“Giving locals something to do on Thursdays since 2002” *According to a very unscientific and impromptu office poll
The legend of Tonypandy, and why it matters today more than ever by David Feela
Trump’s energy policies hurt public lands, leave taxpayers holding bag by Barbara Vasquez / Writers on the Range
An idea with legs
Could paying ranchers to grow ‘wolf friendly’ beef be the way? by Tracy Ross / The Colorado Sun
LPEA to begin adding Vallecito hydropower to grid in 2026 by Telegraph Staff On the cover Like her Irish namesake, Silverton’s Maggie Gulch beams a bright shade of emerald green last week./ Photo by Andy High
The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-
ster powder days.
Ear to the ground:
“It’s the full-on window rodeo.”
– Putting an adventurous spin on Durango’s daily summer ritual of home temperature regulation
By the horns
One of the newest kids on Durango’s restaurant block, The Tangled Horn, is in a pickle. According to owner Seth Broadhead, the eatery/music venue at 275 E. 8th Ave. (next door to Anarchy Brewing) is in danger of closing its doors.
Broadhead, who opened The Horn last October with help from his brother, Willow, put out a plea with a link to a crowd-funding source this week. “(We) took a leap of faith in 2024, launching The Tangled Horn, a vibrant new restaurant designed to bring families, artists and good food together in a uniquely Durango atmosphere,” Broadhead wrote. “But after eight months of resilience, heart and grit, the dream stands at a tipping point – and I am asking the community for help.”
In true startup fashion, the brothers poured sweat equity and personal funds into building the restaurant, navigating permitting hurdles and assembling a bar, kitchen and outdoor space. But the journey has been far from smooth. From burst pipes and faulty appliances to staffing struggles and surprise legal fees from a Snowdown Fight Club event (which, as it turns out, ran afoul of a rarely cited Colorado law), the challenges have piled up.
Despite all this, Seth said the establishment has given back, spending more than $20,000 to hire local musicians and buying more than $30,000 worth of ingredients from Colorado farmers and producers.
Seth said when the space – formerly occupied by Macho’s, which moved out in 2022, and DNA Rock and Blues Bar, which failed to open after two years – he jumped at the chance for his dream: a farm-to-tablebased restaurant. Most recently working as a general contractor, Seth spent 10 years working on farms in Sonoma County, Calif., and five years as a chef in the Bay Area.
However, Seth said he now faces the possibility of selling his home to keep the dream alive as loans, debt and overhead costs mount. He said all options are on the table, from partnerships with local investors to working with another chef on a breakfast concept to hosting events and fundraisers.
“The Tangled Horn cannot survive without help,” Seth said.
Folks can step up by donating to its crowdfunding campaign at www.indiegogo.com/ projects/save-the-tangled-horn#/. Or better yet, go enjoy a burger, beer and some live music under the shady trees of its back patio.
A fundraising party also is in the works. Stay tuned to Insta (or your beloved Telegraph “Stuff to Do” section) for dets.
LaVidaLocal opinion
Where
in the world is Tonypandy?
– Welsh pronunciation: [Toe-nah pawn-dee]
Tonypandy was known in the mid-19th century as a successful coal mining community in Wales. It still exists as a town, but the industry is gone, having dug up all it could sell before moving along to bigger deposits. The town achieved a kind of notoriety in Great Britain as the scene of the 1910-11 Tonypandy riots, though most of the falderal associated with that violence is also gone; most likely just forgotten.
Even in fiction where stories are supposedly “made up,” they still powerfully illuminate the flaws of human nature. The word tonypandy – not the town’s name – is also the subject of a popular historical myth that troops fired on the miners. In her 1951 award-winning novel “The Daughter of Time,” Josephine Tey refutes this lie and coins the town’s name as a word that applies to all myths, “when a historical event is reported and memorialized inaccurately but consistently until the resulting fiction is believed to be the truth.”
Her main character, detective Grant, explains it more assertively: “The only bloodshed in the whole (riot) affair was a bloody nose or two ... tonypandy ... the shooting-down by troops that Wales will never forget, a completely untrue story grown to legend while the men who knew it to be untrue looked on and said nothing.”
think with the right or the left side of our brain, we are urged to accept the unacceptable and pass along another shady myth to America’s future.
Even before the 2025 inauguration, trumpandy was busy, reporting that FEMA’s money “is all gone” or that “disaster assistance money was improperly reallocated to migrants” or that “Biden didn’t have any money left for North Carolina.” These lies, posted and reposted in social media forums for six months, continue to batter North Carolina’s coastal disaster-relief efforts long after hurricane Helene pushed off to sea. Little lies to justify the White House’s refusal to support the state’s urgent request for assistance.
In short, tonypandy is a lie buried in the stratum of history waiting to be uncovered.
Closer to home, consider the 1864 Sand Creek battle site, finally renamed for the sake of truth in 2007. It never was a “battle” – not a fight between large organized armed forces. It was a mass execution. Now it’s referred to as The Sand Creek Massacre Historical Site, where hundreds of Native Americans (living under a white flag of truce) were killed, a majority of them women, children and elderly.
It shouldn’t take generations for the truth to surface. Lies are continuously being fashioned, as if on a lathe that shapes our current events, forever turning a clumsy block of wood into a fancy carved pillar. Tonypandy is alive and well and living in the White House.
In this era of radical and unconstitutional revision, we need to call it out for what it is: trumpandy. Just another version of tonypandy, a stream of disinformation continuously lodged into the hemispheres of our politics. Whether we
Thumbin’It
The City of Durango was named the “Organization of the Year” by the International Association for Public Participation for its engagement efforts, which include a community engagement specialist, monthly Engage Durango forums and a website for public feedback.
No more shoelace anxiety at the airport. Apparently, effective immediately, we can all keep our shoes on when passing through the airport security line. Now if we could just get people to keep their shoes on while on the plane.
We don’t want to jinx it, but we think the m-word is finally kicking in over the skies of Southwest Colorado, a very welcome relief after several days with highs in the mid- to upper-90s.
Even after the 2025 inauguration, trumpandy is fitting – a lie to fuel the notion that America is “at war” with “an invasion” of Venezuelan gang members. Of course, it’s an undeclared war, fabricated by executive order, a war that promises to give more than a black eye to our Constitution.
Even after the first 100 days, trumpandy applies to the false narrative of “genocide being used against white South African farmers.” By holding up fake news photos and mumbling “I don’t know, all of these are articles over the last few days, death of people, death, death, death, horrible death,” Trump demonstrates classic Orwellian doublespeak in our retrofitted Brave New World, as the president declares sanctuary for a small but exclusively white population of Afrikaners who support him, all while ICE continues to arrest thousands of dark-skinned migrants who are quickly deported into the unknown.
