State News

StateNews

On track State offers ballot tracking to all voters, settles mailer lawsuit with USPS

by Andrew Kenney The agreement comes after the & Paolo Zialcita state sued in response to election Colorado Public Radio mailers that the Postal Service recently delivered nationwide. Col

Voters across Colorado will orado officials called them receive text messages and inaccurate and misleading. emails to keep them upEarlier this week, Griswold dated on the status of their mailed said she would ask the Postal ballot in the upcoming election Service to pay for a new election

Previously, only about a quarmailer that outlines the state's ter of the state’s counties offered specific guidelines. Instead, she automatic ballot tracking. Instead, dropped that request in favor of voters in most counties had to log the ability to review materials beonto a state website to check on fore they're sent out nationwide. their ballot. “I am pleased with the settle

The expansion of the Ballotment we reached with the U.S. Trax system makes Colorado one Postal Service,” Griswold said in of five states with a statewide noa press release. “Voters deserve tification program, according to accurate election information. the National Vote At Home InstiThe terms of the settlement tute. Colorado Secretary of State mandate that all reasonable efJena Griswold announced the new fort be taken to remove all unstatewide program last week. delivered misleading mailers

“Being able to track our ballot from the mail stream, and it reis something that’s really imporquires collaboration between tant for voters, to give them conthe Colorado Department of fidence and security,” Pam State and the USPS to make sure Anderson, executive director of all future Postal Service commuthe Colorado County Clerks Assonication includes correct inforciation, said. “I think it gives votmation.” ers a great deal of control and The Postal Service also agreed information about the process.” to collect and destroy the mass

The state plans to send texts produced election mailers that and emails to people who have Danielle Piscatelli works a ballot-sorting machine at Denver Elections Division headquarters on primary have yet to be distributed in Colbeen automatically added to the night, June 30, 2020. The state expanded its ballot tracking capabilities to all voters, who will receive orado. Gregory Graves, a vice system. Voters can ensure they’re text and email alerts on the status of their ballot in the upcoming election. The software, which was president of operations for USPS, enrolled at colorado.ballottrax.net developed by a Denver firm, will also remind voters to turn in their ballots. /Photo by Hart Van Denburg said 75 percent of the mailers – or they can opt out. were already delivered to house

The system will notify people tional Vote at Home Institute. holds in the state. when their ballot has been mailed, when it arrives at the People who used ballot tracking tended to vote at Griswold and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser county clerk’s office and when it has been processed. Some slightly higher rates, she said. That may be because Denver said the flyers contained two pieces of misinformation that counties will offer additional information through Intelliused its system to send out reminders to voters who hadn’t could confuse Colorado voters. gent Mail Barcodes, which allows them to track ballots yet turned in their ballot. “The first is that they urge Coloradans to request a mail within the U.S. Postal Service system. “It becomes this whole communication engine that is ballot or an absentee ballot 15 days before election,” Gris

Denver launched the state’s first ballot notification sysreally good for voters,” McReynolds said. wold recently told Colorado Matters. “You don't have to do tem in 2009. Since then, 12 other counties have adopted The state government paid $70,000 of federal grant that in Colorado. You just have to register to vote and similar systems. Those 12 counties are already using the money to cover the cost of the expansion. The state will you're sent a mail ballot. The second piece of misinformasoftware that will now be expanded statewide, while Dencover the cost of the program going forward, according to tion had to do with when Coloradans had to return the balver is staying on its own Ballot Trace system. Griswold’s office. BallotTrax is operated by the Denverlot through the mail. The USPS suggested seven days before

Real-time ballot tracking could boost people’s confibased tech company i3Logix. Election Day, and the state of Colorado actually suggests dence in mail ballots while they're under scrutiny. President Meanwhile, Colorado has reached an agreement with eight days before Election Day.” Donald Trump has attacked mail ballots as insecure, the United States Postal Service following a lawsuit filed last This isn’t Colorado’s only court victory over the USPS. though elections experts say that hasn’t been true in mailweek over election flyers. Last week, a federal judge allowed the state to grant a navoting states like Colorado, while Democrats have said that The settlement allows Colorado election officials to retionwide injunction to the Postal Service, that would force mail slowdowns could affect ballot delivery. view any USPS materials related to voting, including TV, it to immediately “halt and reverse its drastic operational

In Denver, the ballot tracking system may even have radio and online outreach. If the state determines the machanges.” n boosted voter turnout, according to Amber McReynolds, terials could confuse Coloradans, it has the right to temthe county’s former elections director and CEO of the Naporarily block their release and request a court review. For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to www.cpr.org.

