Steamboat Pilot & Today

Are you concerned about the appearance of Howelsen Hill and the north side of Emerald Mountain? From the Lincoln Avenue canyon it may look OK, but have you looked at it from the higher viewpoints north and east of downtown?

During the years that I have lived here (only since 1956), it has looked progressively worse. What existed earlier in natural beauty has been casually ripped up and dug up and scarred up unmercifully. The projects to improve the skiing, improve the ski lifts, improve the ski jumps, improve the outruns, improve the judging capability, supply power, build miscellaneous towers, dig up and build the latest insult to the slope - the so-called Howler - have exploited the once beautiful mountainside to death.

Now, as a result of the land swap with the BLM, there are new attacks coming. Trails must be cut and developed to accommodate additional cross-country skiing trails, bicycling trails, snowmobile trails, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, hikers, horseback riders, access roads for miscellaneous equipment to make these critical necessary improvements - and the hunters need access and convenience to get to the deer and the elk, access roadways to build more towers, power lines, telephone lines, water lines, etc. I am sure that just over the horizon additional assaults are being planned to further exploit what is left of Mother Nature's bounty here. We've got to provide more entertainment for all these people who say they just love the outdoors. And maybe they will bring some more of that beautiful green stuff for which we have sacrificed so much of the natural beauty that God created here.

A few years ago, a member of the Town Council had the temerity and bad judgment to raise the question, "When is enough, enough?" I'd like to raise the question again. When is enough, enough?

Hello, resident citizens. Does anyone care? Am I alone?

Gene Cook

Steamboat Springs