This list goes on as trumpandy becomes our new government. “I don’t know” serves as the president’s talking point, a way to disagree with a reporter’s question about a lie by sidestepping ownership for the lie he previously told. Then he goes on to make up “what he’s heard” as if the lie might be truth.
True and responsible governance is not a political party game like telephone. Peoples’ families are being torn apart, lives turned upside down. What we tell each other is important. It matters. We need not settle for absurdity. It’s not an amusement as the host whispers a quick story into another person’s ear, who in turn whispers it to the next person in line, and it gets passed along the grapevine until the final player announces what he was told. The crowd realizes how different it is from the original story that started the game. Everyone starts laughing, especially the person who started it.
– David Feela
SignoftheDownfall:
As we write this, Congress is voting on whether or not to take a hatchet, or maybe more of a blow torch, to funds for public broadcasting and radio, the only source of news (other than The Telegraph, of course) for many locals.
Well, after dodging the bullet, wildfire season has come to SWCO, with smoke inundating the region from fires near Montrose, Moab and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where a historic lodge has been burned to the ground.
Despite containment efforts, the Colorado River is now officially positive for invasive zebra mussels, with three new samples coming up with larvae between Glenwood Springs and Silt.
Snort Bus
Tina Renner got high and walked into a West Virginia gas station two Saturdays ago where she stole some pizza rolls, candy and a slushy. But on the way out, she got tired of walking, so she stole a bus that still had a passenger onboard and drove around the block to a Huddle House, which is some sort of weird East Coast restaurant. But the restaurant was so close that the actual bus driver was able to follow on foot and board the bus. So Tina escaped through the emergency exit (which is totally what it’s for) only to be arrested a few minutes later on a warrant that was already out for her. Oddly, even after all that, Tina is only the second biggest idiot on the East Coast right now.
Backsliding
‘Energy dominance’ policies hurt public lands, leave us holding the bag
by Barbara Vasquez
Ilive in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not only are they an ugly sight, they are also just a few of the estimated 2.6 million unplugged wells across the country that leak methane, benzene and other toxic substances.
The reality is that long after I’m gone, most or all of those wells will remain unplugged. The companies and people who once owned them will have been allowed to walk away from their responsibility to clean up their mess.
Uncapped wells are what happens when the federal government enables the fossil-fuel industry to dominate energy policies, as is happening again now. The policies allow companies, including many foreign ones, to profit from public lands and minerals that all Americans own. They will also leave taxpayers holding the bag for cleaning up leaking wells.
These abandoned wells already have consequences for wildlife, air, water and rural people. Kirk Panasuk, a rancher in Bainville, Mont., near the North Dakota border, said he has personally experienced serious health scares after breathing toxic fumes from oil and gas wells near his property. “And I’ve seen too many of my friends and neighbors in this part of the country have their water contaminated or their land destroyed by rushed and reckless industrial projects,” he said.
Republicans, Democrats and congressional members in previous administrations took pains to reform this historically biased federal energy system because of the damage done to rural communities and American taxpayers. Now, the federal government is rolling back those reforms.
Recently, the Interior Department announced that “emergency permitting procedures” were required when carry-
ing out NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Timelines for environmental assessments for fossil-fuel projects were changed from one year to 14 days, without a public comment period. The timeline for more complicated environmental impact statements was cut from two years to 28 days, with only a 10-day public comment period.
In May, the House Natural Resources Committee unveiled its piece of the recently passed budget bill, which enables the federal government to expedite oil, gas, coal and mineral development. It gives Americans basically no say on the projects and keeps taxpayers from receiving a fair return on the development of publicly owned lands and minerals.
The administration’s justification for expediting permits is that we face “a national energy emergency.” No such emergency exists. The United States is currently the world’s biggest exporter of liquified natural gas and is producing more oil than any other country on Earth.
Both the so-called “Big Beautiful Budget” Act and the Interior Department’s policies ignore the long-standing mandate to manage public lands for multiple uses. Instead, the new policies:
• Drastically reduce the public’s role in the permitting process.
• Allow large corporations to pay to evade environmental and judicial review.
• Exempt millions of acres of private lands with federal minerals and thousands of wells on these lands from federal permitting and mitigation requirements.
• Slash the royalty rate for oil and gas production from 16.67% to 12.5%, depriving state and local governments of funding they depend on for schools, roads and other essential services. An analysis by Resources for the Future found that the proposed lower royalty rates would result in a loss of
An estimated 2.6 million abandoned wells across the country remain unplugged and leaking toxic substances. While previous administrations made reforms to protect against dangers from by oil and gass drilling, the federal government is now rolling those reforms back./Courtesy photo.
nearly $5 billion in revenue over the next decade.
The Interior Department’s emergency permitting procedures and the BBB are assaults the federal government has waged on public lands since January. The public has been shoved to the side as oil and gas drillers enjoy their energy dominance throughout our public lands.
Now, it’s up to us to tell our elected representatives that these policies ignore the wishes of Westerners. We have told
pollsters innumerable times that we support conservation, not exploitation of public lands for private interests. What’s happening now is radically wrong.
Barbara Vasquez is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. A retired PhD biomedical researcher and semiconductor engineer, she is board chair of the Western Organization of Resource Councils and a board member of the Western Colorado Alliance. ■
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SoapBox
Slow your roll
I walk the Nature Trail daily. I also grew up bicycling here and in major cities. I’ve even done hard-core mountain biking, commuting, riding in traffic and fun riding. But, when I yell to remind you that there are older people, younger people, dogs and wildlife on the trail (it is a Nature Trail no matter what you think) it’s because I’ve also worked in an emergency room and helped prosecute and defend serious crimes.
The trail speed is 10 miles per hour. If you want to keep your rights to ride, ride close to that speed unless there’s no one on the trail and you’re not a danger to yourself or others. Key word others. Hitting a person on your bike is generally an aggravated battery. Killing them regardless of the reason is murder. Slow down. Don’t argue, unless you want to be reported. Do you need a speedometer maybe? Banning electric bikes from trails might help.
If you want to ride a motorcycle, then get a license and use the damn roads. It’s that f***ing easy.
– Christa Turnell, Durango
Who drives the bus?
There was once a city bus that managed to get most people to their destinations. Although far from perfect, the bus tried to welcome everyone who needed a ride. But there was one group of people they actively discouraged: the rowdy bar hoppers who came to the bus station pushing and shouting, demanding that the bus driver take them where they wanted to go. Between the driver and the other passengers, the drunks were usually pushed off.
