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As the third annual State of the Rockies conference and a year of preparation wrapped up last week, my co-workers, Walt Hecox, Bryan Hurlbutt and I took a much-deserved weekend off. But as I sit at my computer this morning, it becomes clear that we are really only beginning, as the impacts of the 2006 State of the Rockies Project reverberate around the region in news articles, interested government officials, informed students and engaged community members.
Although the annual editorial from Colorado Springs Gazette emphasizes the "gloom and doom" predictions of our report, I have seen cause for hope. We in the Rockies face unique challenges, and while we must address these issues, it isn’t and shouldn’t be with a doomsday outlook.
The energy and creativity with which we are tackling some of our greatest challenges is both impressive and inspiring. I would like to briefly touch on some of the highlights from last week’s State of the Rockies conference.
Tuesday’s panel on Ranching in the Rockies highlighted speakers including ranchers, environmentalists, a senator, and a grocer, whose stories illustrated that not only has ranching become more difficult for smaller ranchers, but that it is still culturally and ecologically important and that, with some creativity, small ranchers can make it.
Rancher Doc Hatfield stated that his product was more than just beef. "It’s [also] the smell of sage after a summer thunderstorm, the cool shade of a Ponderosa Pine forest… the welcome ring of a dinner bell at dusk," he said. Rancher Dale Lasater explained how he has worked to reintroduce prairie dogs on his ranch after his father successfully eradicated them years ago. The Lasaters found that without the often-demonized rodent, the ecosystem of their ranch did not function as it should.
Brian Rohter, CEO of New Seasons Market, told of bridging the gap between consumers and food producers and how he has brought picketing environmentalists out to ranches in order see the ways ranchers can be stewards of the land.
After the talks, ranchers and attendees shared a barbeque dinner outside the conference hall. On a beautiful Colorado spring evening, listening to a bluegrass band, rural and urban dwellers chatted and ate and shared experiences. A Colorado College professor later told me that after standing in line next to a few local ranchers, she felt as if "they had become very close friends."
With more discussion I and others found that although we may seem ideologically different from others in the Rockies, we all share similar values, including: healthy families, good food, clean water, strong communities and a love of the place we live.
Similarly, a newly recognized issue that Rockies residents are coming to grips with is the possibility of a changing climate that may hurt our economic and ecologic vitality.
Environmental studies professor Roger Pielke Jr. spoke to the importance of encouraging discussion between policy makers and scientists.
Aspen Ski Company’s director of environmental affairs added to the discussion and shared innovative techniques the ski company is practicing to help keep our important ski industry viable. Again, through information, discussion, and creativity we will be able to meet the challenge of a changing climate head on.
Environmental justice, or the equal distribution of environmental benefit to all people, is another relatively young issue in the Rockies. The State of the Rockies Project and other experts in the region have found that in neighborhoods near polluting facilities, community make-up is likely to be more non-white, more Hispanic and poorer.
Two weeks ago, we challenged Rockies residents to come together in order to define our common Western voice, and the regional issues that matter to us.
The State of the Rockies has suggested several issues in our Report Card and companion conference that we believe are regionally important, however, we would like to open the discussion to Rockies residents.
Colorado College will be releasing PDF versions of our 2006 State of the Rockies Report Card in conjunction with discussions on NewWest.net, an affiliate of Headwaters News.
We invite you to review the sections and comment on them as well as submitting suggestions for the most important Western issues that we must look at, and the ways in which we should examine these topics.
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In
Colorado College's third year of publishing an annual
State of the Rockies Report Card and hosting
a corresponding annual State of the Rockies Conference,
we're seeing many of the same themes emerge, even as
we change our study topics of the eight-state Rockies
region from year to year.
In the 2005
Report Card, we published studies on sprawl,
toxic polluters, National Park funding (or lack thereof),
creative occupation patterns, energy development, and
civic engagement. This year's 2006 Report Card
features studies on climate change, environmental justice,
ranching, conservation easements, biodiversity, and
the youth. Although these topics are seemingly different,
they have one essential characteristic in common:
they are all incredibly important to residents of the
Rockies region. And the underlying implication
of all our research is this: the eight-state "Rockies
region" (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) makes sense as a geographical
and cultural entity; it has its own unique attributes
and unique challenges.
Both Rockies residents and residents of other regions enjoy and make their living from the region's abundant scenic lands, its Wild West character, and its wealth of natural resources. But, the ways in which we work and play is on track to destroy those very attributes in the future. We are reaping the short-term benefits of population growth, natural resource development, and tourism and recreation while chipping away at the long-term viability of our region by converting our wild lands to generic subdivisions, strip malls, and industrial wastelands, leaving our remaining wild lands over-used by skiers, off-road vehicle drivers and other recreationalists. This is the common theme that weaves its way through each research topic in our Report Card every year.
But there is hope. If we come together
as region, we can tap into the innovative work already
happening in pockets of the region and work collaboratively
to create new ways to reap the most out of population
growth and the demand for natural resources while maintaining
our strongest economic and community assets -- the Rocky
Mountain landscape and culture.
It's clear that the eight-state Rockies region is not part of either the West Coast or the High Plains. Things are different here than they are to the west and east, but Rockies states have not yet come together as a unified entity. Perhaps, this is because it's easier to build conflict by focusing on internal differences than it is to build strength by working with what we have in common.
