POSTAL PATRON PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID WELLINGTON, CO PERMIT NO. 3 August 2012 www.northfortynews.com Volume 20 Number 5 e community newspaper for north Fort Collins, Wellington and northern Larimer County, Colorado FREE FREE North Forty News After High Park, the rebuilding begins My summer vacation. B.J. Roth, visiting from Arizona, thought he’d spin up to The Narrows in Poudre Canyon on July 7 for some fishing but instead found a rockslide blocking Highway 14. The slide, caused by heavy flows of ash from the High Park Fire burn zone, closed the road for several hours. Photos by Doug Conarroe Misty mount. Rain clouds from a July 6 storm shroud a burned home in the 12th filing of Glacier View Meadows. 53 Glacier View homes burned June 22. First fire, now flood. Poudre Canyon FPD volunteer Tony Falbo, right, hands sandbags to Greg Harding as the two built a levee on July 7 in Poudre Park. Bella’s plans grand reopening 2649 East Mulberry, A1 • Fort Collins, CO 80524 www.vesseyfuneralservice.com • (970) 482-5065 Our family helping yours By Kate Hawthorne North Forty News Now that all the papers are signed and applications filed, the new owners of Wellington’s only grocery store are get- ting ready to welcome shoppers with a big Labor Day celebration. Denver-based Bella’s Market has been operating the former Main Street Market since June 20, when it agreed to purchase the grocery operation and adjacent liquor store from Nebraska-based Panhandle Coop Association for $285,000 plus the cost of existing inventory. Bella’s also purchased the building at 7670 Fifth St. from ZWZ LLC for an undisclosed amount in a deal that closed at the end of June, Bella’s General Partner Sam Mancini said. “We’re excited to be in Wellington and want to be a cornerstone of the commu- nity,” Mancini said, adding that the com- pany plans to support local organizations and nonprofits. Bella’s Markets in eight other small eastern Colorado towns have made charitable donations of approxi- mately $120,000 to their communities in the past three years. Continued on page 7 New principals at CLPMS, mountain schools — page 9 By Kate Hawthorne North Forty News Residents in the High Park Fire burn area are now in the recovery phase. As cleanup equipment removes charred debris, homeowners are dealing with insurance companies to pay for needed repairs. Those who have lost homes are wrestling with the intensely complicated and personal decision of whether to re- build, and how. “The most important thing is to talk di- rectly to your insurance agent,” said Rich Davis with the Colorado Farm Bureau, who has been dealing with policyhold- ers in the area since before the fire was fully contained on July 1. “What you hear from one of your neighbors may not be true for you. It all depends on the cover- age in your policy.” For example, whether insurance will pay the actual cost of replacing a home or only a certain portion of the costs depends on how the policy is written – that’s what the policyholder has been paying for with those monthly premi- ums. Davis said many homeowners rarely think about what their insurance actually covers after they sign the initial docu- ments – until they need to make a claim. “We try to build a relationship with our clients so we know when there are major changes to the property or in their living situation,” he said. “People will put in a deck or a hot tub or have a family mem- ber come live with them and not think about updating their policy.” That means keeping your home inven- tory current with photos stored with your policy documents as well as reviewing your homeowner’s coverage with your agent once a year. In these economic times, however, increasing coverage – which usually means increasing premi- Continued on page 15 More coverage of the High Park Fire on pages 11-15 Bella, Bella’s. Wellington’s only grocery has new owners – Sam Mancini, right, general partner of Bella’s Market and corporate marketing director Crystal Cherubuck, left – but remains under the steady hand of Manager John Leeb, center. Photo by Kate Hawthorne
Transcript
POSTAL PATRON
PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE
PAIDWELLINGTON, CO
PERMIT NO. 3
August 2012 www.northfortynews.com Volume 20 Number 5 Th e community newspaper for north Fort Collins, Wellington and northern Larimer County, Colorado FREEFREE
North Forty NewsAfter High Park, the rebuilding begins
My summer vacation. B.J. Roth, visiting from Arizona, thought he’d spin up to The Narrows in Poudre Canyon on July 7 for some fishing but instead found a rockslide blocking Highway 14. The slide, caused by heavy flows of ash from the High Park Fire burn zone, closed the road for several hours. Photos by Doug Conarroe
Misty mount. Rain clouds from a July 6 storm shroud a burned home in the 12th filing of Glacier View Meadows. 53 Glacier View homes burned June 22.
First fire, now flood. Poudre Canyon FPD volunteer Tony Falbo, right, hands sandbags to Greg Harding as the two built a levee on July 7 in Poudre Park.
Bella’s plans grand reopening
2649 East Mulberry, A1 • Fort Collins, CO 80524
www.vesseyfuneralservice.com • (970) 482-5065
Our family helping yours
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
Now that all the papers are signed and applications filed, the new owners of Wellington’s only grocery store are get-ting ready to welcome shoppers with a big Labor Day celebration.
Denver-based Bella’s Market has been operating the former Main Street Market since June 20, when it agreed to purchase the grocery operation and adjacent liquor store from Nebraska-based Panhandle Coop Association for $285,000 plus the cost of existing inventory. Bella’s also
purchased the building at 7670 Fifth St. from ZWZ LLC for an undisclosed amount in a deal that closed at the end of June, Bella’s General Partner Sam Mancini said.
“We’re excited to be in Wellington and want to be a cornerstone of the commu-nity,” Mancini said, adding that the com-pany plans to support local organizations and nonprofits. Bella’s Markets in eight other small eastern Colorado towns have made charitable donations of approxi-mately $120,000 to their communities in the past three years.
Continued on page 7
New principals at CLPMS, mountain schools — page 9
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
Residents in the High Park Fire burn area are now in the recovery phase. As cleanup equipment removes charred debris, homeowners are dealing with insurance companies to pay for needed repairs. Those who have lost homes are wrestling with the intensely complicated and personal decision of whether to re-build, and how.
“The most important thing is to talk di-rectly to your insurance agent,” said Rich Davis with the Colorado Farm Bureau, who has been dealing with policyhold-ers in the area since before the fire was fully contained on July 1. “What you hear from one of your neighbors may not be true for you. It all depends on the cover-age in your policy.”
For example, whether insurance will pay the actual cost of replacing a home or only a certain portion of the costs depends on how the policy is written – that’s what the policyholder has been paying for with those monthly premi-ums. Davis said many homeowners rarely think about what their insurance actually covers after they sign the initial docu-ments – until they need to make a claim.
“We try to build a relationship with our clients so we know when there are major changes to the property or in their living situation,” he said. “People will put in a deck or a hot tub or have a family mem-ber come live with them and not think about updating their policy.”
That means keeping your home inven-tory current with photos stored with your policy documents as well as reviewing your homeowner’s coverage with your agent once a year. In these economic times, however, increasing coverage – which usually means increasing premi-
Continued on page 15
More coverage of the High Park Fire on pages 11-15
Bella, Bella’s. Wellington’s only grocery has new owners – Sam Mancini, right, general partner of Bella’s Market and corporate marketing director Crystal Cherubuck, left – but remains under the steady hand of Manager John Leeb, center. Photo by Kate Hawthorne
2 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
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www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 3
Charged up. Owners and farmhands at Acker-man Farms northwest of Wellington had a bit of high drama the afternoon of July 10 as John Michael Evans, left, climbed a high-voltage transmission tower on the farm’s property near County Road 15 and E. County Road 82. A ne-gotiator finally convinced Evans to come down about 3 p.m. Photo by Doug Conarroe
High-voltage drama plays out west of Rawhide plant
John Michael Evans, the man who scaled a 100-foot high-voltage transmission tower after leading Larimer County sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase on July 10, was arraigned in Larimer County Court on July 13. The 33-year-old Fort Collins man faces charges of vehicular eluding, driving without a valid license, possession of a controlled substance and second degree assault, as well as criminal mischief and domestic violence.
According to Sheriff’s Department spokesman John Schulz, the incident began about 10 a.m. July 10, when deputies were advised of a domestic dispute in the 12400 block of Larimer County Road 17 (North Shields Street). The female party in that dispute told dis-patchers that her boyfriend had left the home and was believed to be driving under the influence of drugs.
The assault charge resulted from Evans’ allegedly hitting a deputy with the van he was driving. The deputy had stopped Evans at North Taft Hill Road and County Road 66 around noon. Evans took off, striking the deputy, who sustained minor injuries, and then led law enforcement on a chase along a winding route north.
The chase ended when deputies physically stopped the van with their patrol cars on County Road 15 near E. County Road 82 at about 12:30 p.m. Evans ran across a field and climbed the tower near the Rawhide Energy Station and remained about 90 feet in the air for two and a half hours. He allegedly dropped a vial of cocaine on his way up the tower, according to the sheriff’s department.
The high-voltage transmission tower is owned by Western Area Power Authority. Deputies requested WAPA shut down the power to the tower. WAPA spokeswoman Lisa Meiman said it was de-energized about 1 p.m. and the 345 kilovolts of current rerouted to prevent any power outages.
A negotiator finally convinced Evans to come down about 3 p.m. He was transported to Poudre Valley Hospital before being trans-ferred to the Larimer County Jail. He posted a $50,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court on July 26. Red Feather Lakes, a mountain
4 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
Perils of living in fire-prone areas
Editor:Kate Hawthorne’s articles
about the Hewlett Gulch and High Park fires (June and July 2012 issues) are organized and very relevant. It is eerie how the former included the remark “...and what the driest sum-mer since 2002 has in store for Northern Colorado.”
We can all hope that the re-cent rains will dampen future fire risks and may mark a return to more moisture and help for our bone-dry forests. I believe we have had a decade of below normal moisture so one can’t be over-optimistic.
Everyone feels sympathy and sadness for those who lost their homes in the forests. I am sure that many would never have believed that their areas would burn like, say, Rist Canyon with its greater forests. I suspect some may question the sense of returning to a fire susceptible area — or afford to rebuild to modern codes. Firefighting progress may have been retard-ed by a focus on saving struc-tures versus putting out the fires and this — early on — may be partly to blame for the dramatic fire growth.
All very sad.
Harland Ranney
Fort Collins
Thanks fromCanyon Lakes
Editor:When the High Park fire was
first reported on June 9, none of us knew the significant impacts it would have on each of us, our friends, neighbors, cowork-ers and our community. As the fire quickly spread, so did the support from our community and the work of our emergency responders.
As the Canyon Lakes District Ranger on the Roosevelt Na-tional Forest, my employees and I are faced daily with the reality of wildland fires. But not even our staff expected a fire of this magnitude and effect. All of us had to quickly react to support firefighting activities and public safety.
Our local fire managers and law enforcement officers acted with great heroism, some even as their houses burned. Those in Rist Canyon know only too well as they defended the Stove Prai-rie School. There are so many remarkable stories from this fire and I am honored to have
worked with so many dedicated individuals.
Many things will stick with me regarding the High Park fire, but maybe not any more than the outpouring of support from our communities. Strangers lining the road to welcome firefighters home each night or signs posted in many neighborhoods, even as the fire went into the third week of burning, made me proud to live and work in Northern Col-orado. Those individuals may not have known it at the time, but their acts of encouragement truly did boost the morale of our hardworking firefighters. Many individuals who lost houses ex-pressed support and concern for those still working to protect others’ homes – remarkable.
