Redstone January / February 2022

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JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

B •R •I •E •F •S April 5 Municipal Election LYONS – Have you ever thought about running for office, or know someone who is interested? Are you curious about how town-wide decisions are made? Are you passionate about making a difference? Do you want to serve and make an impact in Lyons?

The Town of Lyons will hold the next regular Municipal Election on Tuesday, April 5 to elect six trustee seats and a Mayor to serve on the Board of Trustees.

Each term is for two years.

Registered electors 18 years of age or older may be a candidate and hold office if they have resided within the Town limits for at least 12 consecutive months immediately preceding April 5, 2022.

Candidate packets are available at the Town Clerk’s office at Town Hall, 432 5th Avenue, and nomination petitions may be circulated.

The petition must be signed by at least 10 registered electors who reside inside Town limits.

The filing deadline for nomination petitions is January 24, at 4:30 p.m. The Town Clerk’s office can answer any questions regarding candidacy and the nomination petitions.

For individuals who are interested in learning more about becoming a candidate, the Lyons Regional Library and the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce held a candidate information forum last month. The forum included expectations of time commitment and the role of a Board member. It is available to view on You Tube.

For more information call the town hall at 303-823-6622.

What happens if not enough candidates sign up for the election for the Board of Trustees?

LYONS – What happens if not enough candidates sign up to be on the Town Board? According to Town Attorney Brandon Dittman, so long as there are issues on the ballot (which we anticipate there will be) an election must be held. Colorado State statutes do not allow the “partial cancellation” of an election. So, no matter the number of candidates an election will be held so long as there are ballot issues.

• The Current Board members will vacate their seats at the end of the term, regardless of whether there is a replacement for that seat.

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I •N •D •E •X LYONS

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MAYOR’S CORNER

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LOCAL

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OPTIONS

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OPPORTUNITY

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INSIGHT

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A&E

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This bobcat paid a visit to Peter Butler in the afternoon of December 19, on Apple Ridge in the rocks just above Apple Valley Road.

PHOTO BY PETER BUTLER

Town board discusses Wildland-Urban Interface Code, a change to a corporate guarantee from Summit and other issues

By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor

ney Brandon Dittman, discussed an issue bought up by Summit Housing. Summit requested a change in the Development Plan Agreement to allow Summit Construction Group to submit a corporate guarantee rather than a performance bond or an irrevocable letter of credit to the town.

Attorney Dittman said that it (the guarantee) is allowed under the Lyons Municipal Code but the Development Plan Agreement requires either a performance bond or an irrevocable letter of credit and this would be a request for a change.

Mayor Angelo said that he thought this discussion would require a special meeting of the board. Trustee Browning said that, “A corporate guarantee is only as good as the financial health of the corporation doing the guaranting. When they were doing their budgeting, they must have budgeted some-

LYONS – At a recent town board meeting early in January, Mayor Nick Angelo lamented that it had been a difficult year. “It’s been a rather cruel year,” he said, referring to the nearly 850,000 COVID deaths and the Marshall, Superior and Louisville fires. “But we will persevere, we will get through it and we will get through it together,” he added.

Trustee Mark Bowning mentioned that the Fire Mitigation Task Force recommended that Lyons enact a Wildland-Urban Interface Code.

He said ours would be tricky because Lyons is so built out with only about eight lots left to build on. “It would take some thought,” he said, adding, “We ought to move forward with a WI Code.” It would help with future grants.

Trustee Mike Karavas said he wants to have an update on what the procedures are for shutting down the electricity if power lines are down in the event of a fire or other major disaster in town. He requested it for the next meeting.

He also requested that they get a report from the Fire Chief to let the board know at what wind speeds can they operate in or not operate in, at what wind speeds they can operate aerials and what speeds they cannot operate aerials. “We as a board and staff need to know that,” he said.

Flood Recovery Manager, Tracy Sanders told the board that they are just starting the design for the Broadway Improvement Project for parking and a multi-mobile trail.

Steamboat Mountain in January by David Such In other news, Lyons Town Attor-

thing for the bond or the letter of credit.”

Attorney Dittman told the board that Summit said that the cost of the performance bond or the letter of credit would increase their costs substantially more than expected.

Trustee Karavas asked how long this might delay the housing project and Attorney Dittman said he did not know for sure how long it would delay the project. The board decided to hold a special hearing on the matter at a later date.

The board passed on first reading Ordinance 1117, an ordinance to renew a 3-year lease agreement with Raul Vasquez for two tracts of rail road property at 4168 Ute Highway, that R. Vasquez had been leasing from the town for over 20 years.

These two parcels currently contain a utility easement down the center and 10 feet of the most southern side of the property will be used for a trail. Administrator Victoria Simonsen said that Vasquez has agreed to the use of that property for a trail and he also understands that the work space while constructing the trail could use up as much as 15 feet of space at least temporarily.

The lease was renewed for the same fee it was renewed for three years ago, $3,300 per parcel for a total of $6,600 per year for both parcels. Trustee Kenyon Waugh asked the board to consider raising the rate since the price of property has gone up in the last three years in Boulder County, but the board chose to keep the same fee to renew the lease for the two parcels of land. The vote was unanimous with the whole board voting in favor.

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

LYONS O B I T U A RY Franziska I. Stein December 1922 – December 15, 2021 Franziska Stein died on December 15, 2021, at her home in Reston, VA, with her family at her side, just a few days before her 99th birthday. Born near Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia, Franziska enjoyed a perfect childhood playing in the mountains near her home.

But in 1939, when she was 17 years old, WWII began. From this moment onward, she lost the freedom to chart her own destiny. She served as a nurse in the Red Cross during the war and met her husband George who was her patient. They married in 1942.

Expelled from her homeland in 1945, she made her way to the devastated city of Berlin with her young daughter and a knapsack on her back, not knowing if her in-laws were still alive or if her husband or father would return from the war on the

eastern front. Luckily, they were all united shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately, when WWII ended, the Cold War began, and Berlin was on the front lines of this ideological conflict. The unending daily struggle to survive eventually became intolerable for her and her family. They decided to immigrate to Colombia, South America.

While running a hotel in Cali, Franziska blossomed as she embraced the rich culture, history, and geography of her new home. She also began a 40-year-long “temp” job assisting more than 4,000 victims of the Nazi regime to obtain compensation for the losses they suffered.

Immigrating to America in the mid1960s, she and George settled in the small town of Lyons, Colorado, founding and operating the iconic Black Bear Inn restaurant there until 1977. Later she opened the restaurant Franziska’s and F&B Art Gallery on Terry Street in Longmont. In Colorado she came face-to-face

Comp Plan Community Survey results

By Jocelyn Farrell Redstone Review LYONS – The Town of Lyons initiated a major update to the 2010 Comprehensive Plan – Lyons Thrive. The new plan Farrell will communicate the community’s shared vision for the future, identify barriers to achieving that vision, and create concrete strategies to overcome those barriers.

As one of the first steps in the process, a survey of the Lyons community was conducted. Over the course of two months, 376 responses were received from nearly 17 percent of residents of Lyons and people living nearby. About 55 percent of respondents had lived in Lyons for more than 10 years and nine percent had lived in the area for less than two years. As of 2020, the population of Lyons is 2,209. Overall, the age, income, race, and ethnicity of survey participants was reflective of the town as a whole.

Residents were asked about their hopes and concerns for the future, to identify issues and opportunities in different areas, and to consider how the Town of Lyons was performing in key areas. A complete summary of input received is available on the project website: www.lyonsthrive.com.

A number of themes emerged from the project team’s review of survey responses.

Topics with differing opinions Affordable housing: While most respondents agree that the cost of housing is a major concern, the community is divided on whether Lyons should build more affordable housing, where it should go, and what it should look like.

Growth: Many respondents stated that continued population growth and the development of the eastern corridor would

help keep Lyons’ business community thriving. Other survey contributors worry that continued growth would alter the small-town character and negatively impact the environment.

with cowboys, rattlesnakes, celebrities, and the Cold War. But America was not home, and the reunification in 1990 provided a reason to return to Germany.

hinders Lyons’ sustainability goals, increases traffic, and makes it difficult for seniors and residents without cars to travel to Longmont and Boulder.

Parking: Respondents feel that Lyons does not have enough parking, especially during tourist season and the situation will worsen if more development occurs.

PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS

Renewable energy: Many participants believe renewable energy should be a top priority for Lyons, but some think that the town should focus on other issues.

Tourism: Many participants expressed that tourism is a key component to Lyons’ economy and that the Town should look for strategies to promote more tourist activities. However, many respondents believe that the tourists contribute to overcrowding and congestion limiting residents’ ability to enjoy their town.

Topics of general agreement Wildfire mitigation: Future risks that wildfires pose to the community and the need for more proactive mitigation strategies is a consistent worry among respondents.

Cost of living: Respondents said that housing, utilities, and local grocery options are very expensive.

Health care: Losing the town’s doctor’s office and pharmacy were extremely impactful to residents who participated in this survey and attracting these services back to town should be a top priority.

Bus service: Respondents are concerned that the loss of RTD bus service

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Sidewalks: Extending and repairing sidewalks is a major concern for residents who participated in the survey.

Bike lane improvement: Survey contributors are interested in building safer and more direct bike connections around town, to the eastern corridor, to Longmont, and to Boulder.

Fourth Avenue footbridge: This project is a top priority for many respondents.

Throughout her life, people and events wove Franziska’s story together across continents, and a vigilant guardian angel by her side gave her courage in the bleakest of times. This remarkable woman prevailed through it all and published her autobiography Chopin Through the Window in 2018. A new edition from Word House books will be out in early 2022.

She did not think she led a good life, having suffered so much during the war, and in many ways, even more during the peace that followed. For sure she did not have an easy life. But she retained a strong sense of humor, optimism, joyfulness, and an amazing ability to collect friends wherever she went.

She is survived by her granddaughter Amy Crews Cutts and great grandson Andrew Cutts of Reston, VA, as well as her “adopted” granddaughters Karen Crews Gregg of Lyons, and Brenda Crews Martinez of Highlands Ranch, CO, and their families.

Road maintenance: Many respondents believe that the roads in Lyons need maintenance, especially in Old Town.

