own Facebook group, with 1,600 members. The story goes that the original Free Box, started by Michael Saftler in 1974, was not made of wood but of cardboard boxes and the notion that people could leave things they didn’t need for others to take. That idea stuck around for more than four decades. “The Free Box is a sociological, economical, and cultural keystone of Telluride,” says Saftler. Telluride was an even smaller town back then, and as it grew, so did the Free Box. Its current iteration, four cubbies long by three cubbies high, with book- shelves and shoe shelves on either end, was dedicated in 1983 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Between the cardboard-box era and now, the wooden shelves were much longer—long enough, according to local lore, to accommodate the occasional sleeping off of a big night at the bar, to the dismay of early-morning browsers.) And although these neatly stacked and labeled and purposeful shelves suggest a certain order, the unruly discarding of possessions by an ever larger population created havoc. Town council voted twice, in 1977 and in 1983, to eliminate the Free Box; and yet, it still stands. The issue came up again in 2008, says Harold Wondsel: “It was a crisis. The Free Box had turned into the de facto town dump.” Wondsel started a crusade, the Friends of the Free Box, to help maintain it. He bought a truck and rallied volunteers on social media to help tidy it and sort out the trash. He became the unofficial ambassador of the Free Box, enlisting help and educating users. Town officials gratefully contributed $200 per month to help defray the expenses. “Somebody’s gotta clean it up and somebody’s got to pay to deal with it. It costs money to get rid of a couch,” says Wondsel. For the record, it’s not okay to leave a couch there—if it doesn’t fit in the shelves, it’s littering, he says. TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2021

Wondsel’s tenure as the Free Box savior Nest in Style. lasted eight years, up until he moved to Oregon in 2016. (He is quick to mention that he didn’t Palladin design empty the detritus of his thirty years in Telluride interior design + fine art into the Free Box when he departed; he disposed abby dix palladin-design.com 310.567.2240 of everything properly.) Wondsel, too, has a story about the mystique of the Free Box. In the early SUMMER/FALL 2021 TellurideMagazine.com 107 days of the Telluride AIDS Benefit, he was asked to create a light show for the after-party rave. Problem was, he needed a 500-watt light pro- jector. He asked around everywhere, but no one seemed to have one. Sure enough, like some sort of miracle, a 500-watt light projector appeared on the top shelf of the Free Box. “Talk about some serious astral shit,” laughs Wondsel. “The very day I was out searching for it, exactly, to the watt number, there it was.” In all his years tending to the Free Box, he got to experience the best and the worst of it. Wondsel has his pet peeves—if the cubbies are full, don’t stuff more things in there, he warns; and nobody wants your worn-out, gross shoes, your tangle of clothes hangers, or your Christmas tree stands in July. But he is still a champion of the institution and what it signi- fies. He says the books and the everyday things people need are the most important finds, and that he got so much joy out of watching people score great stuff, like the young boy who once pulled out a nice, high-end telescope. Wondsel also remembers a woman in a black SUV leav- ing a huge bag of expensive designer clothes, silk and cashmere, thousands of dollars’ worth; she stopped for a second before she left and grabbed a tie-dye kids’ shirt to take. Moments later, he could hear the squeals of discovery as young women rifled through the clothes. “Hyste- ria and joy. You could hear the screaming all the way down to the river. Not one thing she left was there longer than an hour.” Telluride Mayor DeLanie Young understands the power of the Free Box as well as anyone; as a single mother, she recalls making weekly “shop- ping” trips to the Free Box, and often finding what they needed, just as they needed it. One time her son, engrossed in a book he found there, walked off forgetting he had ridden his bike. It was gone when he returned. “I hope that’s what happened with his bike,” says Young. “That some- one really needed it.” Young fields complaints about the Free Box and understands the issues about traffic, trash, and inappropriate donations. (There is no “bongs” cubby for a reason.) She has spent hours of time helping to organize the Free Box and con- siders herself a Friend of the Free Box; her hope is that the problems can be resolved and that people will step up and be better stewards. The box itself sits on town property, she says. “It’s 100 percent in a town right-of-way. It’s your property, it’s my property, it’s everybody’s property.” Wondsel hopes for the same thing, that peo- ple will take responsibility so that the Free Box remains. In some ways it is the essence of Tellu- ride, a part of what makes the town funky and unique. Where else will people be able to rum- mage through and find a costume for KOTO Lip Sync, a neon wig for the last day of the ski season, or a feather boa for that special party? “I hope it never goes away,” says Wondsel. “Everybody has some sort of story about the Free Box; magic is this huge word, but there really is a magic to it.” \\