This fire dealt many blows to the citizens of Larimer Coun-ty, particularly to those in and around the fire, but the com-munity and those managing and fighting the fire kept getting right back up. And we will con-tinue this battle for months and years to come as our commu-nities rebuild and our natural resources recover.
The next steps will take time, and we ask for your patience as the Forest Service works to pro-tect our natural resources and the public’s safety. Many have offered help and we are plan-ning volunteer work days for some of our trails impacted by both the High Park Fire and the Hewlett Fire.
Thanks again to each of you for your support.
Kevin AtchleyCanyon Lakes District Ranger
Friends of Feralssay thanks
Editor:Northern Colorado Friends of
Ferals would like to thank Wel-lington Veterinary Clinic and Dr. Tracey Jensen for hosting a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) clinic on June 17. Veterinarians Tracey Jensen, Margaret Gar-cia and Tom Welsh anchored a team of medical professionals on site. Sixty-nine community cats were altered, vaccinated and returned to their caregivers. Ten kittens were placed with Fort Collins Cat Rescue so they can be socialized and adopted into homes.
Northern Colorado Friends of Ferals is grateful to Wellington Veterinary Clinic and an ac-complished group of compas-sionate professionals who all volunteer their time and surgical skills to assist feral cats and work to address the community cat overpopulation in an effec-
tive, nonlethal, humane manner through TNR.
Leslie Vogt, directorNorthern Colorado Friends of Ferals
Jack Graham’s vision for CSU is flawed
Editor:Athletic Director Jack Gra-
ham’s vision of a main campus football stadium is flawed. He claims that football success re-quires this stadium, which will bring large numbers of high tu-ition out-of-state students. Both are false. Data show that even with a top 20 team, the tuition gain would be perhaps $2 mil-lion.
He claims that increased athletic giving will spill over to academics. Data show that increased athletic giving, if it occurs, often detracts substan-tially from academic giving. He claims that the “top of mind” awareness from a winning foot-ball team will bring better stu-dents and enhance academics. In fact, most students choose a university because of the qual-ity of academic programs. He claims that his 42,000-seat sta-dium will put CSU in the top 20 and a new league. The data show that the stadium size for a top 20 program is roughly 90,000 seats, and at places that have been superpowers for de-cades.
He claims that the successful football program will fill the stadium and reap needed dol-lars to benefit academics. Data show that places that accept such a sell see unfilled stadi-ums, failed projections, and a financial drain on the academic budget. He claims that none of these costs will EVER come out of student fees or state money. In reality, they always do. The administration is already talking about substantial loans against highly exaggerated future rev-enues. Many universities are currently in financial distress because of these kinds of she-nanigans.
Check these hard facts at www.soshughes.org.
Carl Patton41-year Fort Collins resident and CSU Professor
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Letters to the Editor are wel-come! Organize them into not more than 250 stirring words and send to: [email protected] or P.O. Box 250, Wellington, CO 80549. Include name, address and phone num-ber for author verification. And please feel free to contact us and pitch a longer piece for guest commentary. Please note that for this year’s election cycle, we will be charging $19 for place-ment of political endorsement letters. Please go to www.north-fortynews.com/electionletters for more information.
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Spring repair specialist
Garage door springs are under high pressure and can be very dangerous if not handled properly. If you feel you have a problem with your door’s spring, please do not try to repair it or adjust it yourself. For your safety, let a professional do this for you.
Matt DePasse has been install-ing and repairing garage doors for more than 10 years. His goal is to make sure your garage doors give you years of dependable service. Satisfaction is always guaranteed. He offers 24-hour emergency service, with a service call costing just $49. All Around Garage Doors has a wide selection of new and custom doors, both residential and commercial. Matt also installs gate openers and repairs box truck and semi-trailer doors.
For expert, affordable garage door service, call Matt at 970-215-1821.
Experienced, local homebuilder
Anyone ready to rebuild after the High Park Fire can work with a local homebuilder who knows what mountain construction really means.
Ray and Linda Olick own Custom Homes by Ray-Paul Inc. in Fort Collins. They have been building quality homes in Larimer County for 20 years, with com-pleted projects from Berthoud to
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struction services, from plans and excavation to cabinets and tile. Ray and Linda have developed an extensive network of qualified subcontractors, including their sons Eric and Aron, but do all the interi-or work themselves. They can also make fire-related repairs, including fabricating trim or other items in their on-premise shop, and will do site cleanup on any High Park Fire rebuilding project.
Ray and Linda know how impor-tant dealing with a reputable con-tractor can be after a disaster. They helped rebuild in Windsor after the 1987 tornado, and unlike others who are long gone, still stand be-hind their work.
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We offer the highest quality treated and untreated framing; structural hem/fir post, giving customers a stronger and straighter building structure. We also offer Gruen-Wald glue-laminated columns for long-term durability, engineered strength and predictable perfor-mance.
Stop by the store today with your construction plans, and let us show you a 3D CAD drawing of what your building will look like. Cedar Supply can develop a pack-age price that meets your budget.
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www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 7
A new study led by the Uni-versity of Colorado indicates air pollution in the form of nitro-gen compounds (including am-monia) emanating from power plants, automobiles and agri-culture is changing the alpine vegetation in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The emissions of nitrogen compounds into the atmo-sphere are being carried to re-mote areas of the park, alter-ing sensitive ecosystems, said CU-Boulder Professor William Bowman, who directs CU-Boul-der’s Mountain Research Station west of Boulder and who led the study.
In other regions of the world, higher amounts of nitrogen pol-lutants correlate with decreased biodiversity, acidified soils and dead stream organisms like trout, said Bowman. “There is evidence that indicates once these changes occur, they can be difficult if not impossible to
reverse.”The study site was an alpine
meadow roughly one mile east of Chapin Pass in the Mummy Range of Rocky Mountain Na-tional Park. Bowman and his team analyzed the plant com-munities and soils under ambi-ent levels of nitrogen deposi-tion and compared them to plots with added nitrogen to simu-late the increasing atmospheric nitrogen pollution expected in the coming decades. The results indicated changes in plant abun-dances already were occurring under ambient conditions, but to date no changes in soils were detected.
During the course of the three-year study, rising levels of nitro-gen in the soils correlated with
large increases in a common species of sedge shown to flour-ish in other nitrogen addition studies. Bowman said the team anticipates that the diversity of vascular plant species will rise with increasing nitrogen deposi-tion, then decrease with more rare species being excluded by competition from other plant species.
While the park is also a haven for fishermen hoping to catch trout in pristine waters, contin-ued inputs of nitrogen pollutants are a hazard to the health of both trout and their food sources, said Bowman. It starts when the ability of the land plants and soils to take up the nitrogen is exceeded, causing soils to be-come acidified, he said.
WellingtonWellington
Mancini said his philosophy is to acquire existing stores and then find good people to run them. In Wellington, Bella’s has hired all the employees from Main Street.
“This is a great team,” Mancini said. “I am so impressed with the quality of the employees here. John (Leeb, manager of the store) is a great grocer. He cares about his employees and his customers.”
Bella’s is a member of the same distribution network as Main Street – Affiliated Foods Midwest – so shoppers will find all the same brands on the shelves. Mancini said the company plans to upgrade some of the in-store merchandising, add a loyalty program, increase the number of local products available through the Colo-rado Proud program, and make other changes so shopping locally is a better experience.
Bella’s is now mailing weekly ads to Wellington homes and has expanded shopping hours by two hours a day Monday through Sat-urday, when the store is open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday hours are still 7 a.m.-7 p.m., but Mancini hopes to stay open until 8 p.m. soon. He is also working with the Town of Wellington to change the entrances and traffic flow to make it easier to get into the parking lot.
New signage should be installed by the grand reopening. Market-ing Director Crystal Cherubuck said plans for the event are still in the works, but there will be definitely be barbecuing in the parking lot and other activities.
Continued from page 1
Nitrogen changing RMNP vegetationStore to add Colorado products
We’re making our natural gas system even more reliable and safe for you. That’s why we’ve started replacing sections of our West Main natural gas
t work on Coloradopipeline. You may see us at work on ColoradoHighway 402 between South Boise AvenueHi hand Weld County Road 17.
We’ll use flaggers to maintain two-way traffic inthe areas where we’re working, but sometimes travel may have to be restricted to one lane.You can expect to see us at work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Please watch for our crews as you drive by these areas. We’ll work as quickly and safely as we can to finish. Thanks in advance for your patience.
If you commute on Highway 402, here’s information you should know.
For complete information, weekly projectupdates or to contact us about the West Mainproject, please call 1-855-875-7633 or visitXcelEnergyWestMainPipeline.com.
8 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
How a piano built in Paris in the 1880s wound up in a horse barn in Longmont in 2011 remains a mystery to Dan Fahr-lander. But he does knows that the 8-foot-long Erard concert grand now takes up a good por-tion of his family room in north-west Fort Collins, looking and sounding as good as new.
“We know it didn’t come across the plains in a cov-ered wagon,” Fahrlander said. “Someone with a lot of money had it shipped from France; maybe it was played in a saloon or a fancy restaurant in Denver.”
However it came to Colo-rado, the piano found a new life in the intersection of equestri-ans and musicians in northern Larimer County. Norm Brown, a Wellington rancher, knew Fah-rlander, retired director of the Larimer County VoTech Cen-ter, loves pianos. He also knew a rancher in Longmont hadn’t
been able to sell the piano at a going-out-of-business auction, so he asked Fahrlander to take a look.
“I didn’t need another piano,” Fahrlander said. “But the third time he asked me, I said I’d take a look.”
At first glance, his reluctance was justified.
“When they popped the barn door open, I saw the piano was totally black – you couldn’t even see the brand name,” Fahrlander said. “I had no idea what kind of condition it was really in.”
But the price was right: The rancher gave him the piano for hauling it away. That may have been the deal of the century.
Once Fahrlander cleaned it up a bit he saw that what he had was the type of piano favored by 19th-century composers such as Franz Lizst, Maurice Revel and Claude Debussy. He also uncov-ered the serial number – 61428 – that allowed him to trace the history of the piano built by the legendary Sebastian Erard back
a little farther online.“We found out it was sold at
an auction house in Niwot about 10 years ago, but the trail dies there,” Fahrlander said.
He set the instrument up in his garage and in September enlisted LaPorte piano techni-cian and tuner Dick Frederick to help him restore it. Over the next nine months, the pair of oc-togenarians took the Erard apart then painstakingly put it back together. They were happily sur-prised that all the parts were there, if not necessarily intact.
“It was in remarkably good shape for having been in storage for so long,” Frederick said.
While some replacement parts were available in Europe – Fred-erick had the hammers refelted in Germany, for example – oth-ers had to be fabricated. So did some of the tools needed to rebuild it.
“This is from a time when everything was built by hand, including tools, and nothing was standard,” Fahrlander said. “And, of course, there was no repair manual to follow.”