In an effort to diversify the local economy and bring more recreational options to Silverton, the Silverton Singletrack Society proposed 30 miles of new trails on this hillside overlooking town, known as Baker’s Park. The trail system was approved this week by the BLM, which

manages the land, and construction on phase one of the trails is expected to begin next summer./ Courtesy photo

Breaking trail

BLM gives OK for new singletrack system in Silverton

by Missy Votel

The wait is over. After years of an uphill battle to bring more user-friendly riding to Silverton, mountain bikers have gotten their wish.

This week, the Bureau of Land Management gave its blessing to 30 new miles of singletrack on land it manages just north of the small town. Known as Baker’s Park, the trails are part of the newly updated Silverton Travel Management Plan, which represents years in the making.

“We are pretty dang stoked,” Klemens Branner said Tuesday from Silverton. Branner is the president of the Silverton Singletrack Society, which spearheaded the effort to get more – and better – riding options around Silverton. “It’s been a long road to get to this point,” he said.

According to Branner, currently there are only about 10 miles of rideable (for mere mortals, that is) singletrack around the town, which, as we all know, is surrounded by prime riding terrain.

“We have awesome mountain biking in Silverton, but it’s rugged, rough around the edges, extreme and not very well maintained,” said Branner. “If you’re an expert, it’s a great place to be. But if you’re like me – not an expert –there’s not much.”

That’s where the Silverton Singletrack Society, or SSS, got its start in 2014. The idea was to offer some opportunities to explore the area on two wheels (*and without a throttle, but more on that in a minute) while also revving the local economy.

“We wanted to cater to everybody – including ourselves – and to help with the economy and get a different segment of tourists,” he said.

That latter part of the equation has become particularly poignant with the shutdown of the town’s summer lifeblood, the D&SNGRR, first in 2018 due to the 416 Fire and then again this summer because of COVID.

The idea for more biking options in Silverton got a fortuitous break when the BLM announced it was updating its travel management plan for the area a few years ago. With the help of the International Mountain Biking Association, the SSS drew up a concept for trails on a hillside on the outskirts of town known as Boulder or Storm mountain. And, as it just so happened (after all, it is a small town) Branner’s wife, Lisa, worked for the town and helped arrange community meetings to gauge interest and sentiment. Soon, with the approval of both San Juan County and the Town of Silverton, the plan was brought to the BLM in 2019 for final public scoping and, eventually, sign-off.

“It all just worked out really well, our plan was part of a larger plan,” Branner said.

Although the Baker Park plan did find broad support, it was not without its detractors, with some residents expressing concerns over impacts to the already fragile tundra as well as wildlife, including the threatened Canada lynx. Branner said steps were made to limit impacts, and one trail above treeline was not approved by the BLM due to wildlife concerns. 4

“You can’t have it all, we get it,” said Branner.

The 30 miles of trails, which will cover everything from easy “greens” to technical double-blacks, will be built in phases at an estimated total cost of $1.4 million, Branner said. The trails will be open to Class 1 e-bikes (pedal assist) as per the BLM’s edict last summer, and almost all of the trails will be open to foot traffic as well.

The main priority for next summer will be to build what Branner calls a “big blue loop,” which is made up of trails 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 12 and 4c (which hopefully will receive catchier names by then.) He expects the easier trails to be built with the help of professional trail builders and youth corps members, while the burlier black trails will have to be hand-dug by group members and volunteers.

Speaking of which, if you’ve been sitting on the fence about joining the SSS, now’s the time. Branner said there are about 50 full-fledged members, from Silverton, Durango and nearby places, but he has more than 1,000 on his e-mail list. “Hopefully they’ll turn into full-on members now that we’ve gotten approval,” he said.

In addition to the 30 miles of trails in Baker’s Park, the newly updated Travel Management Plan officially incorporated 12 miles of existing routes and also added a new 1.6-mile dirt bike connector in Minnie Gulch.

This Wednesday marked the last time Mark Esper will ever put the Silverton Standard to bed.

Next week, the 145-year-old paper will change hands, yet again, and Esper, who was editor for 13 years, will retire for health reasons.

“A few weeks ago, I urged them to find a replacement,” said Esper, 62.

