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Show M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, September 1-4, 2018 The Park Record OUNTAIN TOWN NEWS A Roundup of News from Other Western Ski Resort Communities ALLEN BEST Mountain Town News Less smoke in summer, but more in spring and fall? BEND, Ore. – It’s still smoke season across large swathes of the West. In the future, smoke season might extend into the spring and fall, at least in central Oregon. The Bend Bulletin reports that residents at recent hearings broadly supported loosening restrictions applying to smoke coming from controlled burns. Controlled burns typically occur in spring and fall. More controlled burns could mean fewer wildfires – and hence less smoke – during summer and early fall. Mountain town continues conversations about bags JACKSON, Wyo. – Kroger, by far the largest grocery store retailer in the United States, last week announced it plans to discontinue the distribution of free plastic shopping bags by 2025. In some places, such as Colorado, the end of plastic bags could come sooner, a spokesman told The Denver Post. In Colorado, Kroger has 143 food stores, operating under the name of City Market in mountain towns and, along the Front Range, King Soopers. In Utah, it has 51 food stores under a variety of names, including Smith’s. In Idaho, it has 15 stores, and in Wyoming, 9 stores. Jackson aims to be Wyoming’s first town to move away from the proliferation of throw-away shopping bags. To that end, it has been holding workshops with the business community. “We don’t want to harm businesses. We don’t want to harm consumers,” said Mike Yin, a community member who helped shape the proposed law. “But we do want to change behavior.” The shift from plastic free- bies to alternatives had been proposed to occur on July 1, 2019. But that’s the busiest time of year for Jackson. Plus, many businesses may already have stocks of plastic bags which won’t be exhausted by then, reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide. Then there’s the debate about paper vs. plastic. Though paper decomposes faster than plastic, according to Johnny Ziem, interim director of public works, creating paper bags requires three times the energy. In Colorado, eight towns and cities have ordinances limiting plastic bags. All but one, Boulder, is a mountain town. In Utah, only Park City has banned the bag, according to a website called banthebag. com. In New Mexico, both Santa Fe and Silver City have bag bans. Neither Idaho nor Montana have bag bans. Sometimes, they’re right about seeing more grizzly WHISTLER, B.C. – Hikers on local rails around Whistler have been reporting more sightings of grizzly bears. Sometimes, they’re right. A 2012 population estimate identified 59 bears in the region. But biologists believe the population has increased somewhat. The number of backcountry users has also increased. Wildlife biologists tell Pique Newsmagazine that it’s easy to mistake a black bear for a grizzly bear. “Color doesn’t help you necessarily at all,” said Johnny Mikes, field director of the Coast to Cascades Grizzly Bear Initiative. “You can have brown black bears, (and) you can have grizzly bears that are very dark, especially when they’re wet,” he said. Size, too, can be problematic. Full-grown male black bears can be larger than a small female grizzly, he said. A-23 Helping you is what we do best. Mikes said he sometimes can’t tell the difference. “I’ve seen scores and scores of grizzlies, and I’ve had instances where ... I haven’t been able to identify them,” he said. The most telling characteristics of grizzly bears are prominent shoulder humps, long claws, and dished, concave faces. Neither species is normally aggressive, but grizzly bears can be more aggressive than black bears in protecting their young and food sources. A softening of the market of foreign visitors to Vail VAIL, Colo. – The Vail Daily reports the Vail municipal government forecasts only modest growth during 2019. Part of the story seems to be the softening foreign market. Vail has long had a strong visitation from foreign countries, particularly Mexico and in recent years from Brazil, too. But there’s been a faltering. Part of it is the exchange rate. The Mexican peso has lost almost half its value against the dollar since 2008. The euro has lost a third. That makes visits to Canada more attractive. Of course, there are people for whom money is no object. But Tom Foley, of Inntopia, said the fierce competition is among those who have money, but not so much that cost is irrelevant. Then there is the Trump factor. Ralf Garrison, a travel consultant, says that the politics of the Trump election have also played a role in more Latin Americans traveling to Canada instead of the United States. Connecting the carbon dots of mountain resort towns CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Mountain towns pride themselves as being non-cities, LABOR DAY OPEN HOUSE 2351 W. Red Pine Court : Monday, September 3 : 1 pm to 5 pm DUTCH DRAW AT CANYON ESTATES SKI-IN/SKI-OUT LUXURY HOME 5 Beds : 7 Baths : 7,500 Sq Ft : 1.07 Acres : 2351WRedPineCt.com RAMON GOMEZ, JR JUDY GOMEZ 435.640.0590 ramon@rgomezjr.com 435-640-5484 judy@rgomezjr.com www.RealtorRamonInParkCity.com © 2018 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity. Information not verified or guaranteed. Please see Mountain Town, A-25 SO MANY WAYS TO PLAY ZIP, SLIDE, COAST AND DISCOVER. OPEN DAILY, 10AM |