But then the drunks started offering drinks to the passengers who were waiting impatiently for the bus to come. Before long, half of the people at the station were drunk. The drunks did not like the sober people; they felt judged and belittled, and thought the sober people were just too stuck up to take a drink. So the sober people and the drunk people started sitting apart. Then they started fighting.
One of the drunks, a particularly loud and obnoxious man, was a favorite among the drunks because he had a party spirit: he was fun, eager to fight, never sober and happy to embrace
anyone who was as drunk as he was. When this man decided he wanted to drive the bus, promising to take the drinkers where they wanted to go, the sober people were appalled; they could
not imagine giving the bus keys to a drunk driver.
Afraid for their lives, and the lives of others, they pointed out that driving drunk was both illegal and reckless.
But the drunks, who were no longer thinking clearly, believed that the sober passengers were only whining because they didn’t want the bus to go to bars. So they shoved the bus driver off and let their new friend drive.
The sober people condemned the drinkers who had allowed a drunk to drive, but this only made the drunks madder, and they began to push anyone who didn’t want to party off the bus. The drunks cheered as the bus picked up speed, thrilled to be going where they wanted to go (although they were no longer sure where that was), and too drunk to worry about the risk of crashing. The wealthy car drivers trusted that they could stay out of the way, but the other citizens – the pedestrians and bicyclists – were afraid of the erratic speeding bus; many of them had already been hurt, some killed. They begged the sober passengers to stop the bus. But it was too late to stop the party… except by accident.
– Tim Thomas, Durango
A bullies’ world
I can’t forget pictures of body parts hanging on the fence and children’s bodies on the ground. Netanyahu claims the bombs were aimed at Hamas. He is creating Hamas. He is Hitler, and Hamas doing unto others what was done to their people. Vengeance begets vengeance begets vengeance begets vengeance. The bullies of America lust in building America the concentration camps and the aid of masked police. How do we throw a wrench into the bullies’
world of lust, greed and arrogance doling out hate, pain and fear?
– Stephanie Johnson, Hesperus
Free the budgies
Re: “Busting out all over” (“The Pole,” Telegraph July 3), in Australia, where parakeets are native, they are called budgerigars or budgies, and Speedos are referred to as “budgie smugglers.”
– Rhys Shrock, Durango
Support Ukraine, NATO
Various reputable agencies have reported an estimated 13,000 - 17,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza along with possibly 100,000 injured from Israeli bombings that occurred after the Hamas attack on Israel. An estimated 13,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine by Russian aggression and on the order of 40,000 or more Ukrainians injured, including in areas where some of my ancestors lived.
Russia has devastated the Ukrainian infrastructure, including power plants, water distribution systems, warehouses, businesses and housing. Israel has levelled structures and destroyed infrastructure in Gaza while it tried to destroy Hamas.
Protesters at U.S. colleges and other locations have conducted anti-Israel demonstrations, and in some
cases targeted students who have no affiliation with Israel and its activities.
If the protesters and some letter writers care about civilians killed in Gaza, why don’t they care about the civilians killed in Ukraine? Why aren’t there protests against Russia? Aren’t the Ukrainians just as important as the Gazans? The Jew haters should transfer their attention to Russia and protest against the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The United States should continue to support Ukraine with military equipment, supplies and intelligence, which Ukraine can pay for with their rare earth minerals. I hope the recent decision by NATO European countries to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP does not mean the United States might step back from NATO. The security of Europe flows through Ukraine, and U.S. abandonment of Ukraine and NATO could possibly lead to WWIII.
– Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry N.H.
We’ll print damned near anything
The Telegraph welcomes healthy civil discourse in 750 words or less. Writers must include their (real) name and city/town/state of residence. Personal attacks, hate speech or any other kind of b.s. deemed libelous are not welcome. Please email your profundities to: telegraph@durango telegraph.com
RegionalNews
A recreational toll
Study finds elk more sensitive to trail impacts than mule deer
by Telegraph Staff
Turns out, all ungulates are not created equal when it comes to their tolerance of human recreation. At least according to a new study by Western Colorado University graduate Chloe Beaupré.
Beaupré recently published research showing that trail use impacts wildlife species differently, with some more affected than others. The study, published in the journal Ecosphere, offers new insights into how elk and mule deer respond to trail use and human presence.
Beaupré and her collaborators – including Western graduate student Alissa Bevan, Western Provost Jessica Young and Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Kevin Blecha – deployed more than 100 motion-activated cameras in 59 pairs throughout the Upper Gunnison Basin. One camera faced a trail, while another was positioned 100 to 1,800 meters away from the same trail.
“Most studies target trails or try to measure recreation and wildlife in the same location,” Beaupré, who was the first student at Western to earn both a Master of Environmental Management and a Master of Science in Ecology, said. “We were interested in how animals behave on and off-trail in response to human activity happening on a trail, and in understanding how far those effects extend.”
Inspired by a planning effort focused on recreation in the Gunnison Basin, the researchers studied a sample of everything from unmaintained dirt roads to singletrack. During the 2020 research
by Wayne D. Lewis/CPW
period, which stretched 160 days from the end of June to early December, the team recorded more than 130,000 photos of humans using the trails (approx. 71,000 motorized, 59,000 nonmotorized) along with roughly 22,000 mule deer and 10,000 elk.
“I was very surprised by the number of recreators that are out there!” Beaupré said. “At some cameras, it was almost nonstop traffic throughout the day and sometimes into the night and early morning.”
When the photos were analyzed, the researchers could clearly see that elk and deer respond to recreation in dramatically different ways. Elk were much more likely to steer clear of the trails, and the more traffic on a trail, the less likely elk were to be nearby. The research suggests a “critical distance threshold” of 655 meters from trails for elk, below which their activity decreased significantly.
Conversely, deer were much more likely to be present near high-traffic trails. Unlike with elk, the research couldn’t
identify a distance at which deer became uncomfortable with humans, according to the paper. According to Beaupré, that may reflect a regionally specific “human shield effect,” where deer are drawn to areas with more people because predators tend to avoid them.
The research was made possible through funding from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, CPW and the Margie and John Haley Environmental Fund. The findings could help shape trail planning and recreational management throughout the western U.S.
“For people who enjoy hiking and biking, it’s important to be cognizant that recreation does have an effect on wildlife. I know most of us love a wildlife sighting in the woods, but to ensure these moments remain possible in the future, we need to be thoughtful about how and where we recreate,” Beaupré said. “Respecting seasonal closures, sticking to designated trails, and leaving some areas as true wildlife refuges can go a long way.”