“Them” is the San Juan County Historical Society, which took over the ailing paper in 2009. Prior to then, it had been owned by a newspaper chain out of Telluride, with Esper at the helm. The Historical Society stepped in when the Telluride owners threatened to shutter the unand Miner is the longest continually operated newspaper and business on the Western Slope and has been designated a National Historic Site.

Last week, the Historical Society announced it had sold the paper to a group of Silverton locals, headed up by

Aaron Brill, owner of Silverton Mountain. Although Brill The latter, which will connect dirt bikers to an extensive Forest Service network, allowing them to make a loop, was perhaps the most contentious part of the plan. The Minnie did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment, Esper said Silverton schoolteacher Megan Davenport will take over editorial responsibilities. Esper, who just bought a house (the old Walker Hotel) in Silverton, said he plans to stick around to help Davenport learn the ropes. But he said the paper is in good hands.

Esper “I think she’ll do a great job. She’s really smart,” he said.

Although he reportedly has not had a vacation in 13 years, Esper said his departure is bittersweet.

“It’s rough when the phone rings and you’re trying to write a story,” he said. “It’s been a blast, but it’s not all fun and games.”

He also said he would miss the casual, often sleepy pace

Gulch area is prized for its solitude, wildlife habitat and is home to the Minnie Gulch Ute Trail, home to prehistoric cultural sites important to area tribes.

The BLM said it agreed on mitigation measures with the Southern Ute Tribe to reroute the new dirt bike trail away from the Ute Trail and to install interpretive signage along the Ute Trail, which will be open to foot traffic only. In addition, the Ute Trail will be monitored for abuses, and enforcement stepped up, if necessary. The dirt bike trail will also be closed seasonally every year for wildlife until July 1 or the first snowmelt, whichever comes later.

Overall, the BLM said the plan reflects its overarching goal to meet the increased recreational demand on public lands.

“This decision responds to requests from the Town of Silverton and recreational user groups for more trails in the area,” BLM Gunnison Field Manager Elijah Waters said in his record of decision. “The roads and trails author

Silverton ized by this decision will enhance the recreational offerings and access to public lands in the area for residents and visitors alike.” n

For more info on the SSS, go to: www.silvertonsingletracksoci ety.org. For more on the Silverton Travel Management Plan, go

Writing off into the sunset: Esper’s retirement instigates ownership change for Standard

profitable paper. Founded in 1875, the Silverton Standard

to: https://go.usa.gov/xmMab. of Silverton goings on. Although he has covered such huge events as the Gold King Mine Spill and apocalyptic avalanche cycles, more often than not, “news” constitutes more pedestrian moose sightings, Victorian picnics and scofflaw OHVers. “It doesn’t take much to make page 1 around here,” he laughed.

Esper, who’s originally from Flint, Mich., has also worked at papers in Traverse City, Mich., Montrose and at the Farmington Daily Times. However, he said he considers Silverton his home now.

“It’s a great town,” he said.

And it’s a town he feels may be on the cusp of big changes – for better or worse.

“I get the drift that Silverton is about to take off,” he said, adding a few unminced words of editorial caution. “I just hope we don’t get ‘Telluridden.’ I do worry Silverton is headed in that direction.”

– Missy Votel

GoodEats

Pass the chips Tomatillos just may outlive the apocalypse – and make it taste a whole lot better

by Donna Hewett

Laura and Tom are the kind of keto-friendly couple we all admire. Hard workers, annoyingly thin and fit, cheerful, literally on the go nonstop, even in the midst of a pandemic. This pair is especially busy now, mid-September, with their town garden literally tumbling to the ground with a myriad of matured fruits and veggies.

Tom’s what you might call meticulous. He began the garden late last winter, starting all the vegetables by seed. (This is a man who knows a 3- year-old beet seed is better to plant than last years.’) A self-taught mastergrower, he produces hundreds pounds of his own food every year.

Laura, the harvester and knower of all things ripe, grew up in the land of the home-canned (Minnesota). It’s a process as natural to her as making a pot of coffee. Only this year, with all the “victory gardens” being toiled across the country, wide-mouth canning jars and lids are as rare as, well, toilet paper was last spring. Online, $70 will buy you a dozen, with no mail-by date guarantee.

“It’s outrageous,” she spouts.

But back to the garden.

Fat cabbages and pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupes peek out here and there between fennel blossoms, squash and peppers, onions, parsley and cilantro. Tri-colored grapes wrap around a grayed wooden fence, while the very heavy Spanish pear tree trembles above it all.

