Forest Service Bars Ski Film

This is an extraordinary story of extreme overreaching on the part of the Forest Service and "Environmentally Correct" thinking. If you listen to the first clip you will hear the the Forect Service attempt to deny distribution of a film because of it does not reflect approved "wilderness values."


A film about the adventures of extreme skier Chris Davenport can't be shown. Davenport skied every Colorado fourteener in a year. But his film includes images of federal wilderness areas and violates the Wilderness Act. Mike Lamp speaks with Maribeth Gustafson, Supervisor of the White River National Forest.

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Aspen Man First to Ski All of State's Fourteeners

Extreme Skier Chris Davenport of Aspen has experienced Colorado in a way that no one else has. He's the first person to ski all of the state's fourteeners – 54 of them – in one year. He talks to Ryan Warner about his feat.

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Dinosaur Tracks, What Are They For?

Near Boulder, Colorado there is a place where one can, quite literally, walk along the same sandy beach that the dinosaurs enjoyed. It has, of course, been turned to stone and tipped up at an angle by the forces that created the Rocky Mountains. It would now be hidden from view except for the fact that decades ago the area was quarried revealing a smooth sandstone slab with beautiful ripple marks and dinosaur footprints.

The question is should this special place be concealed from the public, or should the public be invited to take a walk along a "Dinosaur Beach?" On the one hand there is the danger that somebody might vandalize the footprint. On the other hand, this is a special place close to a major metropolitan area where people can experience the enormity of time in a way that you just can't do in a museum.

On the Klondike Bluffs trail near Moab, for example, better footprints are found in the middle of a jeep/mountain bike trail where they are clearly marked with rings of stones. There they are left alone and deeply enjoyed by far more visitors (with giant SUV's) than would ever visit this Boulder site. Surely, Boulder's visitors are at least as responsible.

Still, in Boulder, the decision has been to "protect the resource" and keep the people away.

What's the value in that? It's doubtful that scientists need it. They have been studying dinosaurs for decades and there are still mountains to be excavated that would yield better specimens if further research is needed.

The value of this place is in building human connections with the natural environment. And, that's the missed opportunity. Write the Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks department and ask them to change their mind.

In the meantime, here are some pictures. Still, it's not the same as being there. Can you find the track?

It's "Both/And" NOT "Either/Or"

It's not either environmental protection or more environmental recreation. Its both environmental protection and environmental recreation The key is to develop creative ways of maximizing recreational opportunities while minimizing environmental costs.

This principle, of course, extends to the planet as a whole. It's not either environmental protection or human development and prosperity it must be both environmental protection and human development and prosperity. This is a moral as well as a practical question. If the environmental movement allows its interests to be framed as antithetical human interests, then humans will vote their interests and we really will have an environmental catastrophe.

In the absence of such a balancing process the environmental movement boils down to the following phrase:

"Protect the environment, drop dead (in an environmentally responsible way)."