As outdoor recreation continues to increase across the West, the need for thoughtful, data-driven land management is more urgent than ever, she added.
“I’d encourage managers to focus recreation traffic along certain trails rather than promoting sprawl across the landscape, and to plan any new trails within the 600-meter footprint that is already being disturbed,” she said. “Certain trails may even need to be decommissioned if they extend past that footprint. This isn’t about choosing people or animals, it’s about finding smart ways to share the land.” ■
A bull elk bugles in the sagebrush in Gunnison County. A new study by a Wester Colorado University graduate found elk and mule deer have different thresholds of tolerance when it comes to human presence on nearby trails./
Photo
Quick’n’Dirty
Beginning next April LPEA will start adding power generated from a hydropower plant at Vallecito Dam, seen here, to the local grid. The plant will add about 5.8 megawatts a year./ Photo Courtesy LPEA
LPEA to add Vallecito hydropower
In addition to powering recreation adventures, Lake Vallecito will now be powering thousands of local homes with clean energy. La Plata Electric Association announced this week it has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement with Ptarmigan Resources and Energy Inc., an oil and gas company located in Bayfield, for hydropower from Vallecito Dam.
The agreement, which takes effect April 1, 2026 – the day LPEA officially leaves longtime wholesale provider Tri-State Generation and Transmission – will provide approximately 5.8 megawatts of renewable capacity to LPEA’s system, enough to power around 2,500 homes per year. It’s the first time LPEA has been able to buy power directly from Vallecito, thanks to new flexibility in its evolving power supply strategy.
“This is a win for our members and our mission,” LPEA CEO Chris Hansen said in a statement. “For the first time, we’re contracting directly with a local hydropower provider right in our back yard.”
Between 1988-89, Ptarmigan built a 5.5 megawatt power plant downstream from Vallecito dam that is powered by the release of flows from the lake. The hydropower facility has long provided energy to the regional grid. However, LPEA’s previous contract with Tri-State limited its ability to work with independent producers like Ptarmigan.
“This project is exactly what we envision for the future of energy for our members: affordable, responsibly generated power produced right here in our community," Nicole Pitcher, LPEA Board President, said. “It’s meaningful that the same water sustaining our ranches and farms and bringing joy to recreationists will also be generating clean energy for homes across our service territory.”
Sam Perry, CEO of HydroWest, which is contracted by Ptarmigan to oversee power plant operations at Vallecito, said the partnership is a win-win. “With this new partnership, Vallecito can provide consistent, renewable energy and grid stability to LPEA,” he said.
This purchase agreement follows LPEA’s launch of a request for proposals earlier this year seeking additional long-term energy resources to serve its load after 2028.
Durango Mesa work rolls along
In case you haven’t noticed, things are moving along at Durango Mesa Park. In addition to the opening of new trails this summer, work is also taking place on the park’s infrastructure, including roads and utilities to the park.
For most of the summer, traffic on Highway 3, near the park’s entrance, has been down to one lane as crews work to build a new turn lane and intersection. However, work on the intersection wrapped up this week, with Highway 3 traffic patterns returning to normal. Crews will continue work on paving Ewing Mesa Road.
However, as Highway 3 returns to normalcy for the time being, work will move to the Horse Gulch trailhead parking lot, which will be closed for three weeks. Crews will be using the parking lot and nearby streets as a staging area to install a new waterline to the park. During construction, E. 3rd Street will be narrowed to one lane to allow for access to the Horse Gulch Medical Center parking lot and nearby apartments and businesses.
Meanwhile, the sidewalk on 3rd Street will be closed although the HAWK pedestrian crossing at 8th & 3rd will remain open. Bikers are asked to not ride through the construction zone or park in the medical campus’ lot and instead use the entrance from 9th Street.
The waterline installation is the second phase in getting water up to the mesa; the first phase was completed this past spring. Infrastructure work for the mesa is an ongoing collaboration between the Durango Mesa Park Foundation, Colorado Department of Transportation and City of Durango. The main contractor is Four Corners Materials.
Currently, Durango Mesa Park is owned and operated by the Durango Mesa Park Foundation. The 1,850-acre parcel was bought in 2015 by local philanthropist Marc Katz. Katz procured the land with the dream of keeping hundreds of acres as open space and turning 800 acres into a cultural and recreational playground open to all. Plans include an outdoor venue, new trails, a dog park, BMX track and a worldclass bike park.
While most of the projects are still in the planning stages, several new trails have opened in the last few years. These include a 2.15-mile connector from Durango Mesa Park to the Horse Gulch Trail System, the Durango Mesa Hub and flow trails, and, most recently, a trail from the hub that ties in with the Grandview trails as well as new ones on the Mesa.
Creative District christens new space
The Durango Creative District has new downtown digs, and it’s celebrating the occasion with – what else? – an art exhibit.
The show, called “Portrait Lotto,” opens this Fri., July 18, with a reception from 5:30-8 p.m. at the district’s new headquarters at 1135 Main Ave. Featuring the work of 38 local artist, the exhibition is described as a community-building initiative where artists were assigned fellow artists to meet, interview and ultimately capture through portraiture. The end result includes a wide variety of media, styles and interpretations ranging from traditional figurative and assemblage to quilting and stained glass.
In addition to providing display space for local and visiting artists, the new DCD space will also serve as a hub for arts resources, workshops and classes. It will also serve as the epicenter for the monthly First Friday Art Walks, distributing maps as well as information on First Friday happenings.
All exhibits are free and open to the public. To inquire about rental, grant consultations or collaborative use of the space, contact Kathryn Waggener at director@creativedistrict.org.
LifeontheWestSlope
A new reality
Is paying ranchers to raise ‘wolf friendly’ beef the answer to conflicts?
by Tracy Ross / The Colorado Sun
(Editor’s note: The following is the second in a two-part deep dive into conflicts – and potential solutions – between wolves and ranchers on the Western Slope. The story first appeared July 6 in Colorado Sunday, a special magazine of The Colorado Sun.)
Idaho rancher Lowell Cerise’s idea to pay Roaring Fork Valley ranchers –either through private donations or funds from a nongovernmental organization – to live with wolves may sound crazy. But it’s not without precedent.
In 2019, The National Wildlife Federation paid fair market value for a 33,000acre Upper Crystal River Valley grazing allotment to protect native bighorn sheep from pathogens that could have been carried by domestic sheep.
In 2023, the federation paid a family of sheepherders an undisclosed amount to waive their grazing permits on 10 large, high-elevation allotments in the San Juan Mountains near Silverton for the same reason.