Learned a lotBoth Fahrlander and Freder-
ick said they learned a lot in the process. Some of Erard’s innovations are still used in con-cert grands today, and some are no longer seen. Fahrlander also deduced that a previous owner
played a lot of sharps, since the G, D, A and E keys were worn the most.
In the end, they reconstructed a number of damaged parts, including a new soundboard out of Sitka spruce, and replaced the worn ivories with ones from Frederick’s collection. The Erard also has new strings – the bass strings were hand-wound with copper – new tuning pins, new bushings on the keys, and refelt-ing on the keyboard as well as the hammers. The magnificent rosewood case was stripped and refinished with multiple coats of polyurethane resin by Raven Enterprises in Ault.
The result? Fahrlander said he has received an appraisal of $40,000 on the Erard, but he’s more interested in the sound and
having people experience it. Pat Burge, who taught piano
composition and improvisation at Colorado State University for 25 years, said she first heard about the Erard from a horse person. She said it very easy to play, with lots of depth and a warm, bell-like tone. The ac-tion of the keys is different than those on a modern grand piano, she added, and that allows you to play very fast.
“Playing it, I felt like I fell through a time warp,” she said. “This is what it must have been like in the days of Lizst. It sounded wonderful with the lid down, and just as wonderful but different with the lid up.”
Since 2011 was the 200th an-niversary of Liszt’s birth, Janet Landreth, chair of the CSU piano department, has played the Erard for her students to experience the authentic 19th-century sound. Burge would like to see the piano travel outside Fahrlander’s family room so more people can hear it.
For now, Fahrlander is invit-ing interested players to contact him at [email protected]. Frederick will make sure it’s in tune.
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North Forty News is moving to Wellington!
Effective Aug.1, our new address is:
P.O. Box 250 4104 E. Jefferson Ave.
Wellington, CO 80549-0250
www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 9
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
Two new principals will be on hand when students return to Cache La Poudre Middle School and the mountain el-ementary schools – Livermore, Red Feather and Stove Prairie.
Alicia Bono has taken over from William “Skip” Caddoo at the middle school, while Matt Marietta fills the position formerly held by Patrick Kind. Both Caddoo and Kind continue to be involved in High Park Fire recovery activities. Cache La Poudre Elementary’s principal remains Roxann Hall.
Both new principals say that when school starts later this month, they will be working with their students and families who have lost homes or been evacuated repeatedly or have otherwise felt the impact of the fire.
“The whole community has been affected,” Bono said. “We want everyone to feel that school is a safe place to be, and we can help both the kids and their families heal emotionally.”
Marietta, whose Stove Prai-rie School sits unscathed in the middle of the burn area, agreed.
“It’s important the kids know that with all that’s been going on, what hasn’t changed is school,” he said. “We want it to be a constant for them next year.”
Bono comes to LaPorte from Page, Ariz., where she has been assistant principal and athletic director. She also taught middle school for eight years, and looks forward to working with that age group again.
“It’s challenging, but middle school is a time of transition for the kids,” she said. “They have to focus on what’s happening now, not what happens beyond, like high schoolers.”
Bono said she is excited to implement the school’s new International Baccalaurate cur-riculum, which she called “a tremendous undertaking.”
“The IB program will offer more choice, to help keep stu-dents who had been going to
other schools in the district here,” she added.
Bono is married with a daugh-ter who will be starting kinder-garten this year.
Marietta’s last position was an elementary principal and pre-school program administrator in rural Iowa. He has also taught second, third and fifth grades.
He said his priority for the start of the school year is build-ing relationships with people in the community, not just staff, students and their families.
“A big part of my job is to know every student by first name, and what’s going on with each one,” he said.
Marietta said he has been spending time before school starts traveling between his schools and has figured out routes that would let him be all three in one day. This will come in handy when he plans to be at all three registration days. He prefers to spend a whole day at one school, however, and plans to hold rotating office hours, always staying in touch by cell-phone, text, podcasts or email.
“I believe in communicating frequently, and encourage any-one to give me a call any time,” he said.
Don’t fence me in. Tell us where this unique fence is located and you could win two free dinners at the T-Bar Inn in Wellington. Enter online at www.northfortynews.com/mysteryphoto. Deadline: Aug. 20. Include your postal address in case you win the drawing for the gift certificate. The winner of last month’s challenge is Michelle Standley of Welling-ton. Michelle correctly placed the absolutely confusing street sign on East Mulberry in front of Supermarket Liquors.
New principals to greet studentsat CLPMS, mountain schools
New for 2012. Alicia Bono, left, is the new principal at Cache La Poudre Mid-dle School and Matt Marietta takes over at the mountain elementary schools. Photo by Kate Hawthorne
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10 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
Hard to believe, but school starts this month, so let’s take some time to celebrate summer while we can.
Larimer County Fair at The Ranch
If it’s August, the Larimer County Fair and PRCA Rodeo must be ready to bust out of the chute. This year’s edition of the fair kicks off early with pre-liminary 4-H livestock judging through Aug. 2 and a parade in downtown Loveland on July 28. The Fair opens at The Ranch, I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland, on Aug. 3 and con-tinues through Aug. 7.
A complete daily schedule can be found at www.larimer-countyfair.org, but some of the highlights include the Toast to Agriculture Scholarship Dinner to benefit 4-H and Colorado State University students Friday night; the Gnarly Barley Brew Festival and Sweetheart Balloon Rally Saturday – CSU Day; free pancake breakfast on Sun-day; professional rodeo Sunday through Tuesday; Splash Dogs competitions on Monday and Tuesday; and live music and the ever-popular carnival every day.
The new County Fair and
PRCA Rodeo Lady-in-Waiting will be crowned on Tuesday dur-ing the final rodeo performance. She will join current Queen Sa-vanah Martinez as reigning roy-alty through next year’s fair.
The 4-H Junior Livestock sale starts at 4:30 p.m. in the Ranch-Way Feeds Livestock Pavilion on Aug. 8.
Upper Poudre Canyon Craft Fair and Quilt Show at Fire Station No. 2
The annual Upper Poudre Canyon Craft Fair and Quilt Show will be held at Fire Sta-tion No. 2 and community cen-ter Aug. 11, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show will feature many local crafters and their wood carvings, leather crafts, jewelry, glass work, handmade clothing, paintings and more, offered in many indoor booths.
The canyon quilters have cre-ated a new quilt named “Twi-light on the Poudre Trail” for this year’s raffle. Raffle tickets will be sold at the show and can be purchased ahead at Bighorn Cabins, Archer’s Poudre River Resort or by calling 970-881-2465. Raffle tickets are $1 each, six for $5 and 13 for $10.
The Poudre Canyon Cook-book and the updated Poudre Canyon Directory will also be available for purchase, and the
historic Eggers School House Museum will be open for tours during the craft fair.
There will be plenty of food available, including an all-day bake sale and food from the grill at lunchtime. The live music that was such a hit last year will once again be playing through-out the day.
The firehouse is located at mile marker 88.5 on Colorado 14. For more info, call 970-881-2465.
Field to Fork Dinner cel-ebrates summer
Food, music, family fun, and land preservation are all on the menu at this year’s Legacy Land Trust Field to Fork Dinner and Summer Celebration Aug. 18, 4-8 p.m., near the Grant Family Farms in Wellington.
The event will feature a boun-ty of local produce, natural beef, pork and chicken, and the Grant Family Farms’ own organic veg-etables. Chefs from around the community will prepare great local dishes, and you can enjoy desserts and cool drinks pro-
vided by local purveyors as well as fabulous bluegrass music by Capo Zero.
Grant Farms is a prime exam-ple of how Legacy Land Trust forms partnerships that keep ag-ricultural and open lands in the hands of local owners through conservation agreements.
Tickets are $45 for non-mem-bers of the land trust, $40 for members and $10 for teens and free for kids 12 and under. There will be also be silent and live auctions, a kid’s funspace, so-cializing and celebrating.
Purchase tickets by Aug. 13 at 970-266-1711 or online at www.legacylandtrust.org.
Local Author Day at JaxIf you’ve finished that sum-
mer reading list or just need something new, stop by either one of the Fort Collins Jax Mer-cantile locations on Aug. 18 to meet local authors who will be signing and selling their books.
The writers and illustrators will be on hand at Jax Outdoor Gear at 1200 N. College Ave. from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at Jax
Ranch and Home at 1000 U.S. 287 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For a complete lineup of who will be where with what titles, go to www.jaxmercantile.com or call 970-221-0544.
Farmer’s Union picnic at Meisner Farm
Aug. 25 is the day the Larimer County Farmers’ Union holds its annual picnic, and this year it will be at the Meisner Farm, north of Wellington. Gail Meis-ner serves as secretary/treasurer of the local chapter of the Farm-ers’ Union, which is dedicated to being the voice for family ag-riculture and rural communities.
In addition to the German-themed potluck that begins at 5 p.m., Jon Slutsky, owner of La Luna Dairy in Wellington, will conduct a tour of his operation for picnic-goers starting at 3 p.m. For more information, con-tact Meisner at 970-568-3105 or [email protected].
Rist Canyon Festival and Art Auction
Among the many acres some-how spared by the High Park Fire is the meadow on Larimer County Road 52E where the annual Rist Canyon Mountain Festival and Richard Schmid Fine Art Auction takes place. So the event will go on as it has for the past 16 years, on the Sunday before Labor Day, Sept. 2.
This year the need for funds for the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department is particularly great in the wake of the fire. Schmid and many of the artists have agreed to donate 100 per-cent of the sales of their juried work to RCVFD, so everyone is encouraged to bid generously and often. Preview opens at 10 a.m., bidding begins at 1 p.m.
You don’t even have to be present to bid – information about how to bid online and by phone can be found at www.richardschmidauction.com/index.html — but if you don’t make it up the canyon, you will miss out on all the other fun and festivities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There will be a huge used book sale, old-fashioned bake sale, mountain craft market, si-lent auction, vintage car show and fire trucks on display, pony rides, clowns and balloons for the kids, great food, free ice cream, music and entertainment. Free parking, free admission.
And yes, you can ride your bike to the festival.
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Art for a good cause. Allyssa McGownd, right, shows a Nancy Guzik piece titled “Squash and a Teacup” as Molly Schmid looks on at the 2011 Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department Festival and Fine Art Auction. This year’s auction is Sept. 2.
www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 11
By Kate HawthorneNorth Forty News
As the July issue of the North Forty News is going to press June 26, the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs sweeps through upscale residential neighborhoods and singes a por-tion of the Air Force Academy on its way to becoming the most destructive fire in state history, taking 346 homes and two lives.
Wednesday, June 27Containment of the High Park
Fire reaches 75 percent. Fire officials move up the estimated date of total containment to June 30, from July 15.
Saturday, June 30 Incident commanders report
the number of homes burned at 259; 112 additional structures have been lost.
Sunday, July 1High Park Fire declared 100
percent contained. Although a fire line has been completed around the perimeter, fuel con-tinues to burn and total con-trol is not expected for weeks, maybe months. The burn area covers 87,284 acres or about 136.5 square miles, slightly larger than Las Vegas.