Traffic: Survey contributors are concerned about the high speeds and number of cars traveling through Lyons.

Crowded parks: Many respondents believe that Lyons parks are too crowded with tourists and that residents are unable to use them.

Recreation center: The need for a recreation center is a major theme with respondents looking for more indoor spaces where they could exercise, swim, and gather.

Natural environment: Many respondents came to Lyons due to its natural beauty and believe that it is important to protect the environmental resources surrounding the town.

Survey results will be used to create the plan’s framework and serve as a starting point to dive deeper into issues, opportunities, challenges, or concerns expressed by survey respondents. Additional opportunities for discussion and input are planned in 2022. Sign up for project updates and upcoming events at https://lyonsthrive.com.

Jocelyn Farrell is the Co-Chair of the Planning & Community Development Commission.

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 3

MAYOR’S CORNER Boulder County paid a heavy toll

By Nick Angelo, Mayor of Lyons Redstone Review LYONS – It is with the heaviest heart to relay news from the last month. The fires that deAngelo stroyed neighborhoods of Louisville and Superior and Boulder County tore at our fabric of confidence and ended the year on a tragic and cruel note.

We mourn the loss of life and acknowledge the miracle attributed to the bravery exhibited by first responders. The toll could have been worse, much worse. Preparedness was the key, spurred by previous Boulder County fires.

The Town of Lyons is vulnerable, to say the least. If a fire started west of Lyons and the winds were blowing 95 mph, there would be no possibility of an effective fire break. No trail, not even a highway. The Marshall Fire easily flew past the McCaslin/Hwy. 36 intersection into neighborhoods to the east.

The design concept of cul-de-sacs will have to be re-thought in the future. The egress limitations are not acceptable in fire prone environments. Lyons has many culde-sacs on dead ends as well, therefore Fire Chief Zick, Sgt. Crist and Administrator Simonsen will be meeting in the near future to devise our emergency evacuation

strategy. In any inevitability, we are committed to no loss of life.

There are many means to help our neighbors and I know of several that were mobilized immediately after the fires. At least one individual offered to share a home. I love Lyons for its heart.

There are several people who have pulled petitions to be signed for the privilege of running for a trustee position or for mayor. It should be a very exciting election and what an opportunity to make some of the most important decisions in the history of Lyons. Maintaining focus on goals and projects and defining continuity through to completion has always defined the role from one board to another board and I’m sure it will continue.

To be able to thank Lyons for the opportunity to serve you once again gives me great joy, thank you. It would have been much more enjoyable if we as a governing body could have met in person. Honestly, it would have furthered our appreciation for one another and staff. It was not to be, I’m sure something none of us could have imagined. Nonetheless, I think we did well under the circumstances.

Along that same thought regarding the pandemic, please protect yourselves and your families and loved ones. Get vaccinated, wear masks in public places and wash and sanitize hands regularly. The number of cases is accelerating at an

This aerial photograph shows just a fraction of the devastation caused to homes in Louisville and Superior by the Marshall Fire. PHOTO BY WILDFIRE TODAY alarming pace as are deaths. By the time our new board is seated we will have lost nearly 1,000,000 of our fellow Americans.

It would be wise if we came together as a country and started to learn how to love one another again. The consequences of not doing so are horrifying, both from a strategy of dealing with the pandemic and the environment.

Let’s not forget that a short time ago we could not see the mountains and that Denver had the worst air quality in the world caused by fires on the west

Neguse delivers $45 million for Colorado bridges from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

By Rep. Joe Neguse From Congressman Joe Neguse’s website Redstone Review LYONS – Colorado is set to receive the largest investment ever for bridges Neguse under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. On January 14, Congressman Joe Neguse announced the first round of investments in repairing Colorado bridges under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Law he helped pass. Neguse helped deliver $45 million for Colorado to fix bridges this year in FY 2022, part of a total $225 million investment over the next five years. The funds, administered by the Department of Transportation, will go directly to the construction and improvement of bridges in Colorado and will create millions of good-paying jobs for Coloradans.

“These federal dollars represent the strong first step towards putting Coloradans to work building and rebuilding the bridges that drive our local economies,” said Congressman Joe Neguse. “Northern Colorado communities

The Federal Highway Administration still lists Lyons’ Second Avenue bridge as being in poor condition, even though it was restored after the flood and dedicated in July, 2021.

481 bridges are listed in poor condition and more than 5,000 in fair condition in Colorado, according to the FHWA. Information from Denver 7 PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS want to know that they can rely on their highways, roads and bridges, and they want assurances that their safety will always be prioritized. With the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we will not only help keep travelers safe, but really cut down on commute times and help small businesses get goods to market. I look for-

ward to seeing more of this tangible impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in communities across Colorado.”

The historic and bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Biden on November 15, secured a once-in-a-generation investment to improve essential infrastructure across

coast. Plus let the fires that destroyed neighborhoods in Louisville, Superior and Boulder County constantly remind us that we must address the climate issue.

Again, thank you for the honor of serving you again for the last two years. Be well, stay healthy, we are a small community, let love emanate from our hearts.

Nick Angelo became a Lyons Trustee in 1998 he won his first term as Mayor. His current term as Mayor began in April, 2020. He and his wife Candace, a local artist, live in Lyons. the nation. This initial funding of the Bridge Formula Program is expected to help repair approximately 15,000 bridges nationwide, fixing bridges in poor condition and preserving those in fair condition.

Over 481 bridges across the state of Colorado are found to be in poor condition and in need of repairs.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Colorado a C- grade on its Infrastructure Report Card, finding many deficiencies that require immediate attention. With this funding – and more to come – the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create good-paying union jobs strengthening this crippled infrastructure.

Background: Congressman Joe Neguse secured the passage of several key priorities for Colorado in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Last month, Congressman Neguse announced that Colorado will receive $716,509,999 in the first round of funding under the five years of federal investment in Colorado highways. The law also includes investments in wildfire management and climate resiliency, including Congressman Neguse’s Joint-Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Proposal, upgrades to America’s power grid to help communities prepare for climate related natural disasters, and an extension of the Secure Rural Schools Program, a proposal Rep. Neguse has been pushing since he started in Congress.

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

LOCAL Lyons Parks and Rec announces some new events

By Lisa Ramsey Redstone Review LYONS – Lyons Parks and Rec has a few changes to announce. One change is that the Redstone Café will now be providing lunches three days a week instead of two.

Lunches will now be offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at the Walter Self Senior Living Center. Please be sure to call a day in advance to reserve your meal. Also, due to the rapid rise of Covid in our community the lunches have reverted back to a to-go format.

Our Winter Wonderland Concert on January 22 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at LaVern M. Johnson Park will feature Joe Kukla. The ice rink due is not open due to the warm

Send the Parks the Rec coordinator some your suggestions if you have them. The first quarter trip needs to be planned soon; the aim is for some time in March and hoping Covid will have calmed down by then.

A trip to a Rockies Game has been planned for Wednesday, June 1. That and any other outdoor adventures (Denver Zoo, Denver Botanic Gardens, and Loveland sculpture garden for example) will be scheduled for spring or fall to avoid the heat.

On a another more somber note, many in our Boulder County community have suffered the loss of a home due to the recent wildfire. If you are in a position to help, either financially or by volunteering or even hosting displaced persons, you can email lramsey@townoflyons.com, ext. 20.

weather we’ve been experiencing, and it’s just not a good idea to gather in big groups with the rapid spread of the virus these days.

Thanks to a grant from the Lyons Community Foundation, Parks and Rec hopes to have five bus trips this year. Now is the time to start planning. Some trips are more expensive than others, but our grant from Lyons Community Foundation can help cover costs for those who might not be able to afford the whole cost of a trip.

The trips include: Meow Wolf in Denver (interactive art exhibit); Sculpture Garden in Loveland; Denver Botanic Gardens; Denver Aquarium; Denver Zoo; ballet; symphony; music at Chautauqua; a tour of holiday lights and dinner out; museum.

Lisa Ramsey is the Lyons Parks & Recreation Coordinator.

People are the community

as a Colorado Creative District.

From culinary arts to visual arts and of course, the performing arts, Lyons rises to the top.

Though Lyons is small, we also have a town that is filled with unique, locally-owned businesses and services.

Lyons also has a community of generous, caring, and passionate residents. The Lyons Community Foundation embodies the success of a supportive and giving culture in Lyons. So many of you enhance our community by volunteering your time and your knowledge to continue to make Lyons a better place to live.

There are a host of reasons why Lyons is a special place to live. For many of us it is the people. People

By Kim Mitchell Redstone Review LYONS – People are the community. These were the first four words I read in an article last week after the devastating Marshall Fire. Mother Nature has been harsh to many Coloradoans recently, and late December was solid proof.

Typically, winter is a favorite time of year, with beautiful snowcapped peaks, colder days, and a quiet snowstorm.

I appreciate living in a community which values the natural beauty around us and provides us the chance to get outside and connect with our neighbors. Lyons has a host of natural amenities that we are lucky to enjoy yearround, right outside our door. The wait was longer this year, but the snow did come, with kids making snowmen and cross-country skiers making laps in Bohn Park.

From our trail system and local parks to the greater expanse of Boulder County Open Space, there are ample places to explore. The St. Vrain provides fly-fishers a winter solitude, while boaters and tubers enjoy a long stretch of play time in the river during spring and summer.

Local events, from the summer concert series to the Halloween Spooktacular and the Holiday Parade of Lights, are

B •R •I •E •F •S Continued from Page 1

• Filling of vacancies will be conducted pursuant to Lyons Municipal Code Sec. 2-2-20.

• Vacancies: The new board will have 30 days to fill the open seats by appointment or order an election. If the vacancy is not filled or an election ordered, the board is required to order a special election to fill the vacancy.

You can look at www.cml.org/home/publications-news/resource-detail/2020-1-21 for a webinar which can be a helpful resource for those with CML accounts.

Brandon Dittman is an attorney with Kissinger & Fellman, P.C. at Cherry Creek in Denver.