And in 2022 in Montana, the federation partnered with a conservationminded rancher besieged by grizzly bears on his grazing allotment along the Madison River near Yellowstone National Park. The federation says “what started as an attempt to retire grazing from a portion of the allotment transformed into a new model in addressing conflicts” when they negotiated a 12-year deal with the rancher in the form of a forgivable loan of $300,000 if the rancher used nonlethal management strategies (paid for by the wildlife federation).
But some think ranchers should be doing more to advance coexistence without any special benefits.
Rainer Gerbatsch, an Arvada resident and vocal wolf supporter with the advocacy group ColoradoWild, thinks the plight of ranchers gets too much play in the media.
“What about the rest of the world? What about the rapidly changing climate in the West, in Colorado, the water scarcity, the riparian destruction?” he asked The Colorado Sun in an email.
And why the hyperbole over a few ranchers losing a few cattle, when, according to the USDA’s 2024 Colorado Agricultural Overview, Colorado’s cattle
inventory in early 2025 was approximately 2.55 million head, while confirmed wolf-related cattle losses for 2024/ 25 so far are less than 30.
Extreme focus on the so-called negative impacts of wolves upsets Gerbatsch as a grandfather worried about his grandchildren’s future, and wolves “are ecological regulators,” he wrote. “Their presence initiates trophic cascades that restore riparian vegetation, reduce elk and deer overbrowsing, limit mesopredator populations (such as coyotes) and indirectly enhances carbon storage through increased vegetative cover … when Colorado is entering a new era of climate stress.”
Gerbatsch thinks killing “a whole wolf family” or putting it in a sanctuary is not a solution. “Once ... the next predation occurs the same people will be screaming again to kill the next family for the noble cause of saving the wolf reintroduction program!” he wrote. “Coexistence is not a checkbox. It is a dynamic, adaptive practice requiring commitment, communication, ecological knowledge and trust.”
Joanna Lambert, a scientist and profes-
sor of wildlife ecology and conservation biology at the University of Colorado, who has studied the interactions of endangered species and humans in Nepal, India and Africa, has a different take.
Her opinions come from experience working in “really remote parts of the world, where – I’ll just be frank – humanwildlife conflict is real,” she said. “Where, literally, one to two people a week get killed by tigers, or somebody’s auntie got gored by an elephant and their uncle just lost all their crops to that same elephant.”
While witnessing the conflicts from wolf reintroduction in Colorado, Lambert said she’s “been like, ‘man, knock it off.’
If we cannot solve these problems in the richest country in the world, in the most fabulous landscapes remaining in the Northern Hemisphere, with untold numbers of resources and access to support ... then where can we solve them?”
Yet she says she gets frustrated when people “aren’t engaging with the empathy of, wait a minute, this is new. For several generations, folks making a living in rural working landscapes have not had to live
and contend with wolves. It takes time to become accustomed to this new reality, and it takes time to learn how to use nonlethal coexistence tools. All of us working toward a world where both wildlife and humans coexist need to be more empathetic and compassionate toward this.”
To be clear, wolf advocacy groups including Defenders of Wildlife, The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, and Rocky Mountain Wolf Project are trying to help ranchers with a suite of nonlethal tools to prevent wolf conflicts.
From April 2024 - March 2025, they gave $900,000 to support CPW’s ongoing deployment of fladry and scare devices like motion-activated alarms, propane cannons and airhorns. At the same time, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service made $2.5 million available for exclusion fencing (electric fence/ fladry), carcass management (disposing of dead animals properly so wolves aren’t attracted by their scent), range riders (who watch over herds and look for wolves at night), and livestock monitoring (keeping track of what you’ve got).
Ranchers meet at the McCabe Ranch in Old Snowmass on June 11. / Photo by Kelsey Brunner, special to the Colorado Sun
Support is also abundant: During the same period, CPW officials completed 215 assessments across 16 counties, to determine what kind of nonlethal tools ranchers needed, upon their request, and deployed those tools in nine counties.
And some livestock may have been saved: In seven locations across three counties where fladry was installed, CPW’s 2025 annual report says an average 200 cow/calf pairs were protected for a duration of 45-73 days. And in five locations where fladry was installed during the 2024 calving season, no livestock were lost to wolf depredation, they said.
But ranchers also report CPW waiting until a wolf is in their cattle to get them materials, instead of proactively. Range riders show up miles from where they should have been after a wolf is spotted. They say carcass and attractant management has been unclear or inadequate. And in June, a powerful consortium of wolf advocacy groups petitioned CPW to tighten the reins on wolf compensation claims after the Grand County ranchers were awarded $580,000 for losses.
The petition asks for amendments to the gray wolf compensation program that would make claims eligible only if wolves are proven to be the “ultimate and direct” cause of a livestock loss, and that compensation for any wolf-related losses is contingent on ranchers proactively using nonlethal coexistence methods.
The intention of the petition is “to ensure the longterm sustainability of the gray wolf compensation program and to strengthen the commission’s ability to comply with its statutory requirement to resolve conflicts and establish and maintain a self-supporting population of gray wolves,” Delia Malone, one of the petition’s sponsors, said in an email.
But to Cerise, it feels like one more strike against ranchers already stressed to their limits. That includes Day, who’d have more wolves at his place after the June 11 meeting and decided to do something about it.
Clear and convincing evidence?
The video Day’s employee took through his spotting scope on June 22 shows several wolves harassing Day’s livestock. They work together to separate a cow and calf from the herd until the mother cow charges, her calf close behind her. She averts attack as the herd thunders across the screen in her direction. The wolves eventually scatter.
Now armed with proof, Day wrote a message to the Cervenys, Nieslaniks and a few others along with the video. Cara Nieslanik later posted it on Facebook.
“Ranchers taking matters into their own hands” sounded like Day and others were ready to kill the harassing wolves. But when Day spoke with The Sun on June 24, he said he wasn’t so sure about the language in CPW’s “Wolf-Livestock Conflict Minimization Program,” which describes the Gray Wolf in the Act Permit, which CPW can issue retroactively to a rancher who takes a wolf in the act of attacking their livestock.
He asked a lawyer to look at the video and the definition, and the lawyer told Day if he shot a wolf and killed it, it could become “a major court case.”
“Because any normal individual could see that the intent of the wolves was to peel that calf off and eat it,” Day said. “Yet one person might look at that wolf and say it’s ‘in the act’ of attacking, and someone else might look at it and say it wasn’t.”
