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| 8/13/2008 12:38:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, left, talks with Chaffee County Commissioner Jim Osborne at a town-hall-style meeting in Buena Vista Aug. 7.
Photo by Kathy Davis |
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Salazar hears locals' opinions on Browns issue
Kathy Davis
Times Reporter
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D. Colo., stopped in Buena Vista Aug. 7 to listen to public input on two issues, the health care system and the proposed Browns Canyon Wilderness designation.
At the town-hall-style of meeting at the Sangre De Cristo Electric Association community meeting room, about 30 people attended the discussion on health care, but later the room filled up, adding over 75 people for the issue of the wilderness designation.
Salazar said the current health care program is broken. Costs are out of control increasing at a rate of 10 percent a year since 1960 and Americans are spending 16 percent of income on health care, he said. "It is not working for everyone," he said. Twenty percent nationwide cannot afford it, he said. The United States ranks last out of the 19 developed nations in preventable deaths, and in life expectancy ranks in the bottom half.
In Chaffee County there is a lack of access, he said, which was confirmed as a major issue by chairman of the board of directors of Chaffee People's Clinic, Janet Lastovica. The biggest challenge is to find access to specialty care people, she said. Another citizen at the meeting asked about getting a Veterans Administration hospital in Buena Vista since it is a retirement community and asked about getting a balance between illegal aliens and soldiers for health care.
Salazar said that central to solutions are controlling increasing costs, getting a pool of small business owners for group insurance, electronic medical records, focusing on prevention, empowering consumers through health education and consumer-friendly user information.
Salazar, a native of the San Luis Valley, gave information about the designation of Browns Canyon as a wilderness area. It is 20,000 acres of what he called one of the most beautiful areas in the state and is federally owned land between Buena Vista and Salida.
Opponents and proponents who spoke represented local and state organizations such as ATV'ers, rafting companies, Trout Unlimited, Back Country Horsemen, The Quiet Use Coalition, ranchers and other outdoor recreation groups.
Opponents to the bill want to see it open to multi-use. The Salazar bill would close the area to motorized vehicle use including four miles of the Turret Road.
"I understand the importance of land and water from personal background," said local ATV, Jeep and snowmobile representative Terry Peavler of Buena Vista. "The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management own 33 percent of land and that means that the citizens own it," he said. "We do what we can to protect it," he said. The quality angling is at all the high lakes that are closed to motorized vehicles, he said. "Every time it is declared wilderness, you lock us out. We feel everybody is entitled to use and it can't all be wilderness," he said.
Wheelchair-bound Guy Raines said his Jeep was his only means to access those places. Rancher Frank McMurry said that the main thing is suitability for wilderness designation. "It is not suitable," he said. Rancher Joe Cogan said he was opposed to it because that was the road to Turret. "Open the road," he said,
Proponents of the designation want it closed to motorized use and the closure of the road, they said. Mike Kunkle of the Friends of Browns Canyon said this is the perfect location for this designation because there are not preexisting mine claims, private property or state land. Rancher Bruce Cogan said the road was open since the early 1880s for logging and mining. Other speakers in favor of the designation were bikers, rafters, hikers, the visitors bureau and horsemen. Some of their reasons were for protecting habitat from development, serenity, machines ruining hunting and fishing, horses not having to deal with ATVs and a lower elevation wilderness area is needed. Rafting company owner Joe Greiner said he supported it for economic benefits. Former raft company owner Reed Dils said ATVers could ride in Fourmile.
Salazar said he wanted public input before making his decisions on how to move forward on these issues. He asked attendees to fill out comment cards. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Finance. The stop in Buena Vista was one of many Salazar is making on a statewide tour between Aug. 7-15. Former U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard originally introduced the Browns Canyon Wilderness bill in 2005.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008
Article comment by:
Stacie Albrightq
I attended the meeting with Senator Salazar in Buena Vista and I felt that he had already made up his mind about the Brown's Canyon Wilderness area and was just paying lip service.
By the show of hands in the audience it was clear that there were many more opponents to the Wilderness designation than there were proponents. Considering the last minute gathering of the troops from the OHV community that should speak volumnes and shows that the majority do not agree with more new Wilderness.
Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008
Article comment by:
David Boening
I have traveled this area for years with my family in our 1966 Jeep.
The usage is pretty low on all the roads we traveled on. Wilderness is another way of saying stay out, you are not welcome.
We travel all over the state to enjoy the back country with friends. Why close off something that does not need it?
I do not trust our polititians to make sound decisions on our free back country. Close it and you lose.
Keep it open and you win the use of land that is ours! I am a member of Tread Lightly, Stay the Trail, Mile-Hi Jeep Club, COHVCO, RMEC, Blue Ribbon Coalition, AMA
Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008
Article comment by:
Matt Sullivan
Browns Canyon does not meet wilderness designation as "pristine" due to the roads, historical mining, ranching and proximity to urban growth.
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