Monday, July 2A small trailer fire at the Col-
umbine Lodge unrelated to the High Park Fire but in the heart of an unburned area is quickly spotted by forest rangers and extinguished by Poudre Canyon FPD volunteers.
Wednesday, July 4 At just about the last minute,
the Town of Wellington joins Red Feather Lakes and the City of Fort Collins and scrubs its planned Independence Day fire-works display. Loveland is the only city to hold public pyro-technics. The Larimer County ban on the private use of fire-works results in 27 sheriff ’s calls with two citations issued.
Friday, July 6Heavy rains over the burn
area trigger mudslides in Poudre Canyon. A privately owned cabin on forest service land is swept away by the swiftly mov-ing debris that also closes Colo-rado Highway 14 from Ted’s Place to Stove Prairie Road. The sheriff issues 227 pre-evac-uation notices to residents from Mishawaka to Gateway Park, since flash flooding could con-tinue until Monday. The county closes the Disaster Recovery Center on the CSU campus.
Saturday, July 7 Poudre Canyon Fire Protec-
tion District volunteer firefight-ers and Poudre Park residents fill and place 2,000 sandbags to protect properties from antici-pated burn-area runoff.
Monday, July 9 At a public meeting for fire
survivors, Rist Canyon residents complain about the lack of sand-bags available from the county. They also ask Larimer County officials to limit the amount of non-resident traffic in the area, especially bicycles.
Tuesday, July 10 The City of Greeley begins
dropping seed and straw from helicopters to help slow the flow of ash and debris into the Poudre River and the Milton Seaman Reservoir.
Wednesday, July 11 Power returns to homes in
Glacier View.
Friday, July 13 The Mishawaka Amphithe-
atre presents its first concert since the High Park Fire started on June 9. Keller Williams do-nates $1 from every ticket sold to firefighters and relief orga-nizations.
Monday, July 16 More rains bring more mud-
slides to Poudre Canyon, clos-ing Colorado Highway 14. The Colorado Department of Transportation begins clearing an estimated 200 tons of debris — rocks, fallen trees and muck
— from areas near Stove Prairie Road.
Tuesday, July 17 Larimer County Assessor’s
Office releases a spreadsheet of residences confirmed lost in the fire. The assessed value of the destroyed homes is $38.5 mil-lion. Insurers anticipate claims nearing $100 million.
Wednesday, July 18Although they cannot close
the road now that the emergency is over, county officials agree to post a sign at the mouth of Rist Canyon asking non-residents to avoid the area during the clean-up period.
Thursday, July 19 The Burned Area Emergency
Response assessment for the High Park Fire reveals 14,000 acres within the perimeter re-main unburned, and only 16 percent of the burn was at high severity, sterilizing the soil and interfering with water absorp-tion. The interagency report estimates the cost of mitiga-tion could run as high as $24 million; $9.9 million would be eligible for a 75 percent federal match, but the funds available “falls far short” of that, accord-ing to the report.
Monday, July 23PVREA says power has been
returned to all standing homes except for two in Falls Creek and 14 in Whale Rock. Crews will continue to take down un-stable trees so they don’t fall on power lines; managers expect to have all power back on within two weeks.
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met with insurance adjuster Todd Radford on July 6 at what remained of her 1,600-square-foot home on Meadow Mountain Drive. There was no trace of much of anything from the house, other than a pile of heaping metal — the remains of the stove, dishwasher and fridge — where the kitchen stood.
Her search of the ashes the day before with her visiting son, Justin, revealed a small selection of charred keepsakes includ-ing small porcelain statues, some dishes and the intact, contain-erized year-old cremains of her deceased pet dog Goliath.
Subsequent searches of the ashes by Samaritan’s Purse uncovered silverware that had morphed into unrecognizable shapes. Heat fused ash to most of the jewelry, creating a hard-ened gray crust. Heat from the fire also cooked the color out of a blue topaz ring and turned it clear.
The northern finger of the High Park Fire that roared through Glacier View Meadows on June 22 destroyed 53 homes in the subdivision, about a fifth of the 259 homes lost in the fire.
“The fire did provide the opportunity for a clean slate,” Mas-ters said. “But then it set in that I didn’t have the most basic items like dishes and towels. I didn’t even have a pair of scissors to my name.”
Search turns up few keepsakes
12 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
Shades of gray
Hey there. Horses keep a watchful eye on firefighters patrolling the perimeter of the High Park Fire near Ei
Cleaning up. Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District Fire Chief Carl Solley carves a path out of an ash flow next to a Poudre Park home on July 7. Heavy rains over the burn zone the previous night caused numerous mudslides.
Upright. A Chinese clay statute stands out in the charred remains of Melody Masters’ house that was destroyed June 22 in the High Park Fire.
Muddy waters. Ashley Mathews gets a kiss from son, Kanyon, 7, while tubing at the Picnic Rock recreation area on July 7. Normally crystal clear, runoff from High Park burn areas turned the Cache la Poudre River charcoal gray.
Before: Photo of Glacier View Meadows 12th filing taken on June 14.
Photos by Doug Conarroe
The High Park Fire tally as of July 25:
• Fatalities: 1• Homes lost: 259• Value of homes lost: $50 million• Insured losses: $98 million• Acres burned: 87,284• Cost to fight the fire: $31.5 million
Welcome home. Right, Frank and Marge Baker sift through the remains of their home at 538 Stratton Park Road in Rist Canyon. The scorched Welcome sign is one of the few intact items the two found after their home burned the first few days of the High Park Fire. A total of 259 homes were lost in the fire, 22 in Stratton Park.
www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 13
Sparse vegetation. A buck navigates burned forest along Davis Ranch Road in Rist Canyon.
Not much left. Glacier View Meadows resident Melody Masters de-scribes the features of the porch that once wrapped her burned home to insurance adjuster Todd Radford on July 6.
ger Road in Glacier View Meadows on July 6.
After: Photo of Glacier View Meadows 12th filing taken on July 6.
14 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
State court rejects Powertech lawsuit
A lawsuit challenging Col-orado regulations to protect groundwater from the effects of uranium mining was dismissed in its entirety by Denver District Court Judge Christina Habas on July 13.
The suit had been filed against the state Mined Land Reclamation Board in Novem-ber 2010 by Powertech (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian prospecting company Powertech Uranium Corp. The company had planned to mine uranium on 7,100 acres near Nunn in
Weld County using an in situ leach process, in which liquid is injected into ore-bearing rock to loosen and remove the mineral.
Powertech claimed in the suit that provisions of House Bill 1161 and Senate Bill 228 — passed by the Colorado Legis-lature and signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter in 2008, with final rules becoming effective Sept. 30, 2010 — were arbitrary, capricious and exceeded Col-orado statutory authority. The bills amended the Mined Land Reclamation Act to strengthen protection of groundwater sur-rounding mines using in situ technology and to require public and local government involve-
ment in the mine-permitting process.
The rules were supported by a diverse range of groups, includ-ing Weld County-based Colora-dans Against Resource Destruc-tion; Environment Colorado and other conservation groups state-wide; Denver Water; and several local governments and affected communities.
Powertech suspended opera-tions and the federal and state permitting process on the Cen-tennial Project in October 2011 but has yet to formally withdraw the proposal. In July of last year, the company allowed purchase options with two local landown-ers to expire, reducing the ex-pected yield from the operation by more than 1 million pounds of uranium.
Elder Care Network hosts Senior Law Day
Elder Care Network’s Eighth Annual Senior Law Day will be held at the Lory Student Center on the CSU campus Aug. 11 from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The cost is $10, which in-cludes breakfast and lunch, and participants can choose four of 12 seminars on diverse topics including advanced directives, powers of attorney, Medicare, estate planning, probate admin-istration, Social Security ben-efits, and outsmarting invest-ment fraud. All participants will
receive a program and a copy of the 2012 Senior Law Handbook.
Register online at www.el-dercarenet.org or call 970-495-3442 for more information. There is free parking at the Lory Student Center.
The mission of the Elder Care Network of Northern Colorado, a registered nonprofit corpora-tion, is to assist Larimer County seniors by providing informa-tion, resources, and support to caregivers and to professional service providers.
Kelsey Graves accidentally electrocuted
Kelsey Helyn Graves, 13, of Bellvue was accidentally elec-trocuted July 19 as she was cleaning an irrigation pivot on land near Ted’s Place. Kelsey was the daughter of Morning Fresh Dairy owners Rob and Lori Graves.
Larimer County Sheriff’s Of-fice deputies were called to as-sist Emergency Medical Ser-vices at 8:18 p.m. Thursday on a report of an agricultural acci-dent. Medical staff from Poudre Valley Hospital and personnel from Poudre Fire Authority were already on scene when deputies arrived.
Sheriff’s reports indicate that Kelsey had been dropped off by her older brother to help clean a filter on the irrigation system. After receiving no response to a
phone call, Kelsey’s brother re-turned to the location and found her unconscious. He began CPR immediately.
Other family members con-tacted 911 and arrived shortly thereafter. A medical helicop-ter was requested to transport Kelsey to the hospital, but she was pronounced deceased on scene at 8:44 p.m. The Larimer County Coroner confirmed the cause of death as accidental electrocution on July 20.
Firewood permits available
Firewood permits are now available for a number of lo-cations on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, including:
• Long Draw Road (western end of Poudre Canyon)
• Manhattan Road (south of Red Feather Lakes)
• Crown Point Road (west of Pingree Park Road, south of Poudre Canyon)
• Redfeather Work Center (near Red Feather Lakes)
Cost for the permits is $20 a cord and the timeframes for these locations vary. Visitors can purchase permits at the Visi-tor Information Center located at 2150 Centre Ave., Building E in Fort Collins. Summer hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Permits for the Red Feather Lakes areas can be purchased at the Redfeather For-est Visitor Center.
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www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 15
ums – can be difficult, especial-ly on vacation homes or cabins, Davis said.
Whatever the amount of the insurance settlement, be sure to spend it wisely by hiring only reputable contractors. Davis said your insurance agent or ad-juster should be able to provide a list of companies they have worked with before; anyone giv-ing you an estimate should also have a list of references that you should check.
“If someone approaches you and offers to do the work for whatever amount you get from your insurance company, don’t sign over the check,” he said. “You’ll probably never see them again.”
Many stressful issuesDealing with potential in-
surance scams is only one of many stressful issues now fac-ing fire survivors, according to Lori Peek, associate professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at Colorado State Uni-versity.
“There’s typically no one re-covery experience, but we know there is a long road ahead,” she said. “Most people and most communities do bounce back from terrible loss, but it takes time, and there will be setbacks.”
Peek has done extensive re-search on how communities and individuals coped in the after-math of the hurricanes that dev-astated New Orleans in 2005, and is currently writing a book based on her research. She said individuals who have been dis-placed by repeated evacuations and experienced “disasters after the disaster,” like the mudslides that followed the High Park Fire, can feel particularly vulnerable.
“We used to think surviving multiple disasters made peo-ple more resilient, but it really
means they are already running on empty when they get hit a second time,” she said. Then they are confronted with picking up the pieces to move on, like dealing with insurance.
