A FORESTER, A FARMER, AND A FAMILY REUNION
Sara Mattes, a selectman from Lincoln, Mass. (“where Paul Revere was caught”), came in while visiting the Western Slope. She noted that a lot of HCN’s reporting filters down to her advocacy work – including opposing anything that was supported by former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif.
Penny Brothers of Auckland, New Zealand, was passing through Paonia during a trip around the U.S. She’d read about HCN in a guidebook and wanted to check us out; after touring the office she left a donation.
Thanks, Penny!
Charlie Jankiewicz and his rottweiler mix Oso dropped in while considering Paonia as a new hometown. Charlie’s been with the Forest Service for 30 years and is currently an interagency resource coordinator in Santa Fe, N.M.
A third-generation farmer from St. Edward, Neb., Tom Larson, came in to tell us about the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, which gives grants to small farmers and ranchers. Tom’s on the board of the north-central region. After 34 years of raising organic grains and cattle, he says, “the parts are starting to wear out,” and he and his wife are seeking a milder climate.
One group of visitors included three generations vacationing together (no word on whether they’d ever do it again). Alec and Gabriella Schuler stopped in with their toddler, Bruno, and his grandparents, Paul and Christine Schuler, and aunt, Nicola Schuler. Nicola was visiting from London, but the rest of the family lives in Boulder, Colo.
Karn Stiegelmeier and her daughter, Kaylin Lilly, of Silverthorne, Colo., came by on their way to nearby Telluride to pick mushrooms. Karn is the executive director of the Friends of the Lower Blue River, dedicated to preserving the “open space and agricultural character of the valley,” and the chair of the local Sierra Club chapter.
Paul Zarkovich came to Paonia with a special delivery: a geodesic dome used during the Cold War that may one day be transformed into a dance studio or gymnasium. A friend told the Fayetteville, Ark., native that he “needed to stop by and see the good people” at HCN.
CLARIFICATION AND CORRECTIONS
Our Oct. 1 story “Underground Movement” quoted Powertech Project Manager Lane Douglas as saying, “In Nunn, the only cafe in town had closed, but it opened up again when our guys started working out here.” The Nunn Cafe’s owner, Judy Hobart, called to dispute Douglas’ account. “I had no idea they (Powertech employees) were even here when I opened. They don’t come in here to eat,” Hobart said.
A photo in our Sept. 17 story “Cutting trees to save the forest” showed a “redwood” that is actually a Douglas fir.
The Sept. 3 issue had three errors, and the first one was a doozy. The “Two Weeks in the West” column referred to 7 billion railroad cars – we meant “7 million.” The first person to summit California’s Mount Whitney was not John Muir, as we said in “The good and bad of peak-bagging.” Charles Begole, Albert Johnson and John Lucas climbed the peak on Aug. 18, 1873, two months before Muir’s ascent. And in “Are tomorrow’s ghost towns sprouting today?” we referred to “Bannock, Mont.,” but the town’s spelling was changed to “Bannack” in the late 1800s.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Dear friends.
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