A Boost for the Hidden Gems

On Wednesday, the Pitkin County Commissioners formally endorsed designating some public lands in Pitkin County as Wilderness. Wilderness Workshop asked the Commissioners to support designating nearly 63,000 acres as Wilderness. It's a Federal designation that keeps uses like snowmobiles and mountain bikes off those lands.

Before the Commissioners made their decision, they listened to about one hour of public comment from more than 20 community members. The Gems plan has been contentious and both sides spoke up. Below is sound from the meeting. It's extended material that didn't make it into my news story. It features some of the comments made by community members.

http://www.aspenpublicradio.org/news/hidden_gems.mp3

Last Day Digging -- Mastodon Tooth on Demand and Gourmet Delight?

The last day at the dig site in Snowmass Village I was out recording sound for a national story and the three remaining scientists were determined to find something so I could get the sound of their discovery on tape.

They were in a depresseion in the mud about ten feet in diamter and the nigh before the Cheif Curator for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science Kirk Johnson had unearthed ten bones while he dug furiously at sunset.

The three men shoveled with vigor and told jokes in between slamming into rocks, 45, 000 year old pieces of wood adn sand. One even broke his shovel. But with five minutes to spare Johnson had to get to the Snowmass Village town council meeting, the crew hit bone, sort of. They uncovered a Mastodon tooth, a molar to be exact. Johnson took it to the Snommass Village town council meeting as a last treasure to behold before the dig site closed for the winter. I call that tooth on demand.

Also, listen here for what sort of prehistoric delectable Ian Miller, the museum's paleontologist tasted in the field when I asked him if he tasted any Mastodon meat.

http://www.aspenpublicradio.org/news/mastodon_treat.mp3

Mammoth Discoveries in Snowmass

Last Friday I visited with some of the scientists working at the dig site in Snowmass Village where fossil bones have been found. The remains of mammoths, mastodons, a giant ground sloth, Ice Age bison and more have been discovered at the Ziegler Reservoir. What I heard over and over again from those who have been at the site is what an amazing discovery it is. They emphasized how quickly the discovery has grown since the first bone was found October 14th. It's also significant that the find is at such a high elevation, above 8000 feet. Here are some photos of the discoveries...

Historic photo of the original Valley View Hospital building

This week, Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs broke ground on its new cancer center. This is the old building that's coming down -- it is the remaining portion of the original hospital building built in 1954.

The new Calaway & Young Cancer Center is scheduled to open in mid-2012. It'll include nearly 30,000 square feet of dedicated space for cancer treatment.

Valley View Hospital has been treating cancer for years, but this new space will allow patients in the Roaring Fork Valley to receive radiation treatment locally. Before, they had to drive to Grand Junction or Edwards for treatment weekly, even daily at times.

Click here for an Aspen Public Radio story about the groundbreaking.

Aspen Public Radio & KDNK Produce "The Issue" Together

Aspen Public Radio's Kristina Tabor and KDNK's Mat Katz teamed up for the weekly podcast, "The Issue." Today's topic: Congressman Salazar's recent decision to draft legislation that could protect the land known as Thompson Divide near Carbondale.

Also, check out news director Mitzi Rapkin's report on the plan.

Aspen City Council and Aspen Art Museum

Last week, Aspen Public Radio reported that some people who are against the new Aspen Art museum were considering filing recall papers against everyone in city council except Steve Skadron (because they say he supports their view). What do you think of this? What are recalls for?

State Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101

Today, Aspen Public Radio reported on these three ballot questions that experts say will cripple government. My story focused on how the measures will impact RFTA. It is hard for the finance staff at RFTA to get a good estimate of how much the measures would cost the transit authority if passed because there is no precedent to use as a comparison when calculating the numbers. Still, financial officers there estimate that RFTA will lose 9.7% of its operating budget in 2011 and will have to cut service by nearly 70 hours a week. That will likely affect workers from around the valley and perhaps their employees too. If there is no bus service to Aspen for workers that have no other way to get up valley, it will be a struggle for some to maintain their jobs.

Certainly, there is also a major mistrust of government. Many people would rather save and spend their money than giving it to the state in the form of taxes and fees. Both political parties are against these measures and the big mystery right now is who put them on the ballot.

It is interesting to see local governments and both political parties in agreement over these issues, it doesn't happen that often.