As for the notion that com-pared to loss of life, a house is “just stuff ” that can be replaced, Peek said the loss of the memo-ries associated with that “stuff ” should not be discounted.
“What is a home if not an ac-cumulation of a lifetime?” she said. “Who is to say what ob-jects are priceless to you?”
And it really does take a vil-lage to rebuild a village.
“Those who cope most suc-cessfully are those who have strong community support after the initial crisis is over,” Peek said. “While everyone feels a shared purpose during an emer-gency, it takes leadership to con-
tinue that through the recovery process.”
On the plus side, Peek said, the High Park Fire has been considered a disaster for the en-tire Fort Collins community, not just the residents of the canyons directly affected. The many, many fundraisers, the public gratitude to the firefighters, and the outreach by Larimer County officials even while the flames were still raging are all positives for the future.
Peek has arranged for her graduate students to work with the county emergency manage-ment team this coming semester in the High Park burn area, collecting data to help with the recovery efforts.
“It will be a real project that will be useful to the disaster managers as well,” she said.
When heavy-equipment own-ers and operators John Beckett and his son, Austin, contracted their services to the federal gov-ernment, little did they know that work would involve de-fending their own home and business from the wind-driven flames of the High Park Fire.
John Beckett owns and oper-ates Custom Design Fabricators out of his family’s home on Star View Drive near Hewlett Gulch Road at CR 74E. He was tabbed by the U.S. Forest Service at the start of the High Park Fire on June 9 to provide a bulldozer to help build protective fire lines. Contracted dozers typically have a Forest Service-employed dozer boss that directs the work.
Austin had stationed the com-pany’s semi-tractor-trailer rig with the dozer onboard June 21 on North Rim Road, about 3 miles east of Glacier View Meadows, near the start of Kelly Flats Jeep trail. A prominent “Busses not allowed on this road” sign on a steep stretch of North Rim Road is a good indi-cation that anything longer than about 14 feet will have prob-lems with the numerous switch-backs. Not so for Austin, who’s had lots of experience driving tractor-trailer lumber trucks on narrow mountain roads.
From the North Rim Road vantage point north of the Poudre Canyon, fire spotters had a clear view of Green Mountain to the east, where homes in Glacier View Meadows’ 12th filing sit.
The next day, winds had picked up — meaning the fire was much more active — so Austin was back on North Rim Road with a 30-person fire-fighting crew led by Forest Service personnel. Once the fire jumped the Poudre River at about 2:30 p.m. and started advancing northeast up Steven’s Gulch toward Green Mountain, Austin and the firefighters were redeployed — in a hurry — to Gate 1 at Glacier View Mead-ows and then again farther east to Hewlett Gulch Road.
By 2:45 p.m. the fire was lay-ing waste to homes in the 12th filing and advancing on the 9th filing, forcing fire command to
defend neighborhoods farther east.
Although firefighters with the Glacier View Fire Protec-tion District were able to save dozens of homes, 53 were lost in Glacier View Meadows and four more were lost in the Deer Meadows/Helwett Gulch neigh-borhood.
Having been evacuated ear-lier that day with only dogs in tow, Rachael Beckett, Austin’s mom and John’s wife, watched and waved as Austin turned the semi-tractor and dozer onto Hewlett Gulch Road and into certain danger as the fast-mov-ing fire approached. He was followed by John.
Four dozers were deployed at Hewlett Gulch Road on June 22, including Beckett’s. Heavy smoke covered the valley where their home sits when the two arrived for assignment and John had assumed the fire had al-ready destroyed the home, shop and most of the equipment. Heading farther into the valley, John and Austin were relieved to find that the fire had gone around their property.
“When you’re deployed and helping fight the fire, the prior-ity is the task you’re assigned and you put your personal wor-ries — like whether your house is safe — second, ” said John.
Guided by the dozer boss, Austin drove west to establish fire lines on the western flank while another dozer was tasked with plowing circular fire breaks around homes. Becketts had al-ready dug fire lines around their home and shop and many of their neighbor’s homes several days prior.
John said the hardest part about the whole experience has been witnessing the devastation and loss of some of his neigh-bors.
But mountain dwellers are a tough lot in general, said Beck-ett, whose family has lived on Star View Drive since 1990. “There’s an attitude up here that we’re not gonna let this fire get us down. We’re rural, but still a close-knit community. When someone needs help, you help them. It’s that simple.”
Livermore company helped defend neighbors from fireContinued from page 1
Good grub. Even though the fire did not reach Rustic, there was a lot of activity at Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District’s Station 2, adjacent to Eggers School. The design of the new station was aimed at being able to house and support emergency responders, such as firefighters, during a major event. During the High Park fire the station was used as a spike camp, supporting up to 350 firefighters each day from June 17 through 28. The community volunteered each night to serve food and, one day when federally contracted food trucks could not get through, the community put together a meal to feed 50 firefighters with less than an hour’s notice. Even Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts visiting from Nebraska came in one night to serve a meal. Photo courtesy Laura Stahl
‘People do bounce back from terrible loss’
By Dan MacArthurNorth Forty News
Survivors of the High Park Fire have plenty on their plates but above all they’re being urged to take a huge helping of resto-ration as quickly as possible.
That was the main message to the perhaps 300 people who re-cently packed Cache La Poudre Middle School seeking advice about dealing with torched trees and scorched soils.
The forum further offered in-spiration to those already over-whelmed with endless demands following the loss of their homes or incineration of their properties.
“You can do something. I’m sure you’ve felt totally out of control,” said John Fusaro, rangeland management special-ist for the federal Natural Re-sources Conservation Service.
He and other professionals explained that there are rela-tively simple and inexpensive actions residents can take imme-diately to once again assert con-trol by stabilizing fragile topsoil
and beginning to regenerate the forest.
“The top priority is mulch-ing,” Fusaro added.
Mulching follows seeding — which ideally should occur after erosion-control devices are in place. A range of erosion-con-trol methods that can be em-ployed depending on conditions and cost are detailed at www.co.nrcs.usda.gov.
As far as trees, foresters rec-ommend that property owners wait-and-see for six to eight months before cutting them down other than for aesthetic or safety considerations.
Many still bearing green needles may recover. Blackened trees with no green needles are dead. They can be left stand-ing or felled on-site where they can be used for erosion-con-trol structures or chipped into mulch.
Dead trees that have burned for long periods at the trunk are most unstable and hazardous. They can fall without warn-ing on roads, homes and hikers and should be felled with great
caution, preferably by profes-sionals.
Spring offers the greatest po-tential for successful tree re-planting. Summer is the worst.
In choosing species, Hughes said property owners should take into consideration those that thrived there before. He suggested Ponderosa pine, Lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, Rocky Mountain juniper and aspen — which may regenerate on its own given its durable un-derground root structure.
Hughes said landowners can use seedlings available from the Colorado State Forest nursery on the CSU Foothills Campus, or bare-root trees. “Either way will be fine,” he said.
Rather than replanting in a fixed pattern, Hughes said trees are best planted in protected spots at ground level surrounded by no more than an inch and a half of mulch.
But most importantly, he en-couraged landowners to do the best with what they have and have faith that their efforts are having an effect.
Tree replanting will be best in the Spring
16 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
Middle & Senior High School Youth Group: Wednesdays, 7-9:00 p.m.
www.wellingtoncommunitychurch.com
Wellington Community
Church
“Growing in our love for Jesus Christ, His people and His work.”
Join us for Mass at
Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church
Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
Mass TimesSaturdays, 5 pm
June 30th
through Sept. 1st
Directions:287 N to Mile Post 367 at the Forks. Turn left on Red Feather Lakes Rd. for 24 mi. Turn left on Deadman Rd. for 1/10 th mile. Our Lady of the Lakes Church on the right.
10 a.m. Sunday Worshipand Children’s ChurchStay for fellowship and
home-cooked meal after the worship service
6 p.m. Wednesday Prayer7 p.m. Wednesday Bible Study
“You become a new creature, old things are passed away.
All things become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Pastor Randy Rivers Pastor Jim Hudson
970-224-0394www.poudrecf.com
Guest Ministers for August
www.redfeatherchapelinthepines.com
8/5 Rev. Rudy Elam, Baptist, Mt. Olive, IL
8/12* Rev. Paulus Pilgrim, Hutchinson, MN
8/19 Rev. Jack Van Ens, Presbyterian, Arvada, CO
8/26* Burl Kreps, United Methodist, Colorado Springs, CO
* Communion
23947 Red Feather Lakes Rd. • Red Feather Lakes, CO • 881-3508
Interdenominational Christian Church
Forum & Sunday School at 9:30Early Worship 8:30 a.m., Fellowship HallFellowship Hour: 10:30 a.m.Worship at 11:00 a.m.
The Wellington Food Bank, a ministry of Zion, 2nd & 4th Tuesdays, 2-3 p.m.
Held at Wellington Community Church
Zion Lutheran Church8322 2nd Street • Wellington • 568-9301
Sunday Service: Worship at 9:00 amBible class 10:15 a.m.Visit www.wellingtonzion.org for more info.
A Grace-Centered Community of ServantsPastor Mark Gabbert
Places of Worship
By Lola Cook
We are looking forward to these events in August.
Aug. 2: Senior advisory coun-cil, 9:45 a.m.
Aug. 9: Free blood pressure checks, 11 a.m. to noon.
Aug. 14: Field trip to Farmer’s Table, 2141 W. Elizabeth St. in Fort Collins, for lunch. Meet at
the restaurant at 11 a.m.Aug. 21: Grange covered dish
supper at 6 p.m. Bring a friend and enjoy an evening of good fellowship and food, with bingo after supper. Non-members wel-come.
Aug. 30: We’ll celebrate Au-gust birthdays. Bingo with white elephants after lunch. Please
bring your aluminum for our recycling program.
For lunch reservations, call the Volunteers of America at 970-472-9630 by 1:30 p.m. on the previous business day. Meals are also delivered to the homebound. Everyone 60 years of age or older is welcome to participate.
By Maxine Griffin
The summer is skipping by. Here are some of the Senior Center activities set for August.
Aug. 1: Free blood pressure check, 11 a.m. to noon. Celebra-tion of August birthdays, 10:30 a.m.
Aug. 6: Membership meeting, 10:30 a.m.
Aug. 9: Trip to Rigden Farm;
bus leaves the Center at 10:30 a.m.
Aug. 14: Picnic at Dowdy Lake; bus leaves at 10 a.m.
Aug. 21: Trip to Greeley to tour the Natural Gardens; bus leaves at 9:30 a.m.
Aug. 28: Knit and crochet at the Senior Housing clubhouse, 1 to 4 p.m. Lessons for beginners.
Aug. 31: Bingo, 1 to 4 p.m. Bring white elephant prizes and
finger foods to share. Every Wednesday our 4 Star
Band plays from 10:30 to noon. Call Trudy at 970-817-2293 for details.
The center is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with meals served each day at noon. For reservations, call the day before between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at 970-817-2293.
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www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 17
By Creed Kidd, Library Director
Our sympathy to those dis-placed, dislocated or dismayed by the High Park fire.
