My Page: David Frey
NEW WEST ELECTION ROUNDUP
GOP Scores Big in West
In a year in which Republicans enjoyed major victories across the country and seized control of the House of Representatives, the GOP was also celebrating victory parties across the West – a part of the country that has long leaned Republican but had seen recent Democratic gains.
Republicans picked up three new House seats in the Rockies, two Colorado, one in Idaho. They won a new governor seat in Wyoming. And they fought off Democratic challenges throughout the region.
At a time when it was Republicans’ election to lose, though, Democrats won some key victories in the region.
[more]New West Feature
Colorado’s Endangered Crop Finally Gets Its Due
Long before Outside magazine named it one of the best towns in the West, Carbondale, Colo., was better known for potatoes than outdoor adventure. The potato fields vanished, though, and so did a potato variety that was born here. But a century later, the Red McClure is back, and getting some long overdue recognition.
Concerned that this heirloom variety had disappeared from its birthplace and was drifting into obscurity, the Roaring Fork chapter of the Slow Food movement conspired to track down the elusive tuber and bring it back.
Their efforts paid off. In September, Slow Food USA added the Red McClure to the Ark of Taste, its list of some 200 foods from across the country deemed delicious, endangered and worth fighting to protect.
[more]NEW WEST FEATURE
One Victory, One Loss and a Fight From the Shadows
It’s been an up-and-down week for Western Tradition Partnership. One day, the right-wing political group won a major judgment that found Montana’s century-old campaign finance laws unconstitutional. Another day, the group, famous for lobbing 11th-hour attacks against political foes, was found in violation of state campaign laws.
Its behavior “raises the specter of corruption of the electoral process,” announced Dennis Unsworth, Montana’s commissioner of political practices, and will likely result in a fine.
Just two years old, the pro-industry group has won most battles and lost a few, but it keeps on fighting, mostly from the shadows, in a war against liberal and moderate political candidates using anonymous donors and superheated campaign rhetoric as its weapons.
[more]New West Feature
In Colorado Race, It’s Big Money, Big Stakes and Small-Town Voters
Cowboy hats are a common sight in Rifle, Colorado. Gas industry caps may be even more common. It’s a rugged Western town with a heritage of ranching and a recent boom – and bust – of natural gas drilling, a place where politics tend rightward, but voters boast a common-sense approach.
Voters here, and across Western Colorado, will play a key role in deciding the balance of Congress. Among 112 House seats in play across the country, Colorado’s third Congressional district is one of just 37 considered a tossup. Only three others – Arizona’s first, New Mexico’s second and Nevada’s third districts – are in the West.
In past years, the incumbent here, Rep. John Salazar, was a shoe-in. A potato seed farmer from the tiny town of Manassa in the impoverished San Luis Valley, Salazar, a moderate Democrat, reflected the rural nature of this sprawling district. But it’s a different political climate this time around, and a different economic climate. That’s obvious here, where oil and gas jobs and construction work have disappeared and Salazar is struggling to hold onto his seat.
[more]DECLINING DECLINE
Massive Aspen Die-Off on the Wane
Leaf-peepers from across Colorado swarm to the Western Slope each fall to catch the golden swaths of aspen forests. In recent years, though, aspen groves in Colorado and elsewhere in the West have been in trouble. Massive stands have been dying off, part of a phenomenon called sudden aspen decline.
Things are looking up for the iconic tree of the West, though. Recent research shows sudden aspen decline is on the wane. Some areas where the trees have died, though, may never see aspens again. And researchers say the death of these aspens may offer a glimpse of the West as the climate warms.
[more]STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Across Political Spectrum, Opposition Builds to Colorado Anti-Tax Issues
Never mind the governor’s race or who’s running for the legislature. The part of the ballot that could have the biggest impact on Colorado’s future may be three initiatives meant to slash taxes and government spending.
The measures were appealing enough to win over most voters in early polls, but they have since proven so controversial that politicians across the political spectrum, from Democrats to mainstream Republicans to the Tea Party right, are lining up to oppose them.
“I’ve never been as frightened with any measure on the ballot as I have been with these three,” said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. “This is not a social experiment that we’re dealing with. This is a prescription for economic depression for Colorado.”
[more]FUTURE FOREST
As a Forest Dies, Officials Plan What’s Next
Above the sparkling waters of the Crystal River in western Colorado, while aspen leaves are turning golden, tall trees are turning brown and dying. It’s not why you might think, though. Not exactly.
Mountain pine beetles aren’t doing the damage. It’s Douglas fir beetles, killing off fir trees just like their cousin has killed off pines across the West.
Pines. Firs. Spruces. Aspens. They’re all dying here on the White River National Forest, killing off broad swaths of one of the nation’s most heavily-recreated forests, home to ski areas like Aspen and Vail, and high peaks like the Maroon Bells. What that new forest will look like is up to nature. But the Forest Service wants to play a role.
[more]MISSING LYNX
Colorado Declares Lynx Reintroduction a Success
Thirty-seven years after the last known lynx was trapped in Colorado, state wildlife officials are hailing an 11-year reintroduction program for establishing a viable population of lynx here again.
On Friday, officials declared the effort a success and announced they were switching from reintroducing the lynx to monitoring them as they spread throughout their adopted range.
“It’s taken a long time to get here,” said Colorado Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington, who said his agency is now considering a similar program for the wolverine.
The program’s success was not always clear. The first reintroduced lynx struggled and in some years researchers were unable to document any new kittens. Scientists say the future is still somewhat uncertain for the threatened wildcat due to climate change, wildfires, bark beetle epidemics and future development that could change lynx habitat.
But scientists say the program has succeeded in establishing a breeding population of lynx in the Southern Rockies in which more lynx are being born than are dying, and first- and maybe second-generation lynxes are having kittens.
“It’s an example of what we can do when we have a vision and the will to see it through,” Gov. Bill Ritter said.
[more]'YOU KNOW YOU'RE TAKING A CHANCE'
Boulder Fire Transforms a Landscape and Lives
Mark Wischmeyer looked out across Fourmile Canyon and saw smoke rising into the sky over Gold Hill.
A volunteer firefighter in Jamestown, Colo., 14 miles northwest of Boulder, Wischmeyer chalked it up to a Labor Day barbecue.
Then he saw another trail of smoke. Then another, with a peculiar orange glow.
[more]AMAZING RACE
Curry’s Write-In Campaign Challenges the Odds
What Colorado state Rep. Kathleen Curry is doing has never been done before. Not successfully, anyway.
No write-in candidate has ever successfully won a race in Colorado. And only one unaffiliated voter is known to have won a seat in the state legislature – back in 1891.
“I wouldn’t be running if I thought I had a zero-percent chance,” Curry said. “I think I have a good percent chance.”
[more]
