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2020 VISIONS

With turnout of 50 - 75 participants at each event, the forums demonstrated the great interest that community members have in these issues. And there continues to be a great deal of energy for moving forward on a number of fronts.

We provide here a brief summary of the individual forums and outcomes of the final community discussion.

Collaborative Planning for Prosperity and Conservation

We asked Rebecca Carter of the Sonoran Institute to kick off our forum series by addressing these questions. Speaking to 75 people at the Global Resource Center on March 22, Dr. Carter described how other “gateway” communities – those that serve as an entry point into protected lands – have been affected by rapid growth and how some have worked to preserve the best aspects of their communities. View Rebecca's powerpoint here (2.75MB).

Two pairs of towns in particular served as interesting cases. On the edge of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge had lost its character to strip-style development by businesses serving tourists. Since it had not defined itself, invested in attractive infrastructure, or asked businesses to adhere to community standards, it ended up looking like Anytown, USA. And, faced with a confusion of signs, driveways, and lights, it would have been nearly impossible for any individual business to try to improve things on its own.

Pittman Center, alarmed by what had happened down the road to Pigeon Forge, conducted a series of community meetings. Without much difficulty, different sectors of the community agreed that what defined Pittman Center and made it a great place to be was its location in the mountains next to the national park. From there it was a short step to deciding that the quality of residents’ lives and the attractiveness of their community to tourists would both be enhanced by adopting standards for development more in keeping with the community’s identity. The town invested in rustic street signs and worked with businesses to encourage signs and landscaping that were consistent with the community’s vision. As a result, said Carter, Pittman Center is a far more attractive destination for tourists.

The second pair of towns, Ketchum and Challis, border a proposed, 500,000-acre wilderness are in central Idaho. Ketchum, on the south side of the area and next to the Sun Valley ski resort, has followed the path of communities such as Aspen. Certain businesses, including trail outfitters and river runners in addition to the skiing industry, have prospered mightily. The natural beauty and recreational opportunities of the area have attracted wealthy vacation-home owners who have made realtors and land owners prosperous as well.

Many longer-term residents of Ketchum and many others attracted to the area by economic opportunity can not afford to live in the town, however. According to Carter, small towns an hour’s drive away have seen radical change as subdivisions have replaced ranches to meet the demand for housing in Ketchum.

Challis, on the north side of the proposed wilderness, has a very different character. By dint of location and lack of ski resort, it has retained the rougher, rural feel it has had as a mining town and trading post since 1876. Many residents want it to stay that way and have opposed the wilderness proposal. But the same anti-government stance that fuels this opposition undermines efforts to preserve the town’s identity. Ex-West Coasters bought up houses during a mining downturn in the 1990s, and newcomers have continued to do so even as mining has restarted, tightening the housing market and changing the town, wilderness area or no. It’s no Ketchum, but in a few years it may well not be Challis, either.

Lee Nellis, now a colleague of Dr. Carter’s at the Sonoran Institute, commented on Challis’s situation ten years ago, when he worked as a planner in Idaho. “There’s a key principle in this planning game,” he told the High Country News. “No one learns anything from anyone else.”

Community Design for Active Living

Marni Ratzel, Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner for the City of Boulder, described how Boulder has built an infrastructure of separated paths and on-road bike lanes that supports human-powered transportation, active living, and the health of its residents. Also essential were city ordinances requiring bike racks when parking lots were built, bike lanes in new developments, and conservation of “greenbelts” linking different parts of the city. One result: 16 percent of all commuting in Boulder is done on bicycle. View Marni's powerpoint here (Note: this file is 75MB).

Gail Ryba, former coordinator of the NM Bicycle Coalition, Jamie Thomson of the Bicycle Advocacy Group, and Joe Hutto of the Walkability/Accessibility Advocacy Group spoke about state and local efforts.

Healthy Environment as Economic Asset

Economist Jennie Rice explained how resource conservation efforts provide significant economic benefits to local communities. These range from nature-based tourism and tax savings from reduced sprawl to increased property values for homes located next conservation areas and the free provision of services such as reduced soil erosion and flood buffering. View Jennie's powerpoint here (196 KB).

Joseph Gendron, Silver City’s Trails and Open Space Coordinator, discussed the town’s efforts to preserve open space and develop greenways throughout the city, such as Boston Hill hiking trails and the possible San Vicente/Big Ditch trail. View Joseph's powerpoint here (19.8 MB).

Kevin Bixby, director of the Las Cruces-based Southwest Environmental Center, presented ideas for developing Mexican gray wolf-based tourism in the Gila Wilderness. View Kevin's powerpoint here (1.15 MB).

Local Energy Sustainability

As Mark Sardella, founder of Local Energy in Santa Fe, pointed out in our fourth forum, creative solutions do exist for communities that wish to reduce dependence on coal and natural gas as we enter the post-“Peak Oil” era. In Santa Fe, his group has a contract to use biomass to heat buildings. Other options include cultivating oil-producing algae crops and creating local utilities that use wind or solar electric generation. He cautioned, however, that it will be impossible to maintain our current level of energy use, even if all renewable sources are fully developed, so people will need to dramatically change their lifestyles.

Gordon West of the Jobs and Biodiversity Project described that local effort to use small-diameter trees cut from the forest for manufacturing and heating.

From Plans to Action: A Community Discussion

The culminating event of the 2020 Visions Series, a participatory forum facilitated by Joanne McEntire, brought people together to exchange ideas, describe visions, and launch community projects.