The Friends of the Library are sponsoring several exchang-es along the route of the annual Wild West Relay and are solicit-ing snacks for participants of the Relay. Needed are salty snacks or baked goods (labeled). Dona-tions can be dropped off at the library on Aug. 2.
Another current Friends fundraising activity is Macy’s “Shop for a Cause” promotion in which you can purchase a $5 coupon that allows you a 25 per-cent discount on most purchases in any Macy’s store Aug. 25. (However, you need to have the card — with barcode — present to receive the discount.) Ad-ditionally, you are qualified to win a $500 gift card drawing by depositing the first part of the card in a designated box in the store that same day.
Upcoming August events: Aug. 3 – Wild West Relay
through the area. Aug. 7 – Child Safety for 4th
through 6th grades. Presented by Susan Vance.
Aug. 7 – Deadline for re-turning RFL Summer Reading Program logs.
Aug. 10 – Library Picnic in the Park – Summer Reading Program finale.
Aug. 10 – Roger Appeldorn, member of Northern Colorado Astronomical Society, presents an astronomy program at 8 p.m.
with telescope viewing follow-ing. An SEEC/RFL Library co-sponsored event.
Aug. 11 – Sugarbabe Carni-val celebration (co-sponsored by the library and the Red Feather Lakes Historical Society).
Aug. 11 – Teen Zone (grades 6 through 12) 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Aug. 15 – Beginning Face-book with Melissa Powell 2 – 4 p.m.
Aug. 16 – Jack Van Ens again returns as Thomas Jeffer-son, this time in the context of the bitter (and dirty) presiden-tial campaign of 2012 er, 1800. Some folk may see parallels.
Last but certainly not least, please remember the Friends RFL Library book sale, Aug. 30, 31, Sept. 1 and 2. With the cancellation of the 4th of July sale, we’ve a great many titles at great pricing: $1 for hardbacks and DVDs, 50 cents for paper-backs and VHS. Bargains hard to find elsewhere.
Otherwise, the Red Feather Lakes area is open, cool and beautiful. There’s terrific fish-ing in Dowdy and West Lakes, camping at various public and private campgrounds and plenty of room for exploring in fra-grant meadows and Ponderosa forests. Don’t forget the Red Feather Volunteer Fire Days, in conjunction with the Labor Day weekend with arts and crafts, a parade and Sunday pancake breakfast, compliments of the Mountain Lions Club. Red Feather high life. Come enjoy.
In Ruth’s Gallery for August: Sugarbabe Carnival artwork.
Orville Charles Hawkins
Orville Charles Hawkins of Red Feather Lakes passed away June 18 at Poudre Valley Hospi-tal in Fort Collins.
He was born to Irvin and Elva Hawkins of Pierce on July 13, 1936. He married Shirley Mae Groves on Nov. 1, 1958. They moved to Red Feather
Lakes in 1976 and were the owners of Alpine Excavating and later Alpine Elk Ranch.
He is survived by his wife,
Shirley, of Red Feather Lakes; three daughters, Sharon Kinney of Severance, Debra Hawkins of Red Feather Lakes and Sandra Hawkins of Fort Collins; two brothers, Roy Hawkins of Pierce and Virgil Hawkins of Liver-more; five grandchildren, Brett Robinson, Heather Wolhart, Dustin Kinney, Jason Kinney, and Amber Garrett and three great-grandchildren, Owen, Samuel and Annabelle Kinney.
His ashes were spread on the ranch on June 28 with close family members in attendance. A memorial service was held at the Morning Star Church in Red Feather Lakes on July 22.
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Wellington Public LibraryWellington Public Library Red Feather Lakes LibraryRed Feather Lakes Library
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Orville Hawkins
By Kathy Bornhoft,Assistant Director
Summer may be a time for most people to slow down and take it easy, but here at the li-brary we tend to get even busier. Still we enjoy the extra activities geared towards the children and teens in our community. Aug. 17 is the last day of the Welling-ton Summer Reading Program, “Dream Big — Read.” We will have our drawings for the grand prizes on that day and will noti-fy the winners by phone. Grand prizes this year are board games and gift certificates to Fort Fun, Barnes and Noble and Walmart. Please have your extra reading forms in before that day. Also Aug. 17 is the last day to collect the first and second prizes for the program. Wellington Mid-dle School early locker choice passes will be given out starting the first week of August. Please get your three book reports in by Aug. 13.
The programs we had this year were so much fun. A spe-cial thanks to Paul Helvie for sharing his knowledge and love of karate, Andy Mason for shar-ing his talent for singing and
entertaining and Ann Lincoln for the incredible magic show. We would also like to thank our generous sponsors; Applebee’s Restaurants, Chipper’s Lanes Bowling Alley, Fort Fun, The Fort Collins Foxes’ Baseball Team, Hanson Innovations tu-toring, Pizza Palace, Pump it Up, Rollerland Skating Rink, Schrader’s Country Stores, Wel-lington Recreation, Fazoli’s Italian Restaurants, McDonalds Restaurants, Culver’s and The City of Fort Collins Recreation. Without these generous people and sponsors the summer read-ing program would not be the success it is. We would also like to thank the Wellington Middle School for allowing us the op-portunity to offer early locker choice as an incentive for read-ing during the summer to the middle-school-age children. After meeting with other sum-mer reading program directors, we realize how lucky we are to have this to offer to the older kids to keep them reading. As always, we are truly grateful for our volunteers. These people unselfishly give of their time to help us out year round at the
library, but during the summer they always seem to step it up even more.
The Wellington Public Li-brary’s Book Club has taken the summer off but will be meet-ing again Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. The book we will be discussing is the classic “The Sun Also Rises.” This 1926 novel writ-ten by American author Ernest Hemingway is about a group of American and British expatri-ates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermin in Pam-plona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication. Some recog-nize it as Hemingway’s greatest work.
Parents, grandparents and caregivers don’t forget our on-going storytimes. August pre-school story and craft times are Aug. 14 and Aug. 28 at 11 a.m.
The Friends of the Wellington Library will be meeting Aug. 6 at 4:15 p.m. If you are inter-ested in joining the Friends of the Wellington Library, please call MaryAnne Martell at 970-568-3401.
AUGUST 18, 2012 3-8 PM • Grant Family Farm
Enjoy great local food prepared by your favorite local chefs!
Live Music / Live & Silent Auctions / Farm ToursTickets: $45 adults, $10 Teens, under 12 FREEFeaturing the bluegrass sounds of Capo ZeroCall 266-1711 or go to www.legacylandtrust.org to reserve your space today!
18 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
Minimizing soil erosion speeds recovery after wildfireBy Ellen NelsonLarimer County Weed District
The task is daunting – ev-erywhere is chaos, disruption, charred trees, and scorched earth. Where do you begin? The most important task after a fire may be to understand the natural processes at work in the landscape. Nature has equipped many plants to recover quickly after fire, often the nec-essary ingredients for recovery are already at hand in the forest soils. Root systems, dormant seeds, nutrients released by the fire, and additional sunlight and warmth from opening the forest canopy all contribute to restora-tion of the forest. That is why it is so important to stabilize the soil after a fire. The soil con-tains the keys to restoration. It is important to protect it from ero-sion during the critical period after a fire.
In the short term, before plants begin the recovery pro-cess, minimizing soil erosion is the most important thing a land-owner can do to speed recovery
after a wildfire. The burn sever-ity determines how vulnerable to erosion an affected area is. High severity fires (slow-mov-ing and very hot) consume all forest vegetation, trees, shrubs, grasses, duff on the forest floor and even shallow roots. All of this material formerly served to slow runoff, absorb water and protect the soil. Instead the soil may now have a hard, waxy coating, and actually repel water, a condition termed hy-drophobicity. This water repel-lent layer will need to be broken up to increase water infiltration and facilitate successful plant reestablishment. Raking, har-rowing and animal hoof action all facilitate breaking the hydro-phobic crust. Natural processes such as freezing and thawing and the re-establishment of the soil microbial community will serve the same purpose.
Additional immediate steps that can help to stabilize the soil include constructing contour terraces using fallen trees or straw wattle barriers; reseeding;
mulching with certified weed-free straw; installing silt fences or straw bale check dams in drainages; using water bars to slow and direct the flow of water off trails and roads. Technical fact sheets detailing how to ef-ficiently and easily implement these practices, and more expert advice on fire rehabilitation are available online at http://bit.ly/firerehab and www.co.larimer.co.us/highparkfire or from the local Natural Resources Conser-vation Service, Fort Collins of-fice at 2150 Centre Ave., Build-ing A, Suite 116, 970-295-5655.
The root systems of many plants run deep and in many areas will have escaped fire temperatures sufficient to cause death. When the plant is burned, the roots may survive and be stimulated to send up new
shoots. Soil that has not suf-fered severe temperatures will contain dormant seeds waiting for the right conditions to ger-minate and grow. Many trees are adapted to fire and rely on it to regenerate new stands. Some types of cones require fire to open and release their seed. The seeds of many shrubs and forbs can persist in the soil for years. Fire often opens an area to more sunlight and warmth resulting in germination with subsequent rains. Many grasses and shrubs will resprout within weeks of a wildfire.
Healthy forests are ecological life-support systems that we all benefit from. Forests are as-sets that we generally take for granted as “free” benefits for all of us: wildlife habitat, wa-tersheds, water storage and car-
bon sequestration in addition to natural and scenic beauty. These natural assets are often under-valued, and when undervalued, our forests are increasingly sus-ceptible to development, over-use and degradation.
Natural recovery processes are already at work in the burn areas, providing real-time dem-onstrations of the amazing resil-ience of natural systems.
For more information on managing weeds after wildfire, contact the Larimer County Weed District. The Weed Dis-trict provides free site visits, plant identification, advice on controlling noxious weeds, and land and pasture management guidelines. Contact the Weed District at 970-498-5768 or lar-imer.org/weeds/ .
Larimer County Weed Districtwww.larimer.org/weeds970.498.5768
Services: Visit our office at 2649 E. Mulberry (Call ahead.)
• Site visits—plant identification & management recommendations• Sprayer loan program—25, 65 & 110 gallon• Herbicides for sale—residents within district receive discount• Program presentations to HOAs or any interested groups• Contract mowing, seeding, spraying—FREE estimates
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North Fork Weed Coop hosted July 14 workshopMore than 50 people attended
the North Fork Weed Coopera-tive’s Land Stewardship work-shop on July 14 at the Red Feather Lakes POA Hall.
Chad Hoffman, assistant pro-fessor of Forest & Rangeland Stewardship at CSU, spoke about interactions between beetle-kill trees and wildfire. Because there are so very many variables (weather, wind, hu-midity and types of fuels) af-fecting wildfire behavior, it is difficult to study just one fac-tor, such as beetle-kill. Some general conclusions that can be drawn from recent studies are that increased amounts of “red” beetle-kill trees (dead trees with
the needles still on) lead to in-creased crown fire behavior; increased amounts of “grey” beetle-kill trees (trees without needles, standing snags, fall-en trees) appear to decrease or cause no significant change in crown fire behavior depending upon weather and topography.