Candidates for election of Mayor and Trustee as of press time LYONS – As of press time four candidates have either picked up packets at Lyons Town Hall and/or turned in their packets. So far Hollie Rogin, current Lyons Trustee, has picked up a packet for Mayor. Three candidates have picked

Arjen Wynja directs the Lyons High School band in the 2021 Halloween Spooktacular parade. PHOTO BY CRYSTAL WHITE special and celebrated community events. The dramatic sandstone cliffs, St. Vrain River, small-town Lyons vibe, and welcoming hospitality help Lyons to stand out.

Our arts and cultural experiences continue to expand daily. A small group of passionate artisans and residents have begun working towards the designation of Lyons

up packets for Lyons Trustee. They are Jocelyn Farrell, currently co-chair of the Planning and Community Development Commission; Tanya Daty, former chair of Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund and current Communications Director for the Lyons Community Foundation; and Glenn Delman from Lyons.

PCDC to hear Moss Rock proposed hotel development review January 24 LYONS – The Planning & Community Development Commission (PCDC) is supposed to hear a development review for Moss Rock on January 24. Meetings are on Zoom and are always open to the public to make comments.

The PCDC will submit its recommendations to the Lyons Board of Trustees.

Commissioner Jocelyn Farrell gave some suggestions for residents who want to attend the Zoom meetings. It’s up to the mayor to schedule it for their next meeting. It then goes through first and second readings. The second reading is typically a public hearing where members of the public are able to make comments.

Anyone can attend the Zoom meetings.

The agendas are available on the town website

&

Kim Mitchell is Director of Communications and Community Relations for the Town of Lyons. Kim Mitchell has called Lyons home since 2009.

and the Zoom code to attend the meetings is at the top of the agenda. In addition another good opportunity for everyone is to email PCDC members and BOT members to express their feelings. And finally, anyone can email the town clerk their input as well. Clerk Delores Vasquez will include all input in either the trustee’s packet or read them during audience business before the BOT.

Winter Wonderland Concert series LYONS – The dates for the Winter Wonderland Concert series are January 22 with Joe Kukla; February 13 and February 26. The concerts start at 2 p.m. and are held in LaVern Johnson Park.

For more information, call 303-823-6622.

What Age Can Teach You LYONS – Lyons Regional Library District is seeking presenters from among Lyons elders for a new community program entitled What Age Can Teach You. This program will take place in the early spring and will focus on the wisdom, experience, skills, and life lessons gained with age. A variety of presenters will be selected for 15 to 20 minute talks in a group format. Brief

Stillwater C L I N I C

are the community.

application forms may be picked up at the library front desk beginning Saturday, January 8.

Online applications coming soon. Deadline for applicants is February 28. The program is being facilitated by Joan Treece. For more information call the Lyons Library at 303-823-5165.

Lyons Community Church LYONS – Lyons Community Church is open and grateful. We know that Covid, the Marshall Fire, and other things going on in our own lives can keep us busy and distracted. For a nice refreshing break join us for our new travel series. We are remembering traveling, leaving home, the encounters, reflection and coming home. The church offers a worship service at 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month and at 10 a.m. on Sunday which is the primary worship time. They would love to see you.

Our next series in February will be Love Does, based on the book by Bob Goff. Please consider being part of the ways we take action.

Love in action is a powerful force for good.

Grace and peace, Pastor Emily Hagan.

Continue Briefs on Page 14

Looking Forward to a New Year

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 5

OPTIONS HJB Designs expands with a new artist and new artisans

By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – Holly Beck began working on big projects over 20 years ago. She worked on boats, sewing canvas tops, making Bimini tops for boats and creating designs. “I’ve always been drawing designs on paper,” she said.

Then in June, 2017, she opened up her very small leather shop on Main Street in Lyons, where she made handbags and other leather good. She had some products for sale, but she described her business as “more studio oriented.”

Last September after a two-month renovation, Beck moved HJB Designs into the former Lyons Soda Fountain at 402 Main St. In October, local artist and muralist Mary Magdalena stopped in the leather shop to look at the artistic leather work she saw in the window. It didn’t take long for the two women to become friends with a deeper connection through Magdalena’s paintings. Beck found herself drawn to Magdalena’s Native American scenes in her paintings.

The artist soon found a space at HJB Designs for her studio and to display her art work. She also teaches budding artists from age five on up to 95 for those who want to follow their creative natures. Magdalena picks children

Local artist, Mary Magdalena, at left, has joined with Holly Beck at Beck’s leather goods store, HJB Designs, to display her paintings and to offer ongoing art classes. Magdalena’s mural “Arapahoe Encampment” is shown in the background.

up after school, at Lyons Elementary School, and walks them over to HJB Designs where they learn to paint and work in a variety of media while waiting for their parents to pick them up. Magdalena has been teaching art for many years in many venues around Boulder County.

She is also working on large mural projects for her own business, One Feather Arts. She completed one large mural last summer called Arapahoe Encampment. This mural will be purchased by the Lyons Elementary School and the Lyons Redstone Museum and will be displayed outside for everyone to see in a stand-alone frame.

HJB Designs also has a very unique line of furniture on display, created and had made by Jake Pharr at his studio in Lyons. Pharr makes rocking chairs and small tables out of whiskey and wine barrels. He uses wine to stain the wood into deep reddish colors. The wine barrels come from Napa Valley, Calif. and the whiskey barrels come from Kentucky.

Beck has expanded her line of products, making all types of leather products including hand bags, leather containers, key chains and many other products. All her work is hand-cut from domestic and imported leather and hand sewn at her shop. She does custom designs for clients and repairs leather products. There are also has sheep skin throws and rugs and other products for sale in the shop.

She can be reached at Holly@hjbdesigns.com.

Lyons library offers online storytime videos, kids-only book club, and a Yosemite program

By Kara Bauman Redstone Review LYONS – The Lyons Community Library extends thanks to the immunization team from CDPHE who ran a sucBauman cessful Covid vaccination clinic at the library on Friday, January 7.

Overall, CDPHE provided 66 doses of vaccine to our community.

Unfortunately, our supply of at-home rapid tests remains erratic. We do expect to receive additional tests soon and advise those interested in receiving at-home tests to check our social media channels and website for the most up-to-date information on their availability.

Due to a surge in Covid cases and hospitalizations among children, we have made the decision to share online storytime videos at least through the month of January. Each Wednesday there will be videos featuring Youth Services Librarian Becki Loughlin, and take-and-make craft kits.

The library is happy to announce new additions to its youth programming.

Wednesday, February 16 between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Becki Loughlin will host the first “Hooked on Books!” kids-only book club. The February title is Year of the Dog

by Grace Lin, and will help kiddos learn more about Chinese New Year. The library does have multiple copies of the book, so please call or email to reserve a copy.

The Teen Advisory Group is back in the new year, now with twice-monthly meetings.

Teens and tweens in grades 6 through 12 are

invited to join and contribute to the development of the library’s Young Adult collection, help at library programs, and offer ideas for creating a comfortable, safe, and fun atmosphere for teens at the library. Meetings are the second Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. and the fourth Monday at 4 p.m.

dous waterfalls, giant sequoia tress, and thousands of acres of high-country wilderness, Yosemite it full of marvelous stories behind the scenery. This is an in-person program that will be livestreamed via Zoom.

Join us on Saturday, January 29, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. for a day of realignment

share your passion, skills, or expertise with the Lyons community? We are seeking program presenters for 2022 and beyond.

The purpose of library programming is to bring the community together by offering opportunities for creativity, engagement, and learning. Library programming is developed based on diverse community needs and interests and by using cost-effective resources and methods. While we welcome applications based on individual areas of expertise we specifically seek:

Pete Devive, former Education Director for Yosemite Institute and Education Manager for Yosemite Conservancy, will present “Things to Know about Yosemite National Park” on January 27.

On Thursday, January 27, at 7 p.m. we will welcome Lyons resident Pete Devine, former Education Director for Yosemite Institute and the Education Manager for Yosemite Conservancy, for an informative and engaging presentation titled “Things to Know about Yosemite National Park.” The program distills Yosemite’s human and natural history into nine paradigms that help explain what one might experience there.

Famed for its towering granite cliffs, stupen-

with a sacred geometry workshop led by local artist Cynthia Marsh. Many teachings have described sacred geometry as the blueprint of creation and the origin of all form. The workshop will include a grounding meditation and the drawing of the flower of life, a 12-pointed circle, the Sri Yantra, and Metatron’s Cube. There is a $15 materials fee for this workshop.

Calling Our Community Have you ever thought you’d like to

• Crafting, art, and DIY workshops for adults and youth; • Arts, music, or cultural performances, workshops, or discussions; • Travel tales and slide shows; • What Age Can Teach You presenters; • Yoga Teacher in Residence (more information soon).

Proposals for one-time workshops or Continue Library on Page 14

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

OPPORTUNITY History comes alive at the Lyons Redstone Museum

By Baiba Sube Lennard Redstone Review LYONS – Located on the campus of Lyons Elementary School (LES), the Lyons Redstone Museum is a captivating resource for kindergarten through fifth grade students.

Evolving since the 2017-18 school year, a collaboration, partnership, and educational opportunity between the two entities fosters student exploration of local, St. Vrain Valley, and Colorado history through the museum’s unique primary source materials.

The school’s Library Media Tech, who also works parttime on education and programming at the museum in the summer, develops and implements grade-specific activities in collaboration with LES teachers.

The museum visits focus on meaningful and age-appropriate experiences to connect the museum’s collections with the school’s social studies, reading, writing, science, and leadership curricula. Students use primary sources to understand the history, economy, natural history, and people of their community.

Not only do the activities help students understand local Lyons history, but also they learn and practice observation, research, and critical thinking skills. These and other experiences build on each other and are refined each year.

Nothing else matters

By Janaki Jane Redstone Review LYONS – The Marshall Fire leaves thousands of our neighbors homeless, and many pets and one human dead – in December. The small CalWood Fire could be seen from town and forced many of Jane our neighbors into evacuating.

The three biggest fires in our state’s history happened last year, two of them touching our county or the one next to us. That is just in our little area of the world, in the last year and a half. We are not being forced into fleeing our ancestral homes and risking our lives in overloaded boats, like many people from Africa. We are not drowning and starving because our home is melting, like polar bears. It can be hard to believe that we are the lucky ones in the disaster of climate change.