So he decided not to shoot any of the wolves, which are an endangered species. Day couldn’t be sure shooting one wouldn’t land him in prison. Even though “you
A
CPW wolf conflict coordinator installs fladry –flagging used on fences around ranches to deter wolves from harassing or attacking livestock./
watch that video and all the other footage we have on a regular-size screen for too long, and you don’t care about going to prison. These are our cows. They work for us. And they’re fighting for their calves’ lives all night,” he said. A different perspective and video
Pete McBride is a Pitkin County resident, world-renowned photographer and member of the McBride family, who owns Lost Marbles Ranch. On July 2, on his Instagram account, he posted his own photo of a wolf.
It’s an incredible shot, if you like the animals. The wolf appears to be trotting through willows. Sun glints off its thick, gray-brown coat. And its eyes are focused on something to the left of one of several cameras McBride had placed around the property.
The title of his post is “Wildlife and Wolves – Fact and Science vs. Fear and Fable.” And the wolf is just one animal he captured over a series of nights he said he spent on the ranch “with our producer’s herd.”
Over five weeks, a single camera captured a menagerie of animals including two wolves (possibly the same one), an elk, a coyote, the biggest black bear he’d ever seen, a moose that tried to eat the camera, a mountain lion and a bobcat. And what that showed, he says, is that wolves aren’t the only predators in the valley. Nor are they the only animals that prey on livestock.
He doesn’t have proof that the coyote, lion or bear killed calves; he just knows there’s been a lot of movement in the area. He wants to help both his neighbors and the wolves, so he calls CPW and lets them know when a wolf shows up on his camera. Some of the data uploads to his phone; some he has to collect in the field.
Within hours of posting his carousel of photos, 3,000 of McBride’s 808,000 followers had interacted with his post. That makes him happy, because he knows commissioner Jacober made a motion at the meeting June 11 for CPW to get rid of the Copper Creek pack, just as he knows how much distress and heartache the wolves have caused the ranchers, just as he wants the wolves to have a fair shake even though their existence has caused
even him and his family distress.
Which is sort of how Day described the feeling, on June 28, he had after CPW’s DeWalt and Davis paid him and Cerveny a visit.
CPW comes calling
They’d come to discuss the challenges the Copper Creek pack had brought the ranchers. They “sat in the yard,” Day said, “and it was very cordial.”
But the main reason DeWalt and Davis came, he felt, was to remind them “of the 10(j) rule and how they can’t get rid of all the wolves,” Day said. “Mike and I appreciated their time, but after they left, we just sat there feeling like, is there ever going to be a solution?”
For a few days, it seemed like there was. On June 24, CPW dispatched two range riders to patrol Day’s and Cerveny’s ranches for 30 days. When the wolves came near the herd, they were hazed. The wolves responded by keeping their distance. The help was intended to give the ranchers a break from watching over their cattle 24/7 and to deter wolves from those herds.
But on July 3, Day said his area wildlife manager called to tell him they were going to send the hazers and the range riders home. And on July 4, Day’s buddy, who lives on the Forest Service allotment where his cows spend their summer, called to ask if he was moving them, “because we’ve got something going on here,” he said.
“Wolves ran a set of cows that was down in the bottom of a valley up a road, along a trail to Josh’s house,” Day said. “They ran them over a cattle guard and now one cow is crippled as hell. And there were a couple of calves who were laying on the side of the road that looked like they’d been shot dead, but they were just flat-out exhausted.” He called his wildlife manager to tell him about the carnage, but two days later, he hadn’t heard back. He was planning to ride into the area and try to figure out what happened.
Meanwhile, up in Idaho, Cerise is thinking hard about the buyout idea.
“It was talked about on the Diamond Moose allotment west of Salmon in about ’02,” he wrote in a text. “But this would be a new model allowing people to target donations to a specific region/issue instead of blindly sending yearly donations to some group and maybe not seeing direct results.”
The idea could have legs, Malone, the wolf advocate and sponsor of the new petition to tighten the reins on compensation, said in an email. “BUT, the point of a public lands grazing lease buyout is to return the land and native wildlife to the land, not continue the grazing of an invasive species (cows and sheep) that has severely degraded land health and has simultaneously been instrumental in causing the decline of native wildlife.”
Suzanne Asha Stone, another highly regarded wolf advocate who has seen several successful examples of ranchers and wolves coexisting, also likes that ranchers are putting their heads together to come up with an idea that doesn’t involve killing. But, she says, she’s heard them tossing around “half a billion dollars or more” to make the plan work, and “there are cheaper ways to address the problem, through range riders, livestock guardian dogs and innovative ways of raising cattle.”
In Cerise’s vision, ranchers would offer a new kind of beef raised in a wolf-friendly zone and branded “wolf friendly,” he said. “If the wolves eat half, it costs twice as much,” he added.
This story first appeared in Colorado Sunday, a premium magazine of The Colorado Sun. ■
Photo by Rachel Gonzalez, CPW
Thursday17
Forest Health Stewardship Day, 9 a.m.-12 noon, Hermosa Creek Trail, Forest Rd 576
Walk & Wonder, a walkers’ meetup, Thursdays, 11 a.m.-12 noon thru Aug. 31, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St., Ste C-2
“Know Your Rights” with CO Attorney General Candidate Michael Doherty, 12 noon-1 p.m., Bayfield Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Dr., Bayfield
Ska-B-Q with music by the Ben Gibson Band, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
“A Tribute to JT w/ Brice Beaird,” plays Concert Hall at the Park, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Buckley Park
Spanish Conversation Hour, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Weekly Dart Tournament, 5:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Brooke Williams “Encountering Dragonfly” Author Event, 6-8 p.m., The Rochester Hotel Garden, 726 E. 2nd Ave.
Mineral Hill plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Trivia Night on the Plaza, 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio
Trivia Night hosted by Aria PettyOne, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Open Mic, 8-11 p.m., The Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Friday18
San Juan Nature Walks, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Andrews Lake upper parking area
KSUT’s Party in the Park featuring Los Lobos, gates open at 5 p.m., Buckley Park
Matthew Sievers “The Memories of Moments” opening reception, 5-8 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., Unit B
Pete Giuliani plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Baron’s Creek Vineyards Tasting Room, 901 Main Ave.
Tom Ward’s Downfall plays, 6-8 p.m., Durango Winery, 900 Main Ave.
Friday Nights at Fox Fire, 6-9 p.m., Fox Fire Farms Winery, 5513 CR 321, Ignacio
The Pastor plays, 6-9 p.m., The Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Black Velvet plays, 6-9 p.m., Gazpacho, 431 E. 2nd Ave.