David Leatherman, a retired entomologist from CSU, spoke on the mountain pine beetle infestation. He reminded land-owners that the mountain pine beetle is a native insect, and this infestation is a result of an abun-dance of older trees growing in very dense stands. Leatherman had three suggestions for land-owners: spray the few trees that you couldn’t bear to lose; walk your land and inspect your trees to identify infected trees, take them down and treat them; once the infestation dies out, manage your forest to prevent overly dense stands of mature trees. A healthy Ponderosa pine forest should look like a park with lots of open grassy areas. It should not be dense, crowded, over-grown or difficult to walk in.
Erica Goad, a graduate stu-dent in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at CSU, pre-sented an overview of her re-search on wildlife activity and wildlife habitat in the water-shed of the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. She’s placed motion-triggered wild-life cameras in various locations throughout the watershed to document wildlife activity and how it may be affected by dif-fering densities of development throughout the region.
The Soaring Eagle Ecology Center of Red Feather Lakes hosted Peter Modreski of the U.S. Geological Survey. Pete gave a presentation on the dia-mond-bearing kimberlite pipes in Larimer County and adjacent Albany County in Wyoming. Along with diamonds, the “in-dicator minerals” pyrope gar-net (varying from purple and red to orange), chrome diopside (emerald green), and magnesian limonite (metallic black) are found in the kimberlites and are used as prospecting tools.
www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 19
Gardening & LandscapingGardening & Landscaping11 native plants to liven up your empty hell stripBy Kathleen Halloran The Herb Companion
When I discover an unde-manding plant that thrives in my toughest garden spots, I’m usu-ally not surprised to learn how it comes by its easygoing nature: It’s a native.
Many native plants are tough, drought-tolerant, heat-resistant, cold-tolerant and low-mainte-nance — qualities that make them perfect for that patch of horticultural challenge known as The Hell Strip. That’s the epithet given to the long, narrow strip sandwiched between the street and the sidewalk, usually a rectangle of grass or weeds. Subject to all manner of abuse, these neglected strips are hot and dry in summers, not only because they’re in full sun, but also because they pick up re-flected heat from both sides.
Our low-growing, native plant garden strip combines native herbs, wildflowers and orna-mental native grasses for a tough but beautiful tapestry of color and texture. Once established, it will be more drought-tolerant than the turf grass it replaced. As a bonus, the variety of native plants attracts more butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds and other native wildlife than a bor-ing strip of grass.
Prepare the sitePrepare the soil by remov-
ing any grass or weeds, roots and rocks, and digging in some compost. Generally speaking, native plants do fine in native soil, but compost will improve almost any soil’s texture, par-ticularly if it’s compacted from constant trampling; your plants will do best in a soil that drains quickly but retains the water and nutrients they need, adding to their drought tolerance.
Pick the plantsNative grasses are increas-
ingly available in local garden centers. I like to mix small, clumping native grasses with native flowering herbs for a carefree, long-lasting display. In late summer, the grasses’ wispy plumes add visual interest and spiky contrast to other plants, and the effect lasts into the win-ter.
Please note that some native grasses have a tendency to self-sow too enthusiastically. A hell strip is a relatively contained space with definite boundar-ies, which makes it less likely that its plants will be too in-vasive. Still, it’s best to avoid species that have the potential for invasiveness in your area (again, check with your county extension agent or local nurs-ery owners for advice). Remove the dried seed heads to pre-vent reseeding, weed out new seedlings as they appear, or use the plants’ aggressive nature to your advantage by transplanting the seedlings and expanding the garden strip.
Check the rulesBefore you dig out the grass
along the street, call your local utility companies to make cer-tain you know the location of underground lines or pipes. Also check with city officials. Some municipalities have weed laws, height restrictions or setback rules that could limit your plant choices.
11 native plants for a low-maintenance garden
Here are some native plants that require minimal work for a low-maintenance garden.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeck-ia hirta)
Black-eyed Susans are one of our most beloved wildflowers. They’ll show their sunny faces reliably throughout the summer and reach 2 1/2 to 3 feet. There are both annual and perennial forms of this flower.
Dwarf fountain grass (Pen-nisetum alopecuroides)
Compact fountain grasses include “Hameln” and “Little Bunny” and the taller “Moudry” (about 3 feet), with brown-black flowers. Cut these back to about 8 inches in late winter or early spring.
Be sure to choose this low-growing evening primrose, also called “Ozark Sundrops,” as some others in the genus get tall and rangy and are very aggres-sive. This perennial with cheer-ful yellow flowers usually grows less than a foot tall.
Flax (Linum usitatissimum)This carefree herb, which
grows to about 20 inches and comes in both annual and peren-nial forms, adds its pretty blue flowers to the summer garden.
Little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium)
This grass has attractive blue-green leaves and fluffy white seed heads in the fall; it grows to about 3 feet.
Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima)
Also called wire grass, this perennial has a soft, elegant look and is hardy to about Zone 7. It grows 1 to 1 1/2 feet and seems to dance in the wind. Remove unwanted seedlings in spring; the seeds tend to spread around.
Purple coneflower (Echina-cea purpurea)
These daisy-like flowers on 2-foot perennial plants are now available in hybrids and variet-ies that intensify the colors.
Ruby grass (Melinis nervi-glumis)
Annual ruby grass, including the lovely “Pink Crystals,” is named for the tint of its fluffy seed heads. It stays under 2 feet or so.
Sage (Salvia spp.)Beyond the common garden
sage (S. officinalis), and its multicolored varieties, there are many other garden-worthy sal-via species and hybrids. These include tropical salvia (S. coc-
cinea, an annual or short-lived perennial, including the dwarf “Lady in Red”), the perennial S. greggii in its many forms, and hybrids such as “Indigo Spires” and “Mystic Spires,” with intense blue-purple spikes of flowers through the summer. Shear the plants back in mid-summer and late winter to keep them tidy. All are about knee-high.
Missouri violet (Viola mis-souriensis)
For shady areas under trees, try this carefree perennial, a ready reseeder. It grows to about 6 inches.
Yarrow (Achillea spp.)Yarrow is a perennial with
ferny foliage and white, yellow, red or pink flowers throughout the growing season. Prune hard in spring and fall to keep this plant growing low, about 12 to 18 inches.
Excerpted from The Herb Companion. To read more ar-ticles, please visit herbcompan-ion.com. Copyright 2012 by Ogden Publications Inc.
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From hell to heaven. Try herbs, wildflowers and ornamental grasses for a difficult site. Illustration by Gayle Ford
20 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
July 28, Larimer County Fair and PRCA Rodeo Parade, downtown Loveland, 9:30 a.m.; staging begins at 8 a.m. Free. Info: larimercountyfair.org.
Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, Take Off Pounds Sensibly, Peace With Christ Lutheran Church, 1412 W. Swallow Road, 8:45 a.m. Info: 970-449-9800.
Aug. 2, Red Feather Lakes Planning Advisory Commit-tee, firehouse meeting room, 1:30 p.m. Info: 970-498-7683. Agenda: www.larimer.org/boards/minutes/rfpac.htm.
Aug. 2, Thursday Night Live concert series, Old Town Stage in downtown Fort Collins, 7-9 p.m., free. Tonight’s band: Lind-sey O’Brien Band. Info: bohemiannights.org.
Aug. 3, Zumbathon Fundraiser, Northside Aztlan Center, 112 E. Willow St., Fort Collins, 6-8 p.m., $10 entry fee. Pro-ceeds benefit American Red Cross; additional donations ac-cepted. Info: 970-224-6029.
Aug. 3-7, Larimer County Fair, The Ranch, Larimer County fairgrounds complex, near I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard, Loveland, 4-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 4-9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Free admission and parking; tickets required for PRCA Rodeo performances, carnival and Gnarly Barley Brew Festival events. Info: larimer-countyfair.org.
Aug. 4, 11, 18, & 25, Alcoholics Anonymous Freedom Riders Group, Chapel in the Pines, County Road 74E (Red Feather Lakes Road), Red Feather Lakes, 7 p.m. Info: 970-881-3500.
Aug. 5, 12, 19, & 26, Breakfast at American Legion Post No. 4, 2124 County Road 54G (Hwy. 287), LaPorte, open to the public, 8-10 a.m. Info: 970-484-0418.
Aug. 7, Front Range PC Users Group, Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Drive, Fort Collins, 7-9 p.m. Info: www.frpcug.org.
Aug. 7, 14, 21, & 28, Alcoholics Anonymous, The Filling Station, Cleveland Avenue and Fourth Street in Wellington, 7 p.m. Info: 970-568-0040.
Aug. 8, Pathways Hospice on Our Own, 305 Carpenter Road, Fort Collins, 6:30-8 p.m., no fee, no registration re-quired. Practical guidance and hope for families facing the loss of a loved one, facilitated by Lani Hickman and co-sponsored by Lutheran Family Services. Info: 970-663-3500, www.pathways-care.org.
Aug. 10-12, NewWestFest, Old Town Fort Collins, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Free admission. Happy Birthday, Fort Collins! More than 90 Colorado bands share six outdoor stages with headlin-ers Michael Franti and Spearhead (Friday); Alison Krauss and Union Station (Saturday); and The Gipsy Kings (Sunday). Info: bohemiannights.org.
Aug. 11, Senior Law Day, Colorado State University Lory Student Center, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., $10 includes breakfast, lunch and a copy of the 2012 Senior Law Handbook; parking free. Sponsored by Elder Care Network, 12 seminars will cover
topics including advance directives, powers of attorney, Medicare, es-tate planning, probate administration, Social Security and outsmart-ing investment fraud. Registration and info: www.eldercarenet.org, 970-495-3442.
Aug. 11, Upper Poudre Canyon Craft Fair and Quilt Show, Upper Poudre Canyon Chapel and Firehouse No. 2/Community Cen-ter, 33689 Colorado 14 (mile marker 88.5), 9 a.m.-4 p.m., free admis-sion. Local crafts, live music, food and the ev-er-popular hand-stitched quilt raffle – tickets avail-able at Bighorn Cabins, Archer’s Poudre River Resort or by calling 970-881-2465. Historic Eggers School will be open for tours, too. Info: 970-881-2465.
Aug. 11-12, Home Study Hunter Education Certification classes. Saturday classroom, Sportsman’s Warehouse, 1675 Rocky Mountain Ave., Loveland, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday safe range firing and certificates issued, Pawnee Sports Shoot-ing Center, 40914 Weld County Road 71, Briggsdale, noon-2 p.m. $10. Registration and more info: 970-493-1148.
Aug. 12, The Music Circle, Bellvue Grange, 4-7 p.m., free. Community play-along for recreational musicians. Info: themu-siccircle.wordpress.com
Aug. 13, Northern Larimer County Habitat Partnership Program, DOW office on Prospect Road, 4 p.m. Info: 970-493-3535 or www.nlchpp.com.
Aug. 14 & 28, Wellington Food Bank, Wellington Com-munity Church, 8445 Third St., 2-3 p.m. Bring proof of income and address. Info: 970-568-9301 (Zion Lutheran Church) or 970-568-9220.