Without much thought, Tom planted a couple tomatillo seedlings a few years back and ever since, with their graceful shape and tiny yellow flowers, they have dominated, displaying pretty papery green husks split open with fruit ready to pick. It’s a no-fuss, nobrainer annual, re-seeding itself in any sunny, acrid spot. But the challenge, according to Laura, is that they’re not exactly petite.

“I just canned 18 pints of salsa verde with them, and it’s already time to pick again.”

A single tomatillo plant can easily produce 10-15 pounds of fruit. And being an “indeterminate,” they’ll continue production well into the chilly fall weather.

“Honestly, I wish they’d just give me a break this year,” she says with a lovely, exhausted smile.

A neat package of seed is left to blow far and wide if the husks aren’t all picked up, which is how the tomatillo has survived well beyond a millennia. According to the journal Science , a 52-million-year-old fossilized tomatillo was recently discovered in the Patagonia region of Argentina. Was it the food of dinosaurs?

It’s a tough, tart fruit that originated in Mexico and was then domesticated by the Aztec, who dried and ground the berries to produce a meal used for bread-mak

ing. It was a cardinal food crop for them, as well as for Native Americans, who boiled the fruits with a small amount of water and ground it into a mortar with raw onions, chilies and coriander.

The lower moisture content of their dried seed increased the chance of being carbonized in fire. Thus, charred tomatillo seeds dating from as early as AD 298 have been found as nearby as the Yellow Jacket pueblo site in Cortez, the Salmon Ruins in Farmington and just west of Albuquerque, at Caja Mesa.

These days, it’s a very common plant that’s wildly ignored, and sometimes even delineated as a pestering weed. Despite their edibility, anything not wanted in one’s garden can be thought of as such. Take my friend, Missy, a small-town, easy-going newspaper editor (of the one you’re reading). She considers them as an invasive flora with savage intent.

“I swear those things will outlast the apocalypse,” she says. After ripping up their entire lot (where the plants had gone nuts) during a renovation, one single tomatillo plant was found the next year struggling (surviving) within all the rubble. “It was like the Charlie Brown X-mas tree of tomatillos. It even bore a fruit or two, the scappy effer.” The fruit’s name is a bit of a misnomer. In Spanish, tomatillo means “little tomato.” They are distant cousins, but largely the now forgotten ones of the nightshade family. Which is a shame. Not only are tomatilllos an easy way to add a “new” and unusual edible to your kitchen garden (you may want to keep them caged), they’re also bursting with a long list of antioxidants that contain lots of anti-cancer potential. But the genuine question is, how do they taste? A bit sour and sweet, like a green apple or an unripe strawberry, with bright citrus notes and a dense, dry, seedy texture. Eaten raw, they can have a bracing acidity that’s nearly effervescent. Dried (to me) they taste like a raisin tossed with cranberry sauce. Both ways, they’re a curious fibrous component, especially for vinegary autumn salads. It comes as a surprise when the ping-pong ball-sized fruit, hard as stone and Cimmerian green, melts so quickly into a slightly sweet, mellow, frothy tasting broth over heat, and fades yellow to light green in color. A keystone of Mexican cuisine, tomatillos are traditionally combined with chili peppers; their coolness balancing out the former’s spice. Which brings us back to Laura and her award-winning salsa verde. She’s knee-deep in prep today. I touch a tomatillo readied for slicing. Shiny but still rather tacky, which nutritionally is a dandy thing – a tidbit most people don’t know. Her little kitchen very well might smell of an ancient Mayan’s dwelling. Fruity. Earthy. Good.

Miss Laura cooks nothing in half-measures. She’s got three good-sized sheet pans of tomatillos roasting, two in the oven, one outside on the grill. They’re heaped along with cherry tomatoes, habañero and jalapeño peppers, a sprinkling of fresh oregano, cilantro, purple basil, and plenty of garlic and onion. After everything caramelizes, she simmers it for a short time in a large bath of fresh lime juice. Before this gets buzzed up in the blender, and while it cools, she adds her secret ingredient (monk fruit). Then it’s off to the canning station, i.e. the long dining room table where, come January, the salsa will be happily gobbled up.

We sample the chunky bad-assness warm, with Tom’s nicely seasoned, dehydrated zucchini chips. For them, this batch is a fleck too spicy. Not for me. It’s juuust right. The greenish condiment produces a nice, slow burn that’s as welcomed as our recent cool weather. And suddenly, I’m back in love with fall (endlessly). n