I am fed up with appeasing the millionaires and their bought politicians. I am fed up with being told that it is

Students in kindergarten through fifth grade use the Redstone museum as a learning resource where they explore local, St. Vrain Valley, and Colorado history.

The first encounters with the museum occur in kindergarten and first grade. Kindergarteners become history detectives examining objects from the past and trying to figure out what they are and comparing to how we do things differently today.

They also learn about E.S. Lyon, sketch his portrait, and my responsibility to reduce my carbon footprint by switching out my lightbulbs and doing meatless Mondays and not letting my car idle. These things matter, a very little bit, and so I will keep doing them. But the problem is much bigger and more systemic than can be fixed by a bunch of privileged Americans eating less meat and buying electric cars. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), big oil gets $1,000,000 of subsidies internationally a minute. Let that sink in.

Then imagine what could be done if that money were switched to renewables. One million dollars a minute spent on solar, wind, and tidal. One million dollars a minute spent on improving batteries and creating green energy solutions. Imagine where we would be if we lived in that world, instead of this one.

We are not there because the problem is integrated into every aspect of the lives, the commerce, and the politics of the world. We are not there because big oil and big tech does not want us to be, the status quo serves them too

discover what he is remembered for. First Graders “read” photographs of the Lyons Schools, then and now. By carefully studying the details students learn about sequencing historical events and placing them in chronological order.

Often students are so excited by their visits that they bring their families back to the former schoolhouse during the open hours to show them what they discovered.

New in 2021-22, the fourth graders are LES’s representatives to the museum – the “museum stewards.” They are becoming familiar with the museum’s collections and content related to people, events, and objects connected to Lyons’ history. They are collecting data that are significant to Lyons and interesting to them to use in creating a visual timeline of what is represented at the museum.

Students will synthesize their cataloging data and identify which stories are being told and what stories may be missing from our local history. In the spring culminating projects will be created by the students. They will design and create a relevant and curiosity driven product, eg. a scavenger hunt for museum visitors or an interactive timeline of the history represented at the museum.

Next year and beyond programming will continue to build on what these students have discovered and showcase their work in a meaningful way. This is Lyons history coming alive through the eyes of 10-year-olds.

Baiba Lennard is the Lyons Elementary blended Library Media Tech and works at the Lyons Redstone Museum on Seasonal Education Programming. well. We are not there because politicians put their own pocketbooks and power first instead of the world and its inhabitants.

I believe the only way we can change it is to make a monumental amount of noise and problems for those who benefit from the current system. It is time for world-wide general climate strikes, strikes that make the 2018 Women’s March look small.

Those in power obviously do not care if the world ends if they get to win by dying with the most toys. But they will care if we threaten their ability to stay in power. It seems to me that the only way that can happen is if we get together, all over the world, and stop commerce from happening, and do it repeatedly. Not once a year, not once a month, but once a week, we need to go out into the streets Continue Nothing on Page 11

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 7

INSIGHT The new year started with people rattled by a devastating fire in Boulder County, more people lost to Covid and an uncertain future for the country

By John Gierach Redstone Review LYONS – In years past I’ve been so bold as to write New Year’s columns predicting what I think will happen in the coming 12 months, but that’s not as courageous as it sounds because there’s a trick to it.

Gierach For one thing, I won’t remember what I said from one January to the next and chances are you won’t, either. For another, these predictions aren’t so much actual forecasts as they are dystopian scenarios that speculate about what might happen if things we’re doing now were followed to their logical conclusions.

But it’s a different matter when you already find yourself in the real dystopia of a festering insurrection, wrapped in a global pandemic stuffed inside a worldwide climate crisis. I mean, what could you possibly be warned about that isn’t already happening?

A psychologist who was interviewed on National Public Radio recently said that, as a country, we’re in mourning over the 800,000 Americans we’ve lost to Covid – that’s twice the number of lives we lost in World War II – we’re rattled by the political, economic and personal upheavals of the last five years and she thought that at this point, everyone in the country would benefit from counseling. I thought I smelled the familiar odor of selfinterest there, but she may have a point. Many of the more inexplicable things we see on the news do point to collective shell shock, or in some cases, a collective tantrum.

I’m writing this on the day after the anniversary of the attempted coup at the U.S. Capital. I didn’t bother watching the observance of that event, but I did think it was interesting that the only two Republicans present were Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack, and her father, Dick, George W. Bush’s grumpy and condescending vice president. Who’d have thought we’d see Dick Cheney again after all this time – and on the right side of history for a change?

All the other Republicans were afraid to show their faces. I’d like to think that’s because they were shamed by their role in that attempted coup, although it seems more likely that they just didn’t want to anger the crazies in their own party, including the former president, or answer

embarrassing questions from reporters.

That was the clearest evidence I’ve seen yet of the difference between the two parties. It’s no longer the old disagreements over policy; now it’s democracy versus totalitarianism.

It’s as clear a choice as we’ve ever had in American politics.

And then today, January 7, President Biden arrived in Colorado to tour the site of the recent fires that destroyed a thousand buildings in Louisville and Superior, and damaged others. Not too many years ago, that would have just been an unusual December grass fire that could have been put out in a day, but with a persistent drought and 100-

mile-an-hour winds – both attributed to climate change – it became the monster that it was.

Presidents are expected to do this: show up in the safe aftermath of disasters to offer sympathy, praise first responders and promise help. The catch is that these photo ops costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that would have been better spent on the recovery effort and that those recovery efforts have to grind to a halt for a few days around a presidential visit.

But that said, I’ve complained that Democrats don’t toot their own horn loudly enough and have even been known to let Republican lawmakers take credit for legislation that they voted against, so I suppose it was necessary.

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I feel sorry for the president. Holding that office isn’t easy at any time, and it may be harder now than it’s ever been. Biden not only has to try and fix the pandemic as well as all the things that were intentionally broken during the Trump administration, but the bill for things dating back decades have now come due on his watch. That includes climate change and voting rights as well as things like social and economic inequality, civil rights, tax reform, police reform, government incompetence and inaction and you name it. And he’s not a young man. At 79 he’s four years older than I am and I get exhausted just writing a thousand-word column about this stuff.

Biden has 45 years of experience in government as a senator, vice president and now president, but I wonder if that’s the advantage it seems to be. A friend says his trouble is that he thinks he’s still living in the Ford administration when Republicans still believed in democracy and still had integrity, so a workable compromise could be reached on important legislation. Now you can’t even get more than two Republicans – Liz and Dick Cheney – to admit that trying to overthrow a legally elected president is a bad thing.

There’s so little most of us can do. You can and should write your representatives about the issues that concern you, but keep it short and on a single subject. You’ll want to be eloquent and persuasive, but the best you’ll get is a staffer’s check mark in the “for” or “against” column, so don’t bother knocking yourself out. And send emails instead of letters. Actual letters have to go through a timeconsuming security process to make sure they don’t contain something harmful (remember anthrax?) and by the time that process is complete it’ll be months later and your letter will be obsolete.

You can contribute to candidates you like – hoping that it really is money and not ideology that wins elections – and of course you can vote and encourage others to do the same, even if it’s only to drive someone to the polls or to deliver their mail-in ballot to a drop box. Don’t mail your mail-in ballot. The damage Trump did to the post office in an attempt to wreck mail-in voting hasn’t entirely been fixed yet, so deliver your ballot in person to a drop off box or a polling place.

So, that’s my New Year’s column. No actual predictions because, although I’m afraid of what might happen, I have no idea what actually will. Beyond that, stay well, don’t lose heart and, as a friend recently wrote, “have a happyish New Year.”

PAGE 8

REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

CORNERSTONE About 65 species of ferns grow in Colorado and one grows in our own RMBG

By Jessie Berta-Thompson Redstone Review LYONS – Imagine a lush forest. The canopy is an intricate ceiling of green, with only distant birdcalls and faint streams of filtered sunlight to hint at how far up it goes.

The air is warm and wet, and living things squirm and unfurl in every direction. Ferns grow abundantly in the green twilight of the understory, and cling to craggy rocks in the spray of waterfalls.

More grow as epiphytes on tree branches hundreds of feet up, and others as small trees in their own right.

That’s a faraway example of a fern habitat for a moment of winter escape, yet ferns can also make a go of it in Colorado, for all its drought and temperature extremes.

In Colorado, ferns are generally found in places with extra water. This includes obviously soggy places like wetlands, moisture-concentrating ravines, and high elevation forests. More surprisingly, perhaps, ferns can also be found in the dry hills around Lyons, where they grow in very small-scale water accumulation sites – crevices in cliffs and at the bases of rocks.

In total about 65 species of ferns and the closely related horsetails are found in Colorado (Flora of Colorado, 2015).

Three of the tough and lovely rockdwelling fern species found in Boulder County are the Oregon cliff fern (Woodsia oregana), the brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilis), and the male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). All are members of the wood fern family (Dryopteridaceae).

These species are relatively common across the state, growing at a wide range of elevations. They can be found locally in rocky corners, particularly early in the year before the heat of summer dries up more delicate vegetation. They grow as clumps of fronds with the classic fern shape – a triangular blade made up of lots of lacy little leaflets growing off a central stem. The species differ in the size and details of their leaves and spores.

Ferns are an ancient lineage of vascular plants that has existed in the fossil record since around 380 million years ago, likely originating even earlier than that. As a group, the ferns are older than and evolutionarily distinct from the angiosperms (flowering plants) and the gymnosperms (a group with seeds but not flowers including conifers and gingkos).

for vascular plants reproducing by spore but different from ferns.

Recent work has moved horsetails into the fern group in some treatments, as they are closely related, especially compared to other evolutionarily distant fern-allies like clubmosses and quillworts. The horsetail is in the Riparian zone of the RMBG, and it is found near water in the wild. The plant spreads by growing along its underground rhizomes. Horsetails have a long history of human use both in medicine and as cleaning tools, thanks to their gritty silica deposits. For the plant, the silica deposits are thought to function in strengthening the stems.