Aug. 14, Cruise Night at Taco John’s, 7910 Sixth St., Wel-lington, 6 to 9 p.m., free. Bring out your classic, muscle car, hot rod, tractor, boat or whatever you ride. Info: 970-217-7226.
Aug. 14 & 28 Poudre School District Board of Education regular meeting, 2407 Laporte Ave., Fort Collins, 6:30 p.m. Info: 970-490-3607.
Aug. 14 & 28, Wellington Lions Club, Zion Lutheran Church, Second Street and Garfield Avenue, 7 p.m. Info: 970-568-3946, wellingtonlionsclub.org.
Aug. 14 & 28, Wellington Town Board, Leeper Center, 7:30 p.m. Agenda: www.townofwellington.com. Info: 970-568-3381.
Aug. 16, Fort Collins Mac Users Club, 4926 Northern Lights Drive, 6:45 p.m. Info: www.fortmac.org.
Aug. 18, Wellington Golf Tournament, Mountain Vista Golf Course, 2808 Northeast Frontage Road, Wellington, 7 a.m. sign in, 7:30 a.m. shotgun start, steak lunch 1:30 p.m., $400 per foursome. 11th annual event benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Larimer County. Register by Aug. 3; forms available at bgclar-imer.org. Info: 970-493-3401.
Aug. 18, Local Author Day, Jax Ranch and Home, 1000 N. U.S. Highway 287, and Jax Outdoor Gear, 1200 N. College Ave., Fort Collins, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Authors from Colorado and Wyoming will be signing and selling copies of their books, with 10 percent of sales donated to the Poudre River Public Library. Schedule of appearances and more info: jaxgoods.com.
Aug. 18, Legacy Land Trust Field to Fork Dinner and Sum-mer Celebration, Grant Family Farms, 1020 W. Larimer County Road 72, Wellington, 4-8 p.m., $40 Trust members, $45 non-members, $10 teens, free for 12 and under. Local chefs will prepare fabulous dishes from local ingredients, kids funspace, live and silent auctions to benefit Legacy Land Trust. Make res-ervations by Aug. 13. Tickets and info: www.legacylandtrust.org or 970-266-1711.
Aug. 19, Mission Rocks: A LaPorte Youth Group sponsored by LaPorte Presbyterian Church, 3820 W. County Road 54G, 3 p.m. Children of all ages invited to attend. Info: 970-484-0921.
Aug. 20, First day of fall term for Colorado State University.Aug. 21, Classes begin for all Poudre School District stu-
dents.Aug. 21, LaPorte Area Planning Advisory Committee, West
Fort Collins Water District, 7 p.m. LAPAC is a volunteer citizen committee that deals with land use and community issues. Public invited. Info: 970-498-7683. Agenda: www.larimer.org/boards/minutes/lapacagenda.htm.
Aug. 22, Citizens’ meeting with Commissioner Lew Gaiter III, Buckeye Community Center, West County Road 80, 6 p.m. Info: www.larimer.org/bocc/citizen_meetings.htm
Aug. 22, Waverly Advisory Committee monthly meeting, Turning Point at Waverly School, 10431 N. County Road 15, 7:30 p.m. Info: 970-568-9818, www.waverlycommunity.org.
Aug. 25, Tour de Farms, 8-mile bike ride to farms and gar-dens in Fort Collins area, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., $25, limited to 50 participants. Sponsored by Sustainable Living Association. Info: www.sustainablelivingassociation.org.
Aug. 25, Larimer County Farmer’s Union picnic, Meisner Farm, north of Wellington. 3 p.m. for tour of LaLuna Dairy, 5 p.m. for German-themed potluck. Info: 970-568-3105, [email protected].
Aug. 26, Ponderosa Promenaders dance, Livermore Com-munity Hall, potluck at 1:30 p.m., dancing at 2:15 p.m. Info: 970-482-8261.
The Eclectic Reader will host its 6th Conversation Cafe on August 9 at 7:30 p.m. Topic this month: “Do you Believe in the Paranormal?” Come share your thoughts and/or unusual ex-periences. At 7 p.m., prior to the Conversation Cafe, Lori Juzak, author of “Ghosts of Fort Col-lins,” instructor in paranormal studies and co-owner of Fort Collins Ghost Tours will give a presentation. Conversation Cafe promotes respectful listening and open-minded conversation about meaningful topics. Visit us on Facebook or call 493-7933 for more information. We are lo-cated next to Cups Coffee on Taft Hill Rd. near Elizabeth.
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Saturdays through Sept. 29, Drake Road Farm-ers’ Market, 802 W. Drake Road, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Info: drakeraodfarmersmarket.com.
Wednesdays and Sundays through Oct. 31, Fort Collins Farmers’ Market, Harmony Road and Lemay Avenue (in front of Ace Hardware), 11 a.m.-3 p.m., rain or shine. Info: fortcollinsfm.com.
Saturdays through Oct. 27, Larimer County Farmer’s Market, Courthouse parking lot, 200 W. Oak St., 8 a.m. to noon. Info: larimercountyfarmersmarket.org.
Daily: Narcotics Anonymous, meetings in Larimer and Weld coun-ties, open to ad-dicts and nonad-dicts. Info: 970-282-8079.
L o o k i n g ahead
Sept. 1, Tour de Fat bike parade and event, Civic Center Park, La-porte and Howes, Fort Collins, 9 a.m. parade reg-istration, 10 a.m. parade, music starts at 11 a.m., bike trade at 2:30 p.m. Sponsored by New Belgium
Brewing, benefits Fort Collins Bike Coop and Bike Fort Collins. Info: newbelgium.com
Sept. 1-3, Grand Reopening of Bella’s Market, Wellington.
Sept. 2, Rist Canyon Mountain Festival and 17th an-nual Richard Schmid Art Auction, Larimer County Road 52E, 10 a.m-4 p.m., live auction starts at 1 p.m., free admission and parking. Annual fundraiser for Rist Can-yon Volunteer Fire Department features used book sale, bake sales, craft market, silent auction, food, music, vintage car show, fun stuff for kids. Info: 970-482-6912 or richardschmidauction.com
Sept. 3, Labor Day. No classes for Poudre School District or Colorado State University, banks closed, no USPS delivery.
Make your listing stand out
North Forty News receives 400-500 calendar items each month and we have room for about 60. We make every effort to provide a broad representation of non-profit and benefit events, but can’t guarantee that your item will appear in print.
We have a paid listing option, which will make your event stand out and guarantee that your event is listed. It’s only $19. Information can be found at www.north-fortynews.com/premiumcalendar.
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Ice Cream Social and Square Dance. On Wednes-day September 12, the Ponderosa Promenaders will kick off their fall dance season with a free ice cream social and introduction to square dancing. The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Moun-tain Meetin’ Place, located at Gate 8 in Glacier View Meadows. Come out on and meet your neighbors, bring your friends and remember, square dancing is family friendly. Dress is casual, no partner is necessary. Then on September 19 our fall lesson session will begin. For more information, call Linda Goble, at 970 498 8997.
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Don’t miss the Joe & Kim An-drews Horsemanship Trail Gaiting Clinic in Loveland. This year’s dates are Sept 9 & Oct 21. Call 970-613-0121 or email www.mountainmagi-cranch.com
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22 — August 2012 — North Forty News www.northfortynews.com
For all you have offered and all you have given
For your patience & kindness in the hardest of times
For showing us why we volunteer...
The Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department
Thanks Youwww.rcvfd.org
www.northfortynews.com North Forty News — August 2012 — 23
Adorable, very friendly and tame, 8-week-old kittens. Litter box trained. Solid gray, gray and white, and tiger stripe markings. Located in LaPorte. Call Katie 303.949.2514
Town Wide Garage SaleAug 25th 6am-2pm
Maps available beginning Aug 2 atWellington Town Hall OR at
www.townofwellington.com/cac orat Centennial Park the day of the sale
(3815 Harrison Ave.)
Acreage For Sale. 10 acres near Berthoud. 3-bedroom ranch home w/ attached double garage., 2 baths. Also 32 x 48 shop. and 32 x 48 barn. Property is fenced for grazing & is zoned agricultural. Also has irrigation water. Poudre Valley REA for electric, Xcel for gas. Little Thompson water. Just 25 minutes south of Fort Collins. $437,000. 970-532-2768.
Be Your Own Boss. Start your own business in the health and wellness industry. Expanding globally. No Inventory. Internet Based. Training 24/7. Decide how much money you want to make and how many hours you want to work. Build a business you can leave to your children. Help others to do the same. Don’t delay, contact me today at 970-430-0287 or visit aguero.myshaklee.com.
Horse boarding available on nice owner-occupied 10-acre horse property in LaPorte, CO only 10-15 minutes to Fort Collins and CSU. Stalls/shelters with runs, large outdoor arena, round pen, 5-acre field to ride on and trails nearby. Board includes hay and stall cleaning. $280/month. Call Christian 760.899.9509 www.shoot4themoon.com
P/T Home Helper Wanted, 20-30 hrs. per week. Cleaning, pet care & cooking, paperwork. Ref’s required. Call for more info. 800-983-6190. Live-In Assistant/Country Home for TBI woman. NO PERSONAL CARE. Cleaning, cooking, pet care, misc. 40 hrs. per wk. Quiet non smoker & must love animals. Room, board & salary.Wages/bonuses DOE & performance. To apply email [email protected] or call 800-983-6190.
Reach 50,000 readers. Place your classified at www.northfor-tynews.com/classifieds or call 970-221-0213.
Katie Moon, [email protected] Group, Inc.970-377-6078 Your Local Equestrian & Land Expert
REAL ESTATEVITAL SIGNS
Fort Collins 80525 Laporte Livermore
Red Feather Lakes Wellington Bellvue
Likely Direction
Existing Home SalesYTD June 2012 328 11 17 18 99 11YTD June 2011 246 18 22 17 79 12YTD June 2010 270 13 20 15 98 10Average Home Sales PricesYTD June 2012 $291,775 $202,284 $282,241 $166,794 $190,736 $266,782YTD June 2011 $277,427 $221,722 $230,350 $202,415 $186,714 $234,367YTD June 2010 $271,321 $173,223 $270,623 $176,367 $205,325 $330,759Existing Lots/Land SalesYTD June 2012 8 3 9 19 19 1YTD June 2011 8 2 6 8 3 3YTD June 2010 4 1 4 9 4 2Average Lots/Land Sales PricesYTD June 2012 $102,713 $70,033 $71,589 $43,868 $97,265 $135,000YTD June 2011 $142,100 $154,000 $43,500 $41,250 $93,833 $63,167YTD June 2010 $115,938 $160,000 $67,375 $69,294 $106,075 $79,750Existing Farm SalesYTD June 2012 0 0 0 0 1 0YTD June 2011 0 0 0 0 0 1YTD June 2010 0 0 0 0 1 0Average Farm Sales PricesYTD June 2012 - - - - $128,000 -YTD June 2011 - - - - - $2,100,000YTD June 2010 - - - - $215,000 -
Information provided by Katie Moon, Broker/Partner, The Group Real Estate 970.377.6078Source: IRESIS, This information is deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed.
