Mountain Tornadoes Rare
but Not Unique
In early June, a small but unusual tornado spun across Colorado’s South Park, damaging several homes, uprooting trees and knocking out power lines near the community of Lake George.
A tornado of that magnitude would barely make the news in Oklahoma or Alabama, in what is called North America’s tornado alley.
Tornadoes in mountains are rare but not unknown. The highest ever recorded in the United States was at 12,000 feet in Sequoia National Forest in California. That was in 2004. The second highest was at an elevation of 11,900 feet on Mount Evans southwest of Denver in 2012.
The most destructive tornado at a higher elevation shredded a 24-mile path through Yellowstone National Park and the Teton Wilderness Area in 1987. In some places, the swath was a mile and a half. This was in mid-summer, and you’d think somebody would have been camped out there. But no injuries were reported. Most of the damaged forest burned the next year in the Yellowstone fires.
That Yellowstone tornado was assigned a rating of F4 on the Fujita scale, just one step below the very worst, such as the one that killed 24 people near Oklahoma City last year.
Why aren’t tornadoes more common in the mountains? Writing for a website called U.S. Tornadoes, meteorologist Kathryn Prociv explains that higher elevations typically have cooler, more stable air. Energy of warm and humid “unstable” air is required to create the explosive thunderstorms in which tornadoes originate. – By Allen Best, www.mountaintownnews.net
Oh, Deer
The city of Salida has been running a survey in which residents can weigh in on the issue of the mule deer within the city limits. The goal is to determine what, if any, actions should be taken to deal with the urban Bambis who seem to prefer domestic flowers and vegetables to their native diet of shrubs.
Among the possible solutions: birth control for the does, bow hunting on a specific day or rifle hunting on a specific day (both by professionals only).
July 15 is the deadline to participate in the survey, which can be found at:
www.cityofsalida.com/projects/deer-opinion-survey/
Sage Grouse 1, Energy Industry 0
Federal authorities have issued a moratorium blocking oil, gas and coal leasing on 800,000 acres of public land in southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah that is habitat for the imperiled Gunnison sage grouse.
The moratorium prevents agency officials from offering and selling new leases, and requires that land-use plans be updated. The goal is to improve habitat and increase populations of the chicken-sized birds. Energy industry officials say they’ll fight the moratorium.
Homicide in Salida
Salida has seen its first homicide within city limits in many years. Eric Von Hoeme, 47, was found dead of multiple stab wounds in his home on West Second Street on the morning of June 14.
A suspect, Salida resident Daniel James Archambeau, 21, has been extradited from Arizona and faces charges of first degree murder and first degree burglary.
Fish Funding
The Leadville National Fish Hatchery may lose its funding due to federal budget cuts.
The 125-year-old hatchery is designed to help maintain native Colorado fish, such as the greenback cutthroat trout. A final decision may come in October, after the fiscal year ends.
River Festival Stays Afloat
for 66 Years
FIBArk, which calls itself America’s oldest and boldest whitewater festival, was held mid-June in Salida. The festival name consists of the acronym, first in boating, as well as the shorthand name for the river, the Arkansas.
It was launched in 1949 in a contest to see who among the 23 entrants could boat the runoff-swollen Arkansas from Salida through the frothy, sharp-edged Royal Gorge. Just two of them, both from Switzerland, completed the 50-mile journey.
Since then, much has changed. FIBArk has grown to include 10 different river events, including one to test the retrieving abilities of dogs in water. There are also land events, including a parade.
The river has changed, too. It has more water, courtesy of diversions from the Aspen area delivered via tunnels under the Continental Divide.
The bed of the river has also been altered. In 1966, a bulldozer pushed boulders around to create a more difficult slalom course. In the past 12 years, more tinkering has yielded four kayak playholes near downtown Salida. There is also a standing wave that, on Saturday afternoon, was used to much merriment by stand-up surfers and stand-up paddleboarders.
As a railroad town, streets were predicated not on an east-west grid, but instead a perpendicular layout from the depot. The depot is gone now, and trains stopped running over the transcontinental route in 1997. Instead, like so many of the old mining towns of the Rockies, Salida is a place for Tevas, GoPro and Patagonia. You might be able to buy steel-toed work boots at Wal-Mart, but don’t count on it. This is no longer a blue-collar town. – By Allen Best
Twice the Fun
The month of May did not start out in a good way for Leadville resident Richielieu Childs, 49.
On May 3, after being pulled over for a traffic violation, his dog bit the deputy in the face. He was charged with failing to control a dog that caused injury to another person. The following day, Childs was arrested for driving under the influence and failure to drive in a single lane after a report of someone trespassing at the Outward Bound facility was called in.
Shorts …
• The City of Salida received a $489,614 Great Outdoors Colorado Grant for the Salida River Trail Project on June 23.
• Connie Rudd, superintendent for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation area, is retiring after 35 years of service.
• Salida author Kent Haruf was named to the shortlist in the United Kingdom’s James Tait Black Award, Britain’s oldest literary award, for his novel “Benediction.”
• Cannon Leatherwood, a former IT Director for the Gunnison RE1J School District, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for felony theft.
• The Florence City Council has enacted a moratorium on all operations associated with marijuana.
• Cañon City will put the issue of retail pot on the ballot this November and let voters decide.
• The town of La Veta enacted an ordinance to govern marijuana establishments on May 20.
• Also in La Veta, the RE-2 school board decided to continue to use the term “Redskin” for a school mascot, despite a decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office which canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration.
• Judy Hassell retired as Buena Vista Chamber Director on June 1 after 21 years in that position.
• The Chaffee County Arts Council has closed on the former Texaco station at the corner of East Main Street and U.S. 24 in Buena Vista, in hopes of creating a permanent community arts center.
• The coal-fired W.N. Clark Power Plant on the west end of Cañon City is in the process of being decommissioned and will likely be torn down and reseeded by spring 2015.
• An arrest warrant has been issued for former Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder’s Office employee, Steven Paul Geske, 45, on charges of embezzlement.
“Notable Quotes”
“You people live somewhere else. … Why don’t you move your churches somewhere else? Why should you want to deal with us? And your cemetery … why do we have to put up with it? We want our view of the Sangres maintained. Take your church somewhere else. It will be a lot more peaceful for you.” – Custer County property owner Ron Rodriguez, objecting to a proposal to build a Mennonite Church along Lake DeWeese Road, during a County Planning Commission meeting.
– Wet Mountain Tribune, June 5, 2014.
“I think the future and survival of Leadville will be dependent someday on consolidating government.”
– Leadville Mayor Jaime Stuever, during a city council discussion about the possible consolidation of the city of Leadville and Lake County. – Leadville Herald Democrat, June 12, 2014.
“He said he was going to try and win as many as he can so I wouldn’t catch him.” – 11-year-old Wiley Corra, whose father Andy Corra, of Durango, won his 10th FIBArk Downriver Classic race during this year’s event. – The Mountain Mail, June 16, 2014.
“I got a call from a neighbor this morning around 8:07 a.m. telling me that a moose was heading towards our house. … Within 10 minutes, there she was.” – Buena Vista resident Lynn Dryzmala, who had a moose visit on June 6. – The Chaffee County Times, June 12, 2014.