Thee Fearless Peasants play, 6-9 p.m., the Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Dustin Burley plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Music in the Mountains Chamber Candlelight Concert, 7 p.m., Community Concert Hall, Fort Lewis College
“Scriptprov” formal acting meets improv comedy, 7 p.m., Merely Player Theatre, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Adam Lopez plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
“5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” presented by Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, 7:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Durango Star Party, presented by SJMA and the Durango Astronomical Society, 8-10 p.m., SJMA’s Durango Nature Center, 63 CR 310
Liver Down the River plays, 8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave., Ste. F
Saturday19
Bird Outing with Mike Foster, 8-10 a.m., SJMA Durango Nature Center, 63 CR 310
Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-12 noon, Saturdays thru Oct., TBK Bank, 259 W. 9th St.
Walk & Wonder, a walkers’ meetup, Sundays, 11 a.m.-12 noon thru Aug. 31, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St., Ste C-2
“5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” 2 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Open Folk Jam, 2:30-5 p.m., The Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Weekly Peace Vigil & Rally for Gaza & Palestine, every Sunday, 4 p.m., Buckley Park
Pete Giuliani plays, 4-7 p.m., The Clubhouse at Dalton Ranch, 589 CR 252
Music in the Mountains Chamber Orchestra: Gluzman Plays the Four Seasons, 5 p.m., Community Concert Hall, Fort Lewis College
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
AskRachel In a fix, nail-biting and feeling salty
Interesting fact: A dog’s nails might grow, on average, 0.1 mm per day. So it would take more than a billion years for a dog’s nail to grow the circumference of the Earth.
Dear Rachel, I’m sick and tired of “planned obsolescence.” I’m not even old enough to remember when people used to fix things when they broke. But I’m aware this was the case. I feel guilty sending things to the dump. But worse than that, I hate starting over. Life would be more satisfying if I could bring new life to everything from my toaster oven to my MacBook. There has to be other people like me. Can we start a commune or something? – Junked
Dear TInker, I, too, would like to fix things I have bought. By which I mean, I would like to hire someone to fix things for me. I personally have no desire to disassem-
Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Monday21
“Living with Wildlife,” 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
“5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” 7:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Business Brainstorm, 12 noon-1 p.m., FLC Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225
Climate Café, 4:30-6 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
“A Life of Meaning,” online book club, 5-6:30 p.m., online via Zoom
ble electronics or put them back together. That said … things are cheap nowadays. But, there’s so much cheap crap to buy that we go broke faster. My parents used the same hot plate from the day they were married until at least last Christmas. And they’re not broke. Broken, yes, but not broke.
– Unfixable, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
Every time I take my dog to the vet, they chastise me for how long his nails are. But I can’t cut them because he fights me when I try. He’s also old and all his walks are on dirt, so they don’t wear down. And they stick out at funny angles so they don’t even touch the ground. Am a horrible pet parent?
– Nailed to the Cross
Dear Clickity Clack, I don’t have near enough information to know if you’re a bad pet parent. I just know you’re a bad nail trimmer. Maybe you and your dog need
wildnewway.myflodesk.com/alifeofmeanin gonline
Locals at Leplatt’s Pond, music, food trucks, fishing and family fun, 5-9 p.m. every Tuesday through July, LePlatt’s Pond, 311A CR 501, Bayfield
Rotary Club of Durango presents Team Up’s Lynn Urban speaking about the recent transition from the national United Way, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
“Compass Points” Navigating Community Resources Speaker Series, 6-7 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 Highway 140, Hesperus
Black Velvet plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
a pact: Every time you trim one of his nails, you trim one of yours too. In just a few weeks, you’ll be really super motivated to cut his nails – or else to cheat on your pact. And you can’t do that. Not to the dog.
– Well trimmed, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
Tell me what is expected in this day and age of Airbnb (are we still boycotting them? Let’s just say “vacation rentals”). My friend and I just took a trip and rented a place for a week. The listing says “kitchen basics provided.”But there was no salt. No pepper. No oil. Nothing at all that counts as edible. Also, no tissues, no clothes hangers. I think this is inhospitable. My friend thinks it’s perfectly acceptable. How wrong is he, and how right am I?
– Guest Left Guessing
Dear Expected Visitor, Do you remember when all us nor-
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Concerts in the Plaza with Kirk James, 6-8 p.m., Three Springs Plaza, 175 Mercado St.
Music in the Mountains World Concert: Sundaes on Tuesday with Music for Dessert, 7 p.m., River Bend Ranch, 27846 HWY 550
Secret Circus Summer Series, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Wednesday23
Weekly Bird Walks, 8-9:30 a.m., Durango Public Library Botanical Gardens, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Great Garden Series: “Preparing county fair submissions for success,” 4:306 p.m., Durango Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Bingo Night, 5-7 p.m., Animas River Lounge at DoubleTree Hotel, 501 Camino Del Rio
La La Bones plays Community Concert Series supporting Community Connections, 5:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio
Email Rachel at telegraph@durango telegraph.com
mal folks learned the word “disrupt?” Uber was disrupting taxis. Airbnb was disrupting hotels. I suspect we’re at the stage where the disruptors are about to be disrupted. I can see it now: A new brand of places to stay, one where your condiments and seasonings are guaranteed! I stand with you, salt and tissues should be standard. Maybe Airbnb’s planned obsolescence has arrived.
– Checked out, Rachel
Music in the Mountains Dinner & Family Concert “Beethoven Lives Upstairs,” 5:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
“A Life of Meaning” in person book club, 5:30-7 p.m., Wild New Way, LLC, 813 Main Ave., Suite 201
“On the Road,” meeting with La Plata County commissioners, 6-7:30 p.m., Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Dr.