Given that there aren’t any traditional ferns in the RMBG, and winter’s not a great time to see ferns anyway, this topic is a bit outside the usual scope of this column. I’m writing, by way of a belated birth announcement, to celebrate my daughter.

Her name is Fern Periwinkle BertaThompson, born August 11, 2021, at Longmont United Hospital, 20 inches The brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilis), a member of the wood fern family (Dryopterilong and 6 lbs., 12 oz. Fern came into the daceae) is a tough and lovely rock-dwelling fern species found in Boulder County. world with the help of my wonderful friend of 16 years, local family practice Ferns don’t have seeds or flowers, reproFerns have their own botanical lan- doctor Elisabeth Merrill. ducing by spore instead. Before the rise of guage, important in identification. Their This Fern is planted firmly in the love flowering plants, ferns were among the leaves are called fronds, which grow out of of her parents (my husband Zach and dominant plants in the terrestrial land- underground stems called rhizomes. Young me), her grandparents in Michigan and scape. While a few extant ferns resemble fronds still curled up are called fiddleheads Massachusetts (incidentally places with more ancient fossils, most of the 10,000 or croziers. Spores are borne in structures excellent fern flora), doting aunts and uncurrent fern species appeared over the past called sporangia, which grow cles of both familial and 70 million years. They evolved literally in in clusters called sori. Sori, honorary varieties, three the shade of angiosperms, filling out their visible at the macro scale, splendid cousins, and, locurrent understory niche. can be found on the backs of cally, the wonderful people Fern reproductive biology is fundamen- leafy fronds in fanciful patof the RMBG. tally different from that of seed-bearing terns or on separate specialIn her first week of life, plants. A mature fern plant (called a ized fertile fronds.

Fern had a frightening night sporophyte) with two sets of chromoA typical fern leaf is made that sent her to the NICU somes produces spores with a single set of up of leaflets called pinnae and swelled my trickle of chromosomes. arrayed along a central stalk. post-partum depression into A fern spore sprouts when conditions are A pinna can be further dia flood. I’d like to thank right and grows into a tiny independent vided into pinnules, and the Fern Periwinkle the Lyons Fire Department plant called a gametophyte. Gametophytes laciest ferns have pinnules Berta-Thompson for their kindness that are generally smaller than a centimeter and that are themselves divided night and to send my love heart-shaped, still with just one set of chro- (a thrice-divided fern). These subdivisions to any other new parents out there. We mosomes. The mature gametophyte pro- give ferns their fractal-like quality, repro- are now both thriving. She’s as magnifiduces gametes (egg and sperm cells). ducing the fern form on smaller and cent as a Mirabilis, cute as a Bouteloua, Gametes, usually from two different plants, smaller scales. and fascinating as a fern. She likes to curl join to form a zygote with two sets of chroThe closest relative to a fern at the Rocky her little fiddlehead fingers around everymosomes, which then grows into a fern Mountain Botanic Gardens (RMBG) is a thing and fills the wintry garden with with the usual form (a sporophyte again). horsetail (Equisetum arvense). It’s a strange newfound laughter.

Water is required for fern gametes to find little stiff plant that looks like a patch of each other for fertilization, leading to the green and brown sticks. The horsetails were Jessie Berta-Thompson is a member of the dependence of ferns on wet habitats. once classified as fern-allies, a catch-all term Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens Board.

Why we need community foundations

By Tanya MercerDaty Redstone Review LYONS – As we navigated the second year living with a pandemic in Mercer-Daty our midst, the Omicron Covid-19 variant hit and almost every family knew someone who had to quarantine over the holidays due to a positive test. Then, on December 30, 2021 the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history, the Marshall fire, destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in Boulder County.

Our community knows what it is like to suffer such devastation and loss. Back in 2013, Lyons and the surrounding area experienced an historic flood, which resulted in one life lost and 10 percent of our population left homeless. Some of our residents were never able to rebuild. Seven and a half years later, Lyons is still recovering from the flood.

We look forward to the final bridge (Fourth Avenue) being replaced and connecting downtown Lyons to the confluence area. The day of the wildfire, our thoughts and prayers immediately went to our friends and neighbors in Louisville and Superior who watched as their homes and their neighborhoods went up in flames.

We know the challenges that lie ahead for the victims of the wildfire and are grateful that non-profit organizations like the Community Foundation of Boulder County and the Lyons Community Foun-

dation (LCF) exist to help us build back better and stronger.

In less than two weeks, nearly $19.5 million was raised to support our friends and neighbors through the Boulder County Wildfire Fund. As Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of the Community Foundation, stated “Our community has, as it always does, shown up for each other in an enormous way after an unimaginable crisis.”

Lyons felt this same support in 2013 when an outpouring of donations was channeled into LCF’s Rebuild Lyons Fund.

This fund raised over $1 million dollars and was able to help flood victims financially by putting money directly in their hands.

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When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Lyons Community Foundation created the Lyons Share Fund which raised and distributed $43,000 to local businesses and another $15,000 for individual grants.

Thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers, the advisory boards of these organizations are able to act quickly and disburse funds when the need arises. The central purpose of the community foundation is to serve the needs and philanthropic aims of donors who wish to better their community, now and in the future.

As Boulder County’s trusted philanthropic partner for over 30 years, the Community Foundation of Boulder County has shown the importance of deep local relationships in meeting short and long-term community needs in a crisis

with equity, transparency, and integrity.

When the Lyons Community Foundation became a fund of the Community Foundation in 2008, we were able to tap into this experience. The Lyons Community Foundation has grown from a small grassroots group to a well organized community foundation made up of an advisory board and a Continue Foundations on Page 11

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Change is Coming to Lyons

By Sally King John has become an eagle, fierce in his affection for this space in which we live, the wonder of it.

That Lyons is a mighty confluence of two canyons and two rivers The eagle flies up the North St. Vrain, that runs through Apple Valley, to its headwaters at Wild Basin at a place called Ouzel Falls.

(Where I had to get wet in order to be proposed to) The wonder of it!

In the cold heart of winter, I got to reading a fishing tale or two in the summer issue of Trout Magazine by my friend and neighbor John Gierach. Such wonderful language and storytelling, it deserved to be a poem.

(And he said okay.).

Sally King

Little Tragedies of the Sport

By John Gierach He rolled at the surface once and revealed himself to be a rainbow noticeably over 20 inches long and thick in the body and I was beginning to make headway toward wearing him down when a pair of tubers came around the bend on their way to the pool.

Then south down the divide to The source of the South St. Vrain Is a hike that my dog and I manage several times a summer, up to Blue Lake at Brainard lake.

If you haven’t been, it’s remarkable!

I will admit that for an instant my heart filled with murderous hatred for these tubers in particular as well as for every last one of their fun hog colleagues.

I tried to tell myself this had only been a pampered stock fish instead of a real wild trout but there is an acquisitiveness that kicks in when you hang a big one that won’t listen to reason.

In the end though I had to shrug it off After all the guy had tried to pull off the last minute save And ended up only making things worse and who among us hasn’t done something like that?

It was late afternoon by then and a thunderstorm was building up the valley, complete chilly wind and strobes of lightning.

The air had gone out of another day of fishing and it was time to go home and let the little tragedies of the sport take back seat to the promises of left-over meatloaf.

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But let’s just be moving forward into the heart.

The heart of the American West where life swoops in on eagle wings from the South Canyon and the North And finds us Here!

“Sometimes I fly like an eagle And sometimes I’m lost in despair Then I look in the center Suddenly everything’s clear” John Denver

How amazing that we live here at this great convergence of these waters At a place called Lyons.

A location that has long been a meeting point.

A meeting place for travelers, Indians and a trapper by the name of Ceran St Vrain.

It was a place of meeting and gathering for people and their horses.

And now we have a hotel proposed.

We were each the last thing others expected to see.

The guy in front took in what was happening and tried to pull off an emergency dismount but he was too close and the current was too fast so all he managed to do was flounder into the pool causing the fish to bolt and break off.

(I bet Ceran would be pleased, a place to lay his head) Change is coming, And of course we wonder what to make of it?

Perhaps the land itself is speaking.

Goat skinned boots from Italy

By Sally King Driving through Lyons I spotted a wild thing with furry feet talking with someone at the intersection.

Turns out it was our local dog groomer, part animal herself in those boots.

And when she put Mr. Banks in a hammock, his legs dangling I relaxed, expectantly content while she lessened his nails with a Dremel.

So much better, not a fight to the death.

Sally King is a local artist who has created whimsical bears and delightful wild flower acrylic paintings to enhance the appearance of Lyons all over the town.

She lives with her husband John King, a kinetic sculptor, near Lyons.

King

Marshall Fire Benefit Show at Lyons Community Church LYONS – The Marshall Fire directly impacts so many friends and forever changes the way we view our own communities.

We are coming together as a community to raise funds for victims of the Marshall Fire. Please join us as we gather for an evening of music by the Ditch Company and friends, in the spirit of reflection and aid. Ditch Company will perform on Sunday, February 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Lyons Community Church, 350 Main St. Our goal is to raise $1,000 for victims of the Marshall Fire. The first $500 raised will go directly to the Pearce family, who lost their home in the fire.

Bryan Pearce plays bass in the Ditch Company. Any additional funds raised will be donated to the Boulder County Community Foundation. If you cannot attend but want to donate, you can donate to the Lyons Community Foundation, LCF at their website.

Tickets are $25 and funds will be collected by Lyons Community Church, to be donated in full after the show.

We want to make this as safe as possible and are taking the following Covid precautions: • Space is limited, only 30 tickets are available.

• Attendees must be masked and vaccinated.

• Current CDC recommendations for masking and performing will be followed.

• For safety, refreshments will not be provided.

The performance will be streamed for those who would prefer to watch from home. A link will be emailed, and posted to the Lyons Community Church Facebook page before the event. Thank you.

EAGLE CARVING BY BOB SMITH

Town Board approved funding for a Creative District and town and library art show opens February 9

By Brianna Hoyt Redstone Review LYONS – The Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission, LAHC, received a grant from the Lyons Community Foundation to continue the heARTS of LYONS program.