108 • INDEX COLOR BY SWARM OF HOT HERBIVORE NATIVE ATOMIC BEEKEEPERS AND DRY HERDS VOTERS AGE Beekeepers in the U.S. Nationwide, 2020 was There were an estimated As of the 2010 Census Global uranium in 2020 managed 2.6 the 5th hottest year on 30–60 million bison in the U.S. has 5.2 million production is currently at million colonies; 15% of record and 64th driest. North America prior to American Indian or 53,000 metric tons and those, or 407,000, were The 4 Corners states 1600, and fewer than Alaska Native, 4.8 million uranium prices are $28 lost. California was home set records for dryness 1,000 prior to 1900. of whom are old enough per pound. In 2007, it was to the most colonies: and heat and 27.6% of Today there are app. to vote. The median age $141 per pound. Nickel 1.1 million; Colorado Colorado experienced 183,000 on private on reservations is 29, and cobalt, metals used had 5,000. Honey “exceptional drought.” ranches in the U.S., while the median age in electric car batteries, production in the U.S. 18,000 in federal and for U.S. population as a are about $9 and $16 per declined 6% in 2020. state/public herds, and whole is 38. pound, respectively. 20,000 on tribal lands. TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2021

NUMBERS STILL FOREST CANIS BIRD’S EYE SARS- FIGHTING FIRES LUPUS VIEWS COV-2 In 2019, there were In 2020, 58,950 wildfires Gray wolves are the The highest zip line As of May 1, 2021, 38 million people living burned 10.1 million largest canids; adults are the U.S. is Royal Gorge there were 32 million with HIV—including acres across the country. (nose to tail) 4.5–6 feet Bridge’s at 1,200 feet COVID-19 cases in the 1.8 million children ages Colorado experienced long, have a shoulder above the Arkansas River. U.S., and at least 572,190 0–14 years old. 690,000 the 3 largest fires in the height of 26–32 inches, The longest zip line in deaths. Some 240 people died of AIDS- state’s history: Cameron and weigh between the world is the Jebel Jai million vaccines have related illness the same Peak, 208,913 acres, 40–175 pounds. They Flight in the UAE; it’s been administered in the year, and 32.7 million East Troublesome, hunt in packs of 1.76 miles long and country. Globally there have died since the start 193,812 acres, and Pine 6–12 animals and roam riders can reach speeds of have been 150 million of the epidemic. U.S. AIDS Gulch, 139,007 acres. approximately 12 miles up to 95 mph. There are cases and 3.17 million response in low- and Firefighting costs in in a single day. commercial zip lines in all deaths. COVID-19 was middle-income countries Colorado for the year: at 50 U.S. states. the 3rd leading cause of decreased by almost least $266 million. death in the U.S. in 2020. $1.3 billion in 2019 compared to 2017. Sources: USDA, NOAA, National Bison Association, NCAI.org, Trading Economics, Marketwatch, Statista, UN AIDS, National Interagency Fire Center, National Geographic, ZipLineRider.com, PBS, CDC.gov, Wikipedia SUMMER/FALL 2021 TellurideMagazine.com 109

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112 • LAST LOOK Summer Ski Touring Even in July, if you use pedal power and hike up high enough, you can still find some stashes of snow in the San Juans. This posse of (left to right) Dan Hehir, Dylan Sloan, Bill Allen, and Ryan Ehlers is headed up to Oh Chute to make some turns. PHOTO BY SUE HEHIR TellurideMagazine.com SUMMER/FALL 2021

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