A Common Western Voice
In 2005, we started the Report Card with an opening essay that suggested that the Rockies region is a mistreated inland colony of the greater United States. The idea is that the nation takes what it wants, like energy resources, timber, and vacation housing, and leaves behind a mess, including abandoned mines, devastated forests, and second home, cold-bed communities. This still rings true, but our approach to framing the report card topics this year is different. Our signature piece this year is called "A Common Western Voice—Can the Rockies Be Heard in Washington D.C.?" In it, we argue that yes, the Rockies region can be heard, even though its not being heard now. However, rather than blaming the rest of the country, we take more responsibility for our situation.
The nation isn't listening to us yet, but why should they? We have not spoken up in a coherent, forceful, or persuading manner. We have not developed a common Western voice. Fortunately, various groups working in the West are challenging Rockies residents to come together as a region and to define who we are and where we want to go while pushing us to get behind that vision. For example:
- The December 6, 2004 issue of High Country News (HCN) listed energy, global warming, water, nuclear energy, endangered species, private lands, healthy forests, agency openness, making it local, and solidarity the 10 biggest challenges facing the West.
- The Western Governors' Association, a bipartisan organization of governors which discusses Western issues and implements related policy, identified ten nationally relevant issues of particular importance to the West: energy, global warming, water, nuclear energy, endangered species, private lands, healthy forests, agency openness, making it local, and solidarity.
- Every weekday, Headwaters News assembles news articles and editorials on economy, community, environment, tribes, legislature, and politics in the Mountain West.
As the Rockies region refines its regional priorities and regional voice, it must further strive to make that voice heard beyond the region, because national decisions have a huge impact on the Rockies, especially since the citizens of the U.S. owns and federal government manages nearly half the region. Innovative methods of drawing national attention to the Rockies must be developed if the region is to successfully protect its social, environmental, and economic assets.
The State of the Rockies Project—Engaging Community Discussion through an Annual Assessment of the Region
Our aim at the State of the Rockies Project
is to cultivate a new vision of our shared home and
to challenge the Mountain West to decide where we have
been and where we want to go. To do so this year, Colorado
College students and recent graduates have again produced
a research book, The 2006 State of the Rockies Report
Card, and planned a four-day
conference April 10-13, 2006.
We kick off the Report Card with the "Rockies Baseline," which examines key, annually updated demographic indicators for the U.S., the Rockies region, and each of the eight Rockies states, to lay out basic facts and track trends in this rapidly changing region. Next, "A Common Western Voice" suggests how the region can and must increase its national political influence through a shared, yet diverse vision of what matters in the West.
Population growth is still the main driver of change in the Rockies region, as the influx of people spurs development of open land and increases the demand for limited water, among a variety of other impacts. In "Ranching in the Rockies" and "Conservation Easements," we focus on how private lands, which are so susceptible to development and other impacts of growth, are being preserved as agricultural and natural lands. In "New Management Techniques" and "Experiments in Managing the Federal Estate," we document specific cases around the Rockies where innovative, collaborative land management strategies are effectively protecting the landscape while supporting adjacent communities.
In additional reports, we move further into the realm of environmental science to assess human influence on ecosystems and other natural systems in the Rockies. In "Climate Change," we evaluate potential future climate scenarios for the Rockies and assess the influence such changes could have on ecosystems, agriculture, tourism, and water supplies. In "Preserving Biodiversity," we explore the importance of biodiversity to both ecosystems and humans, measure habitat threat across the region, and highlight creative ways groups are working to support biodiversity. A companion guest contribution from The Nature Conservancy, "Fragmenting the Western American Landscape," measures the degree and impact of habitat fragmentation in the region.
The final two sections of the Report
Card bring attention to communities in the Rockies.
In "Environmental Justice," we document the history
of the movement for equal protection of all humans from
environmental harm in the U.S., and we uncover the disproportionate
burden certain demographic groups bear in the Rockies'
metro areas. In "Grading the Rockies: Nurturing the
Youth," we continue our tradition of assigning county
grades to highlight communities that should serve as
positive examples for other cities and towns throughout
the region. This year's community assessment grades
all 281 counties in the region on their success at creating
supportive environments for their youth -- who may be
our region's most vital asset in the future.
Together, the Report Card and conference are intended to serve as an inspiration and interactive forum for community leaders from around the region to engage in constructive dialogue in understanding the current state and trajectory of our region's economy, environment and inhabitants.
The upcoming conference features expert speakers on each of the above-mentioned Report Card topics plus an exciting presentation by Clay Jenkinson entitled, "Rockies History Comes Alive: John Wesley Powell Returns," during which Jenkinson will appear as Powell and react as Powell might to current Rockies' challenges.
As we begin (with the help of this new research and the conference) to further understand the "state" of our region — such as how it will be affected by climate change or by the ways in which we nurture our children — we invite you to share ideas and best practices and contribute to developing a common Western voice. In doing so, you will find that Westerners are different from one another: the eight-state Rockies region is not homogeneous. Just remember, developing a common voice does not require settling on one side of an issue. It requires cooperative, informed discussion and concern for the issues that matter.
The 2006 Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card will be released during the 2006 State of the Rockies Conference, which is free and open to the public and runs from April 10-13, 2006, on the Colorado College campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
For more information on the Colorado College
State of the Rockies Project and the upcoming conference
and Report Card, visit: www.ColoradoCollege.edu/StateoftheRockies
or call 719.227.8145.
About the Authors
Both authors work for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project in Colorado Springs and are co-editors of the 2006 Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card. Bryan Hurlbutt is program coordinator and graduated from Colorado College in 2004. Caitlin O'Brady is project research manager and graduated from Colorado College in 2005.
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