This program places public art sculptures throughout the town and the community. The LAHC has a current call open for submissions to this program. The sculptures remain in place for two years and the artist receives a stipend of $750, the first half paid upon installation and the last half paid upon removal. Artists can submit their applications online at www.townoflyons.com/668/heARTS-of-LYONS. The LAHC also received a grant to paint an additional utility box to add to the Creative Outlets program throughout Lyons. The LAHC will be releasing a call to artists in the coming months with the hopes of the project being completed in the summer of 2022.

Sign up for the LAHC monthly newsletter Kaleidoscope to stay up to date on art events and calls to artists; look up the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission. Follow the LAHC on Facebook for current information as well.

The LAHC is currently working on creating an interpretive sign for the Ute Trail Marker in LaVern Johnson Park. The commission received a grant from History Colorado to hire a cultural expert to research and create the content. The LAHC is working with the Southern Ute Tribe to develop the sign and, with financial sponsorship from Cemex, has purchased a sculpture from Ute artist Oreland Joe. The LAHC is planning to have the sign and the sculpture installed late summer of 2022.

The first quarter Town Hall community art show and Lyons Library art show have both been postponed due to rising numbers of Covid-19 cases. The new date to submit art for the community art show is Friday, February 4, when community members may bring up to five pieces of ready to hang wall art to Lyons Town Hall between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The theme for the first quarter is Free for All, so the art can be in any medium and can be of any subject. The opening reception for both the Community Art Show and the Lyons Library Art Show, Working Duo, is now scheduled for February 9 between 5:30 and 7 p.m. Due to Covid, masks will be required while indoors, distancing will be requested, and the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission requests that anyone feeling ill stay home.

In other news, the Lyons Board of Trustees approved funding for the formation of a Creative District in Lyons.

Colorado Creative Districts have access to additional funding, grant opportunities, and marketing technical assistance through the state. Members of the LAHC and members of the community have begun the initial steps in working towards a submission for Lyons to the statewide Colorado Creative Industries.

The Creative District steering committee will begin reaching out to the Lyons community to request more volunteers. Stay tuned for more information this year and sign up for the LAHC monthly newsletter Kaleidoscope to stay up to date.

Brianna Hoyt earned degrees in anthropology and history from the University of Denver. She started working for the Town of Lyons in February 2020 as Lyons’ Main Street Manager.

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REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

ANALYZE Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center treats record number of animals in 2021

By Mysti Tatro Redstone Review LONGMONT – In 2021, more than 4,000 animals were treated by Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, located just outside Lyons. This is the highest number that Greenwood has treated in reTatro cent history. Take a look at a few photos of some of our interesting wild patients throughout the year, captured by volunteer photographer Ken Forman. If you find orphaned, injured, or sick wildlife, please call Greenwood at 303-823-8455 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily. To learn more about Greenwood or to make a donation, go to our website at www.greenwoodwildlife.org.

Clockwise from top left: A juvenile hummingbird is growing in its adult feathers. Rehabilitators guessed it was a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. They knew for sure once its plumage entirely changed.

This orphaned Least Chipmunk enjoys a berry in its enclosure, complete with a running wheel for enrichment.

This Mountain Bluebird is shown perched on one of the many swinging branches in one of Greenwood’s bird enclosures. Most avian patients spend at least a week reacclimating to the outdoors before release.

Two Red Fox kits came into Greenwood’s care after they were found orphaned near their deceased siblings. These kits were lucky to be saved. They did well in rehab and were released as competent little hunters this past July.

This Northern Shoveler came to Greenwood after it was found stuck in waste water at a treatment

Time to take the lead out of hunting ammo

By Greg Lowell Redstone Review LYONS – Lead – a proven, deadly toxin – has been removed from gasoline, paint, birdshot and fishing tackle. And, Lowell given the evidence, maybe it’s also time to take it out of bullets used for hunting.

The danger of lead ammunition has been known in scientific circles for many years, and that was the reason for banning the use of lead shotgun pellets for waterfowl hunting. The expended lead pellets end up on the bottoms of ponds, marshes

threat to this iconic bird of northern lakes was clear, and six states have thus far banned this use of lead.

Lead means dead for eagles People can easily understand the problem with lead shot and fishing gear, but less obvious are the ravages on birds caused by lead bullets used in hunting. Scavenging raptors such as eagles, vultures and other birds take in the fragmented remains of bullets when they dine on gut piles and butchered carcasses left by hunters. When a lead bullet is shot into a deer, elk or other game, it shatters into pieces. A fragment of lead the size of a grain of rice is enough to slowly kill an eagle. Although eagles and other raptors expel indigestible fur and bones in the form

This photo from The Raptor Center, University of Minnesota shows a radiograph (x-ray) of lead pieces in a bald eagle’s gut. and rivers where they are ingested along with the bottom gravel used by waterfowl to grind food in their gizzards. The lead causes neurological damage, physical weakening and eventual death in the birds.

Since 1991, duck hunters must use steel or other non-lead shotgun shells. As a result of the ban the incidence of lead poisoning in waterfowl has decreased substantially.

Lead fishing sinkers and jigs have also been banned in several states when high levels of lead were found in dead and dying loons. Loons also scoop gravel – and small sinkers – from lake bottoms or ingest lead jigs along with the fish they eat. The

of pellets a day after eating, their stomach acids erode any ingested lead and send it into their bloodstreams where the cumulative effects of lead slowly kill the birds.

Between 2001 and 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tested liver samples of 51 bald eagle carcasses found throughout Maine. Of the 51 livers tested, 16 percent had elevated levels of lead. Most eagle carcasses were found in March and April when melting snow cover revealed gut piles and game carcasses left over from the fall hunting season.

Likewise, a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

plant. After medications, rest, and nutritious food, it was released into the wild.

Greenwood receives hundreds of ducklings, mostly mallards, each summer. Orphans are released just a short two and a half months later.

ALL PHOTOS BY KEN FORMAN

examined 58 bald eagles whose bodies were recovered in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Twenty-two had lethal levels of lead.

California banned lead bullets in 2019 due to fatalities in the recovering California condor population. This giant bird with a 10-foot wingspan was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1987 and has made a remarkable recovery. But its prospects have been threatened by lead in the remains of harvested game animals; in

the last 25 years, 76 condors were verified to have died by lead ingestion.

While California is the only state thus far to enact a ban on lead hunting ammo, Minnesota, Maine, New York and Wisconsin have seen bills introduced to do just that.

Overseas, Denmark, Sweden and Germany now have a total ban on lead ammunition.

Locally, Boulder County Parks & Open Space has required all hunters chosen for Continue Lead on Page 11

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Lead Continued from Page 10 their limited Rabbit Mountain and Red Hill elk herd hunts to use non-lead bullets.

“We know that raptors and other wildlife will find and scavenge on carcasses on the landscape, and we aren’t going to provide opportunities to ingest lead,” said Dave Hoerath, BCPOS wildlife biologist.

There’s at least one eagle nest within

REDSTONE • REVIEW

the hunted areas and additional nearby nests, he said.

Statewide, there’s no ban on lead hunting ammunition but Colorado Parks & Wildlife encourages hunters to use nonlead ammo and, when processing game, to liberally trim and discard safely any meat damaged by the bullet to prevent ingestion by humans. Commercial processors of game observe this guideline and clean

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their meat grinders between animals to avoid contamination.

Humans, too From the use of lead cooking vessels as one reason the Roman Empire collapsed, to the horrific damage to children that led to the 1978 U.S. ban on lead paint, it’s now accepted knowledge that there is no safe level of lead exposure for humans. Yet, people who hunt with lead ammunition have been found to have higher amounts of lead in their blood.

A 2008 study of 738 North Dakotans measured the risk of higher lead levels in the blood of those who consumed a lot of wild game harvested with lead bullets than those who did not. According to the study, it notes that the consumption of wild game is not the only risk factor for human lead exposure, but the study findings suggest that it is one important risk factor.

The study recommended that pregnant women and children under the age of six should not eat any wild game meat harvested with lead bullets, particularly ground meat.

Opposition and an alternative Some hunting organizations such as Safari Club International see the banning of lead bullets as another restriction on hunting, citing the higher cost and availability of non-lead ammo as reason to oppose such measures. The organization notes that a decrease in the purchase of traditional lead ammunition could also adversely affect conservation funding.

(Hunters are the largest supporters of conservation through excise taxes levied on ammo and firearms, which has so far generated more than $12 billion in funding for wildlife conservation programs.)

The alternatives to lead bullets are copper or copper alloy ammo, whose cost is comparable to lead ammunition. Support-

Nothing Continued from Page 6 and stop traffic and stop business, all over the world. We can even support our small local businesses while we stop buying from the large ones at the same time.

You may call me a dreamer. I am not alone. There are people all over the world whose lives are at risk daily in the way that ours are by fire occasionally. There are people all over the world who are frustrated and angry and fed up. Those people are ready to make it stop. It is time to think and act in what may be called an extreme manner. In truth, it cannot come

Foundations Continued from Page 8 part-time employee. Two important funds, the Community Support Grants and the Scholarship Fund, allow us to support the needs of the community in areas such as arts, education, civic affairs, ecology, human services and basic needs. All residents benefit from the art sculptures sprinkled around town, the events that bring us together, the gardens that bloom and the wellness provided by human services.

We are immensely grateful for the many generous residents who showed their appreciation for our work in the community by donating over $43,000 through their monthly and end-of-year giving. We need all of you so that we can further our mission of improving the quality of life, and encouraging positive change in the greater Lyons area.

We also need community members to participate on our committees such as fundraising, community outreach, grants

PAGE 11

This is one of the bald eagles being cared for at the The Raptor Center, University of Minnesota. ers of the alternative ammo say that cost will likely go down as the demand for nonlead ammunition increases because of legislation (like California’s). Performance of non-lead ammunition is a non-issue as well.

This alternative ammo behaves ballistically the same as lead bullets. The bullets expand similarly to lead-core bullets, but without the fragmentation. Well known companies like Hornaday, Remington, Winchester and Federal all produce non-lead bullets, so it’s not a matter of availability but of adjusting hunters’ mindsets.

Today, lead ammunition is likely the greatest, largely unregulated source of lead knowingly discharged into the environment. The death of eagles and other birds and the chance of human ingestion are good reasons to eliminate this last use of one of the world’s most toxic and deadly substances in hunting ammunition.