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., The Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Chuck Hank plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
True Western Rodeo, 6:30 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Comedy + Karaoke, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Secret Circus Summer Series, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Ongoing
Dementia/Alzheimer’s Caregivers Support Group, 1st, 3rd & 5th Wednesday of each month, July 17, 2025 n 13
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): For the Dagara people of Burkina Faso, the element of fire has profound cultural meanings. It’s a symbol of innovation and inspiration. It’s a mediator between the physical and spiritual worlds. Through rituals, fire is a purifying and renewing force that helps people reconnect with their purpose, heal relationships and catalyze positive change. In coming weeks, I hope you will be deeply aligned with all these symbolic meanings. What are you ready to ignite for the sake of nurturing and care? What truths need light and heat? What future visions would benefit from surges of luminosity?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the Nahuatl language spoken by Indigenous Mexicans, the word nepantla describes an in-between space. It’s a liminal threshold where a transition is in process. The old ways have fallen away, but the new ways are not yet fully formed. It’s unsettling and perhaps confusing yet seeded with the potential for change. I suspect you are now in a state resembling nepantla. Please understand that this is a chrysalis. Any discomfort you feel is not a sign of failure but a harbinger of the wisdom and power that will come by molting the identity you have outgrown. I hope you will honor the rawness and speak tenderly to yourself. You are not lost; you are mid-ritual.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The sea slug Elysia chlorotica is a small, unassuming creature that performs a remarkable feat: It eats algae and steals its chloroplasts, then incorporates them into its own body. For weeks afterward, the slug photosynthesizes sunlight like a plant. I believe, Gemini, that you are doing a metaphorical version of this biological borrowing. Some useful influence or presence you have absorbed from another is integrating into your deeper systems. You’re making it your own now. This isn’t theft, but creative borrowing. You’re not copying; you’re synthesizing and synergizing.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ancient beekeepers in Anatolia carved hives directly into rock faces, coaxing honey from the cliffs. This practice was designed to protect bees from harsh weather and predators while maximizing honey production. The bees adapted well to their unusual homes. I suspect, Cancerian, that in coming weeks, your sweetness and bounty may also thrive in unlikely structures. It could take a minute or two for you to adjust, but that won’t be a
problem. Your instincts will guide you. I advise you not to wait for the perfect container before beginning your work. Make honey in the best available setting.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I laughed until I sobbed as you earnestly played the game of love even after the rules had changed. I sighed till I panted as you dredged up a new problem to avoid fixing an overripe hassle. I rolled my eyes until I got dizzy as you tried to figure out the differences between stifling self-control and emancipating self-control. But all that’s in the past, right? Now I’m preparing to cheer until my voice is raspy as you trade in a dried-up old obsession in favor of a sweet, fresh, productive passion – and outgrow the fruitless nuisances.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The ancient scribes of Mesopotamia etched records onto clay tablets with styluses, pressing wedge-shaped marks into wet earth. Once baked, these tablets endured for thousands of years. Some are still readable today. In my astrological assessment, you are undergoing a comparable process. Messages and expressions that are forming within you are meant to last. They may not win you immediate attention. But you already suspect how crucial they will be to both your future and the destinies of those you care for. Be bold, decisive and precise as you choose your words.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Is there any aspect of your life or character that is still unripe even though it is critical to your journey? Have you held on to your amateur status or remained a bit dilettantish beyond the time when you might have progressed to the next level? Are you still a casual dabbler in a field where you could ultimately become masterful? If you answered yes to these, now is a perfect moment to kick yourself in the butt. Waiting around for fate would be a mistake.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Many astrologers say that Virgo is the most detailoriented, meticulous sign. I think you Scorpios may be the most methodical and thorough of all the signs, which means that you, too, can be meticulous and detail-oriented. A prime example is the Scorpio sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). Eventually, his work became world-renowned, but his career developed gradually because of his painstaking patience and scrupulous devotion. I propose we make him your role model for now. Resist pressure for immediate results. Trust in slow, steady refinement.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Here are half of your words of power for the coming days: windfall, godsend and boon. The other half are potion, remedy and healing. If you’re lucky, and I think you will be, those terms will blend and overlap. The blessings that come your way will be in the form of cures and fixes. I’m being understated so as to not sound too wildly excited about your immediate future. But I suspect you will wrangle at least one amazing victory over hardship. Your chances of a semi-miraculous visitation by a benevolent intervention are as high as they have ever been.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The ancient Chinese character for “listening” contains symbols for ears, eyes and heart. I interpret this to signify that it’s not enough to seek truth with just one of your faculties. They must all be engaged and working together to get the full story. Survey the world with your whole being. Keep this in mind in coming weeks, Capricorn. Your natural inclination is to be practical, take action and get things done. But for now, your main superpower will be listening. My advice is to listen with your skin. Listen with your breath. Listen with your gut. Let your attention be so complete that the world softens and speaks to you about what you really need to know.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you would like to glide into rapt alignment with astrological rhythms, give gifts to your two closest allies. These offerings should inspire their ambitions, not indulge their cravings. They shouldn’t be practical necessities or consumer fetishes, but rather provocative tools or adult toys. Ideally, they will be imaginative boons that your beloved companions have been shy about asking for or intriguing prods that will help beautify their selfimage. Show them you love both the person they are now and the person they are becoming.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Photographer Ansel Adams is so renowned that he’s in the International Photography Hall of Fame. We know the moment that his lifelong passion erupted. At age 14, his family gave him a simple camera and took him to Yosemite National Park. “The splendor of Yosemite burst upon us, and it was glorious,” he wrote later. “One wonder after another descended upon us. A new era began for me.” In coming months, I foresee you encountering a comparable turning point – a magical interlude awakening you to a marvel that will become an enduring presence. Be alert. Better yet, declare your intention to shape events to ensure it happens and you’re ready.
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.
Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum
Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)
Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133
HelpWanted
We’re hiring!
The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango is hiring for a part-time position, Spiritual Growth Ministry Facilitator. The Facilitator helps lead a ministry of spiritual learning and connection in our vibrant congregation. Approximate 26 hours per week with benefits, working in close collaboration with our dynamic Minister, Rev. Jamie Boyce. Position start: September 1, 2025. For more information, contact Search Team leader Bonnie Miller at yjmiller2@gmail.com
ForSale
Good engine, bad trans. $500. 970-2599709 (no texts)
Reruns Home Furnishings
Patio sets, bistros and yard art. Also looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat.
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.
Free
2 Free Roosters
5 months old, one handsome, one not so much. 970-769-1244 Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
Services
Chapman Electric
Colorado licensed and insured. Residential and commercial. New, remodel and repair. Mike 970-403-6670
Boiler Service - Water Heater Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
Vintage 1977 Airstream Land Yacht
970-759-0551
’96 Mazda Pick-Up
Repair
Lost/Found
Cid Come Home
Last seen in Durango, July 21, 2024, by St. Columba Church. He is chipped, missing left canine tooth, white, big black spots, green eyes. Reward. 970-403-6192.
CommunityService
Dog Fosters Needed
Parker’s Animas Rescue needs foster
HaikuMovieReview
‘The Friend’ Bing, the canine star manages to upstage the immense Bill Murray – Lainie Maxson
families to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs: parkersanimal rescue.com.
Community Compassion Outreach at 21738 HWY 160 W is open Tues., Wed. and Fri. 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. for case management, client services, snacks, drinks, meals and support for those with substance-use disorders and co-occurring mental health issues. Saturdays Coffee & Conversations, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
2011 Volvo XC 70
168K miles, new brakes, fresh tune, great car, $8000 obo, (970) 764-5865
