David E. Steiner

Retired USAF, Teacher, Dad, Grandfather, Curmudgeon

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The Front Range Almanac

 

I got my copy of the Front Range Almanac in the mail the day before Earth Day, which seemed appropriate. It’s full of the usual almanac stuff, and even has a few items about Allenspark. The WIND is shown under “media,” which is pretty nice of them, even if we don’t have a phone number they could list. It also notes that we have 300 residents (a nice, round number) and that we get 155.5 inches of snow a year, which is more than any other foothills town.

The Almanac is published by Peak to Peak magazine, which originated in Nederland and now has an office in Estes Park, as well. It’s published by Don Cooper and edited by Jim Gunn, and for $9 (sent to P.O. Box 1409 in Nederland, 80466) you get five issues (bi-monthly, but just one winter issue) plus the almanac. It concentrates on feature stories rather than local news, and the quality of writing, editing and photography is a good deal better than one would reasonably expect. They cover the towns, true to its name, on the Peak to Peak highway from Estes Park to Evergreen, which is just on the other side of I-70. Evergreen is probably a stretch, but so many live there it’s hard to ignore.

Several area businesses advertise in the magazine: Eagle Plume, Fawn Brook, the banks in Estes Park.

There have been a number of abortive attempts at local magazines in Estes Park in the past 20 years, but this one looks as though it has sufficient advertising and circulation to actually make a go of it. [Alas, shortly after this was written, the magazine went out of business.]

Looking at the Almanac, with its tracking chart of animal footprints and listing of trees that grow in the various altitude zones, cheek by jowl with ads for various tourist attractions, I was once again reminded, this Earth Day, of the man-made forces which are always at work in our mountains.

Since the middle of the 19th century there have been cycles of exploitation and preservation, first in trapping, logging, livestock and mining, followed by the creation of RMNP as a preserve, which was itself then exploited as a means of bringing in tourists and business. For the past few years we have seen, not only in the policies of RMNP, but in the Wild and Scenic proposals and in the reactionary movement about the proposed improvements to our roads, a return to concerns for the environment on a scale not seen in our valley since Enos Mills was alive, some 80 years ago.

The Almanac, with its stories about wildlife and its advertising for businesses should remind us that for most of the country, Earth Day comes but once a year. Here, if we are to maintain this fragile environment for our children and resist the forces that would destroy it, every day must be Earth Day.

 

 

Columns

© 1985 – 2003, David E. Steiner

Allenspark Wind Columns:

Introduction

Why Allenspark?

Going Riding [August, 1985]

Electricity

Used Cars

Peace and Quiet [1986]

Liberals & Conservatives

Going to the Movies

The Screened Porch

The Beginning of The Season

The Weather

The Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The End of The Season

The Gift of Time

The Beavers

Addresses [1987]

Hiking

Watching the Trees Grow

Postal Rates

Changes in Estes Park

Square Dancing at the Pow Wow

Back to the Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The Solstices

Bird Feeders

Elevators

The Estes Park Hardware Store [1988]

Visitors

Limousine Service

A Memorial Service

A Hummingbird

Garbage

A Hiking Trip

The Estes Park Public Library

Wild Life

Riparian Rights [1989]

Weather

Fences

Commuting

Mountain Friendliness

A Motorcycle Trip

Satellite Television

“Weaving Mountain Memories”

Hotel Rates in the Old Days

The Price of Propane [1990]

The Front Range Almanac

June

Modes of Transportation

Miller Moths

My 50th Column

Modern Conveniences

Rock Climbing

On the Death of Otto Walter, Postmaster

Otto’s Memorial Service

A Big Owl Pot-Luck Dinner

A Whine About Telephone Service [1991]

After the Persian Gulf War

Some Changes in the WIND

The Trip to the Mountains

The Mountains in the Summer

Visitors

Of Dogs, Music, and Children

Muhlenburg County

To My Grandson

The Sale of Longs Peak Inn

World War II  [1992]

Murphy’s Law and the Computer

The South St. Vrain Canyon

“Whiteout”

The Hazards of Volunteering

Crime in Our Valley

Infestations

On the Death of Charles Eagle Plume

Can We All Get Along?

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Lost Horizon [1993]

Walking

Rumors About a Visit by the Pope

Progress?

More About Fences

Woodpeckers

The Visit of Pope John Paul II

Forest Fires

The New Sewage System

The Snow Pool

The Good Old Days [1994]

The WIND’s 20th Anniversary

The Bunce School

The Shooting Gallery

The Estes Park Museum

Our Government

U.S. West Takes a Hit

The Year of the Hummingbirds

A New “Yield” Sign

Growth in Allenspark

Private Telephones?

The Salvation Army

Creation Science [1995]

Devolutionizing Big Government

Risks

Airports

Fort D.A. Russell

Domestic Terrorism

Old and New

Barney Graves

Life in the Wilderness

What’s In a Name?

Arthur C. Clarke

 

The Estes Park Trail-Gazette Columns:

July 1983

Carpentry

Estes Cone

Johnny Grant

Observations in Estes Park

The Bath House

Waving

The Sutherland’s Ice House

How Old is Charles Eagle Plume?

Dogs

Christmas Trees

Tree Murder

Mountain Driving

Garbage

Mail Boxes

More About Mail Boxes

“Are you related to ....?”

Spring

An Accident

The Wild Cat

A July Reunion

A Visit to Baldpate Inn

Opening Cabins

Summer

The Times, They Have Changed

Death and Transfiguration

The Population Explosion

The March of Time

Faith-Based Social Services

Looking for Pitch

Recent Writings I

Recent Writings II

Recent Writings III

Recent Writings IV

Recent Writings V

Recent Writings VI

 

 

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