Lyons’ resident Greg Lowell, is a Lyons Town Board Trustee and serves as a liaison to the Ecology Advisory Board.

close to being as radical and insane as killing the world so you can add millions or billions more to your bank account.

Acting to save the world is the most sane and moderate thing that we can do.

Janaki Jane writes on issues of society and mental health. She currently works as a Child Cares Outbreak Investigator in the Covid-19 response, teaches suicide prevention, and runs the Wide Spaces Community Initiative, “Creating a Community of Belonging and Personal Safety for Everyone,” a program of the Lyons Community Library. You can read more of her writing at www.janakijane.com.

review, scholarship review, as well as marketing and communications. This is an excellent way to give back to the community and meet new people. Please visit our website at lyonscf.org/volunteer to sign up.

We approach this new year with hope that the health and economic crisis will end, and our community will connect in kindness, compassion and joy.

Tanya Mercer-Daty is the new Marketing and Communications Associate for Lyons Community Foundation. She has lived in Lyons for the past eight years after immigrating to the USA with her family in 2011. Feel free to contact her at tanya@lyonscf.org.

LCF Advisory Board Members: Jeanne Moore, Gail Frankfurt, Claudia Kean, Ravi Gandh, Kate Schnepel, Ella Levy, Gil Sparks, Sara Erickson, Gwyd Winkelmeyer Communications and Marketing Associate: Tanya Daty

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Left to right: Josie Wratten, Claudia Kean, Kate Schnepel, Gil Sparks, Jeanne Moore, Sara Erickson, Ella Levy at Parade of Lights, December 2021.:

PAGE 12

REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

INTEREST Youth and adult team sports flourish in Lyons

By Lisa Ramsey Redstone Review LYONS – Spring is right around the corner and so are spring sports seasons. Lyons is an outdoor place and we have an active population. Many of our residents, children and adults, enjoy participating in league sports.

Some of you may be wondering how the league sports happen in a small town such as ours. Because Lyons is so small, we don’t usually have multiple youth sports teams playing the same sport in any given age group. In order to play games against other teams we need to join other, bigger, leagues or clubs.

Most of the teams that practice in Lyons, play for leagues or clubs in Longmont or Boulder.

Some of the youth leagues that have practices here in Lyons include: Soccer: Real Colorado in Longmont (formerly St. Vrain Football Club) Flag Football: Twin Peaks Youth Football League Tackle Football: Lyons Rec (games played with other middle schools) Baseball: Longmont Baseball League Softball: Lyons Rec (games played with Indian Peaks Girls Softball Association) Volleyball: Longmont Recreation Our town loves youth sports as evidenced by the number of teams par-

ticipating. In 2021 the town had nine softball and baseball teams, five soccer teams, and one flag football team all needing practice times on our fields in the spring. This past fall we had 11 soccer teams, one flag football team, four softball and baseball teams and the contact football team all needing practice times. All of these practices have an impact on our fields and parks: the town works hard to maintain the fields and keep them in good shape for the kids and adults to play on.

And we can’t forget the adult sports. Since the age group of 18+ is much larger, the town was able to support its own adult softball league this past summer. Excitement around the league was high, and eight local teams with a total of 108 players participated on our new ballfields in our first season since the flood of 2013. We hope to field even more teams this year.

If your family is new to league sports, especially if your kids are younger, it can be confusing to figure out how to become involved. You can check the Town of Lyons recreation page to see if the sport you are interested in is offered through our Recreation Department at townofLyons.com/recreation.

If you sign up for sports through an outside league and want to practice in Lyons, be sure to request a Lyons team when signing up. Practices will only happen in Lyons if the majority of the players

Winter Walkabout Music Showcase will return on April 9

By Colin Argys Redstone Review LONGMONT – The Winter Walkabout Music Showcase (WWMS), downtown Longmont’s multi-venue indoor music festival, plans to return for the first time in more than two years. On Saturday, April 9 from 2 to 9:30 p.m., more than 30 performances by more than 100 musicians will take place throughout 11 downtown venues. Ticket are on sale.

The WWMS consists of a variety of music performances throughout multiple venues – all within walking distance of each other in downtown Longmont’s Certified Creative District. One all-inclusive ticket allows festival-goers access to every show, and performance times are staggered to facilitate attending as many as shows as possible throughout the day.

The event features a wide variety of musical styles and

genres, and the WWMS artists represent some of the best and brightest talent around the Longmont area, Boulder County, and the Front Range. Performers range from upand-coming teenage artists to well known regional acts, all based in Colorado.

The last in-person showcase took place on Saturday, February 1, 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Following sold-out events in 2019 and 2020, organizers look forward to the event’s return. The 2022 event was originally planned to return in February, but was postponed until April 9 due to the rapid spike in Covid-19 cases.

This year, the event will be 100 percent Vaccine Verified through Boulder County Public Health, meaning that everyone involved – musicians, attendees, staff, volunteers, etc. – will be required to show proof of vaccination.

With Boulder County’s indoor mask mandate likely re-

and the coach or coaches are from this area. Be sure to ask friends and neighbors which leagues they prefer for local sports. It’s good to do a little research so you know when seasons start and sign-ups happen. Many sports are already accepting registrations for spring.

Youth sports, especially at the younger levels, rely heavily on volunteer support. Volunteers are usually a participant’s parent who steps up to coach or help manage a team.

Youth team sports would not be possible without these dedicated volunteers.

If you are interested in becoming a coach or assistant coach please be sure to indicate that when you register your child. Most leagues offer some form of training. Background checks are required.

If a league gathers enough kids to form a Lyons team, practices may be scheduled on local fields. For softball and baseball leagues, games may be scheduled as well. Practice fields are reserved on a first-come-first-served basis, and coaches should call town hall at 303-823-8250 to reserve field space.

Reservations can be made up to three weeks before your first practices of the season. Please keep in mind that our fields are popular and will often be shared during practice times. Any teams practicing or playing on the fields should have a reservation Lisa Ramsey is the Lyons Parks and Recreation Coordinator.

maining in place through the event date, organizers decided this is the best way to hold the indoor music festival while keeping in line with public health guidelines.

Vaccine verification for all attendees will take place on the day of the event at will-call ticket pickup location before entering any venues or performances, and attendees will receive a wristband in addition to their ticket upon verifying vaccination status.

For more information, visit the city and Longmont Chamber of Commerce website. Tickets are on sale now for $25 each. The first 40 ticket purchases will receive a free CD from local musicians. Ticket prices will increase progressively leading up to the event, with day-of tickets costing $35. Lineup, schedule, venue list and map will be available through the website in the weeks leading up to the event.

Colin Argys is the marketing specialist/event coordinator for the Longmont Downtown Development Authority

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 13

CROSSROADS CU Boulder paleobiologist studies how animals evolved from single cells to huge creatures

By Daniel Strain Redstone Review BOULDER – A new study from CU Boulder finds that hundreds of millions of years ago, small single-celled organisms may have evolved into larger multicellular life forms to better propel themselves through icy waters.

The research was led by paleobiologist Carl Simpson and appears in the journal The American Naturalist. It hones in on a question that’s central to the history of the planet: How did life on Earth, which started off teeny-tiny, get so big?

“Once organisms get big, they have a clear ecological advantage because the physics around how they capture food become totally different,” said Simpson, assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and

Sphere-shaped colonies of Volvox algae seen under a microscope. PHOTO BY GLENN ASAKAWA/CU BOULDER; CC PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

the CU Museum of Natural History. “But the hard part for researchers has been explaining how they got big in the first place.”

In his latest study, Simpson draws on a series of mathematical equations to argue that this all-important shift may have come down to hydrodynamics – or the pursuit of a more efficient backstroke.

Roughly 750 million years ago, and for reasons that scientists are still debating, the planet became suddenly and dramatically colder – a period of time called “Snowball Earth.” To adapt to these frigid conditions, which can make swimming more difficult, small organisms like bacteria may have begun to glom together to form larger and more complex life.

Simpson still has a lot of work to do before he can prove his theory. But, the geologist said, the results could help to reveal how the ancestors of all modern multicellular life, from flowers to elephants and even people, first arose on Earth.

“By swimming together, these cells could remain small on an individual level but still produce more power,” Simpson said. “They become both bigger and faster as a group.”

Those successes took place at a seemingly inhospitable time in the planet’s past.

During “Snowball Earth,” the globe may have been all but recognizable. Ice sheets a half-mile thick or more may have blanketed the planet for as much as 70 million years, while temperatures in the oceans plummeted to less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

But even amid those frigid conditions, something spectacular happened: the first organisms made up of many different cells, not just one, began to emerge around the planet. Scientists still aren’t sure what those ancient multicellular organisms might have looked like. One theory suggests that they resembled Volvox, a type of algae that are common in oceans today and are shaped like a hollow sphere or snow globe.

“That’s something that has lodged in my mind for years,” Simpson said. “How do Snowball Earth and the rise of multicellular organisms go together?”

The answer to that counterintuitive problem may hinge on a little-known property of water. Simpson explained that when saltwater gets colder, it also becomes several times thicker, or more viscous. Humans are too big to notice the change. But for organisms the size of modern-day bacteria, the difference can be huge.

The geologist ran a series of calculations to gauge how organisms of various shapes and sizes might fare in the oceans of Snowball Earth. And, in this case, bigger might be better. Simpson said that modern-day bacteria and other single-celled organisms move around in aquatic environments using two different sets of tools: There are cilia – which are wavy, hair-like projections; and there are flagella – think the “tails” on sperm cells. Both of these tools would have been painfully slow in frigid ocean conditions, his results show.

If individual cells joined forces to make a bigger organism, in contrast, they could produce a lot more swimming power while keeping the energy needs of each cell low.

“The advantage of the multicellular strategy is that each cell stays small and has low metabolic requirements, but these cells can swim together,” Simpson said.

He’s currently testing the theory using experiments with

Carl Simpson inspects a fossil of Brooksella alternata, an invertebrate animal that swam in the ocean roughly 500 million years ago. PHOTO BY GLENN ASAKAWA/CU BOULDER modern algae in a lab and by digging deeper into Earth’s fossil record. One thing is clear, Simpson said: once life forms got big, a whole new world of possibilities became available to them. Primitive animals like sponges, for example, survive not by floating in the ocean but by actively pumping water through their bodies.

“When you’re big, you now can move the water rather than the other way around,” Simpson said.

Two fossils of Brooksella alternata;. PHOTO BY GLENN ASAKAWA/CU BOULDER

Daniel Strain is a science writer who has covered everything from collapsing Arctic coastlines to the physics of wine swirling.

He can be reached at daniel.strain@colorado.

PAGE 14

REDSTONE • REVIEW

JANUARY 19 / FEBRUARY 16, 2022

WHAT’S COOKIN’ Roasted butternut salad with arils and lime

By Barbara Shark Redstone Review LYONS – I learned a new word. I’ve noticed that current recipes call for pomegranate “arils,” seed pods inside the pomeShark granate, rather than seeds.

The arils are sweet, tart, crunchy, a beautiful ruby color, and delicious on a salad made with spicy greens like arugula, kale, and radicchio, or as a garnish on this butternut squash dish from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty.

I changed a few things but essentially follow his recipe. I use red chile as the spice

rather than his choice of cardamom and allspice. I’ve been hoarding a jar of Shed Red – a gift from a New Mexico friend.

Peel a butternut squash. Slice half an inch thick. Dust slices with New Mexico red chile, olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet lined with parchment or on a grill pan at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn slices over and roast 10 to 15 minutes longer until brown and tender. Let cool.

Meanwhile peel a lime with a sharp knife, removing all the white pith. Quarter the lime lengthwise and cut each quarter into slices.

Make the sauce. Combine one half cup full fat yogurt, two tablespoons tahini, the juice of a lime, two tablespoons water, and salt to taste. This should be pourable so add a bit more water if necessary.

Layer the squash on a platter and drizzle with the sauce. Scatter the lime slices and any juice over and garnish with cilantro

Kedgeree and spring rolls with veg and shrimp shrimp horizontally across the center of fhe wrapper.

• Place several pieces of cucumber, carrot, lettuce and cilantro over the shrimp.

• Roll ingredients gently but tightly in the wrapper. Assemble the completed rolls on plate without touching each other as the wrappers are sticky.

• Serve at room temperature with peanut sauce.

By Catherine Metzger Redstone Review SAN MIGUEL COUNTY – As we roll into 2022, I am determined to adopt a take-no-prisoners attitude towards our eating – proceed with lots of taste and with less fat – and to be thrifty. So, these two gluten-free recipes check all the required boxes to meet my goals as well as adding warmth and vibrancy to our meals.

Inspiration for today’s recipe for spring rolls comes from Julie’s Thai Kitchen, in Lyons. Julie’s rolls, a cold veggie salad with fresh cilantro and a couple of cooked shrimp wrapped in a rice wrapper, are my mother’s favorite go-to when she’s hungry.

They are essentially a hand food and are usually served as an appetizer.

Spring rolls are a way to get the kids involved in making food at home: the veg can be cleaned and cut by an adult in advance. The rice wrappers when wet are delightfully slippery, and the brightly colored vegetables and shrimp are a cinch to fold up in their transparent cocoon-like wrappers. And they’re fun to dip and eat.

Today’s other recipe is inspired by my time as cooky at Finlaystone Estate, in Scotland, where we never wasted food.

After an evening meal of rice and fish, there were always leftovers for the next day. Then we prepared a delicious kedgeree with leftover rice and fish, hardboiled eggs and some warming Indian spices to wake our morning palate.

Spring Rolls with Shrimp and Veg Serves four adults (two each) or eight children (one each); preparation time is 30 minutes.

24 medium-sized shrimp, shelled, cooked and deveined 1 package of 6-inch-diameter spring roll

B •R •I •E •F •S Continued from Page 4

Lyons Board and Commissions training LYONS – There will be a Zoom meeting on January 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom for training purposes for Lyons Board and Commissions. The meeting ID is 869 475 3963.

The passcode is 463463. The Zoom code to get on the meeting is on the Town of Lyons website. For more information call the Lyons Town Hall at 303-823-6622.

Boulder Fire Rescue’s Wildfire Home Assessment Program BOULDER – Did you know that the City of Boulder, through the Boulder Fire-Rescue (BFR) Department, has its own Wildfire Home Assessment program? Known as the Wildfire Home Assessment Project, the program aims to conduct a safety assessment of each home within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) boundary of the City of Boulder.

The program is divided into two types of assessments: Curbside Wildfire Home Assessments and Detailed Wildfire Home Assessments. Curbside assessments are completed by uniformed BFR personnel during business hours from the viewpoint of the street, sidewalk or public property and they do not access private property. These initial curbside assessments are designed to capture a gen-

rice wrappers 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and cut in 3-inch julienne strips 1 small carrot, peeled and cut in 3-inch julienne strips 1/4 bunch of cilantro, or, if you don’t like cilantro use mint, washed with ends trimmed off 3 leaves of lettuce, washed, and cut into 3 x 2 inch strips For Peanut Sauce: 1/4 C peanut butter 1/4 C water 1 T of fresh lemon juice 1/2 t soy sauce 1 t grated ginger or use 1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger 1/2 a medium-sized clove of garlic • Mix all of the peanut sauce ingredients together in a food processor or blender until they are smooth, about 30 seconds.

Remove the sauce and place it in a ramekin or other tiny container.

• Fill an 8-inch bowl with about an inch of hot water.

• Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water then remove it immediately and spread it flat on a plate or cutting board until the wrapper softens.

• Starting with the shrimp, lay three eral impression of how well each home is prepared for a wildfire event.

To see if your home has been assessed by BFR personnel for a curbside assessment, you can access the Curbside Wildfire Assessment Map on the assessment website https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/wildfire-home-assessment.

For City of Boulder homeowners and renters who wish to improve their curbside assessment rating, or to learn more about how to better prepare their home against the threat of a wildfire, you can schedule a free detailed assessment with BFR personnel through the Detailed Wildfire Home Assessment Request Form link on the same site.

RMEF Helps Conserve Prime Elk Habitat in Colorado MISSOULA, Mont. – Prime Colorado elk habitat in two different parts of the state is now permanently conserved thanks to two families who value wildlife and sought out the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to help them protect their land.

“We both salute and recognize the Mancuso and Tolson families who each entered into a voluntary conservation agreement with RMEF to protect a combined 1,966 acres of important elk range,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. The Mancuso family enlarged its previous 2018 Burris Mountain conservation easement by nearly 700 acres north of Cotopaxi. The acreage provides important habitat for elk and mule deer.

It lies within the Arkansas Headwaters Recre-

leaves. I sometimes add pomegranate arils.

Serve at room temperature.

Barbara Shark is an artist and author of How I Learned to Cook, an Artist’s Life. She lives near Lyons, Colorado. For more recipes, read her blog at www.howilearnedtocookanartistslife.blog.

1 T fresh parsley, finely chopped Salt and pepper • Hard boil the eggs, cool, peel and cut into quarters.

• Flake leftover fish into large flakes, discarding any skin or bones.

• In a 3-quart Dutch oven, melt the butter and add the onions and cook them, stirring occasionally until they are transparent, about 10 minutes.

• Add cooked rice and fish to the onions and stir in well, breaking up any lumps.

• Add curry powder, cardamon, bay leaf, parsley and lemon juice and stir in. Cook until heated through and you can smell the spices. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

• Pour kedgeree onto a small serving platter and decorate with the hardboiled eggs.

• Serve hot or cold for breakfast or for any meal. We eat it hot for breakfast.

Catherine Ripley Metzger has been cooking professionally and privately since 1979. She was a French cuisine journeyman at the celebrated Henri d’Afrique restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Today she is the proprietor of the food blog www.foodfortheages.com and cooks with curiosity from the ground up in her log cabin home on the Western Slope of Colorado.

Traditional Kedgeree using leftover fish and rice Serves two; preparation time is 15 minutes 2 eggs 2 C leftover rice (I used my leftover brown rice.)

1/2 pound cooked fish (smoked haddock, grilled salmon, etc.)

3 T unsalted butter 1 large onion, finely sliced 2 t curry powder 3 cardamon pods 1 bay leaf 2 t fresh lemon juice ation Area, a collaborative planning area of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

David Tolson placed protections on 1,279 acres of his land approximately 40 miles east of Craig. The property sits between more than 2,800 acres of BLM land to the west and 10,500 acres of BLM land to the east. Tolson has it enrolled in Colorado’s Ranching for Wildlife program under the Snake River Ranch, making it available for 40 to 60 hunters annually.

“Though approximately 225 miles apart, each of these properties features key wildlife and riparian habitat for elk, mule deer and other species,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer. “Tolson’s Camel Back Mountain property itself lies within vital elk and mule deer winter range as well as an elk migration corridor.”

RMEF holds voluntary conservation agreements protecting more than 3,800 acres of wildlife habitat just a few miles from the Burris Mountain project.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation: Founded more than 37 years ago, fueled by hunters and a membership of more than 231,000 strong, RMEF has conserved more than 8.2 million acres for elk and other wildlife. RMEF also works to open and improve public access, fund and advocate for science-based resource management, and ensure the future of America’s hunting heritage. Discover why “Hunting Is Conservation™” at rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

Library Continued from Page 5 presentations are welcome. We operate with a limited programming budget, but can offer stipends of up to $200.

The mission of the Lyons Community Library is to provide equitable access to resources, education, and experiences to empower individuals and enrich the Lyons community. Strong applications will make a clear connection to this mission and will meaningfully engage the audience. Please see the program proposal application on our website to learn more about this opportunity to partner with your Lyons Community Library.

The Lyons Community Library is open Monday through Saturday at 10 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays; 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays; and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The library’s online catalog is available 24/7 at lyons.colibraries.org and is always open for digital downloads on both the OverDrive/Libby and CloudLibrary apps. Call 303-823-5165 or email info@lyonslibrary.com with any questions. Registration for all events and programs is available via our website.

Kara Bauman is the Director of the Lyons Community Library and holds an MLIS from the University of Kentucky.