was held May 8.  The ballot count that evening showed the question passing

by 6 votes, but there were still 9 provisional ballots that needed to be verified.

According to the Designated Election Official Linda Stagner, the provisional

ballot count began on May 10, but will not be complete until May 17.

We will post new information as it becomes available.

Ballot count as of 5/8/12

Terry Godfrey                        359

Claudia B. Wolfe                  228

Roger David Hillman          405

Frederick Dunets                  296

Ballot Issue/ Question

CRESTONE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT BALLOT ISSUE 5 A:  SHALL THE CRESTONE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT (D/B/A CRESTONE EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT) TAXES BE INCREASED BY $340,204 COMMENCING IN TAX YEAR 2012 FOR COLLECTION IN FISCAL YEAR 2013, AND BY WHATEVER ADDITIONAL DOLLAR AMOUNTS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER BY A MILL LEVY OF NOT MORE THAN 16 MILLS LEVIED UPON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN THE DISTRICT, THE PROCEEDS OF WHICH WILL BE USED FOR THE OPERATING EXPENSES OF THE DISTRICT, AND SHALL SUCH TAX REVENUES BE SPENT AS VOTER APPROVED REVENUE CHANGES AND AS AN EXCEPTION TO THE LIMITS WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE APPLY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION, AND SECTION 29-1-301, C.R.S.?

Yes                                    323

No                                    317

Stagner said that the election staff will meet on Thursday morning, May 10, to process the provisional ballots.

For the CrESD Board of Directors the unofficial vote count was:  David Hillman 405; Terry Godfrey 359; Frederick Dunets 296; Claudia Wolfe 228.

Baca Grande Water & Sanitation District Board of Directors are:

Kyle Grote 262

Cindy Reinhardt 253

Parvin Johnson 241

Tom Ontko 225

Dean Lloyd 159

Karen Koyote-Boyer 138

The other documents relating to this lawsuit can be found here.

by the Village Board

The Crestone/Baca Village is now ready to help people in our community help each other. All of the pieces of the puzzle are in place for a system that will enable members who need some help with something find other members who can provide assistance…and then the roles can be reversed over time. It is free to become a member and easy to do.

CB Village has been working behind the scenes for several months, our volunteers helping those of us in need—by stacking wood, or repairing a door, shoveling snow or raking a yard, giving a ride or getting someone online.

You are invited to attend a special celebration of launching CB Village: “Share the Care” on Sunday, May 6^th, at the Desert Sage Restaurant from 2 – 4 PM. You will have an opportunity to meet the board members, find out more about the organization and join if you want. Come and enjoy some live music with Jim Haddow, refreshments, and an entertaining presentation.  There will even be some special surprise gifts!

We have a Central Coordinator who can assist with connecting people, or it is possible to make those connections directly once you become a member. Our simple system involves a “Time Bank,” where we can keep track of the time that is spent helping people, and then this time credit can be used later for service. Each hour of service is worth one “Karma Share” regardless of the nature of that service. It is called Karma Shares because it is like gaining good karma for doing good deeds.

As a way of honoring the original purpose of the Village concept to help elders in need, we have set it up so that when you join you are given one Karma Share for every year over age 55 you might have attained. This also assures that the “bank” is endowed with enough shares to begin the trading. Any adult (18 and over) who lives in the Crestone/Baca area is welcome to join.

So what are the advantages of becoming involved? Time Banks are popping up all over the country as a way to cooperatively exchange skills and services without the need for using money. These are a kind of alternative economy that allow people of any economic bracket or degree of education to share skills and interests productively. It is also a way to create a reserve of Karma Shares as insurance against some unknown eventuality where you might really need some help, whether you have money to pay for it or not. It is a real kind of community-based social security.

This system also makes it easy to ask for help because you know that by doing so you are providing someone else the opportunity to gain Karma Shares. Everybody involved benefits from every exchange.

Everything is entirely voluntary, so even if someone asks you to help there is no obligation to do so. This system is based on the goodwill of a caring community. Of course this means no guarantee that service will be provided on request.

The exchange of Karma Shares is strictly a matter of time accounting. If there is some monetary aspect to services rendered, such as gas for driving or materials for repairs, then any such costs are handled directly between those involved. CB Village just puts someone in need together with someone who can solve that need—we keep it simple.

We now have a website, www.cbvillage.net, where you can find out more about CB Village and join with a simple on-line form. Once you have registered you will be able to access the pages that list other members with the various skills and needs they might have. Another way to join is to call our special phone number, 480-8757, that connects to our Central Coordinator who can help you register. You don’t have to have a computer to be involved, since everything can be handled directly by phone. We also expect to have registration forms available at various locations, including Curt’s Store, The Desert Sage, Bliss Cafe, Water & San and the P.O.A.—and these can be mailed to us at P.O. Box 173, Crestone, CO 81131.

We hope to see you at our celebration on Sunday, May 6^th  and that you will take advantage of this great opportunity to “share the care.”

Firefighters receive assistance from a light snowfall while mopping up smoldering trees on the Rosado Fire. photo by Lisa Bodey

Northern Saguache County was threatened by a rapidly expanding wildfire in the San Isabel Creek area on Monday, April 2. The fire that broke out on Rancho Rosado during a rare wind event was contained by the efforts of more than eighty firefighters from multiple agencies. The wind-driven fire erupted in front of intense winds from the northeast blowing up to 60mph. The Rosado Fire, only about 3 or 4 miles northwest of Crestone, and 2 miles north of Casita Park, grew to over 200 acres within a matter of hours prior to containment. Although significant, a major incident was avoided with an excellent show of cooperation and capability from all responding personnel.
The cause of ignition was reported to be sparks generated by farm equipment being utilized in a rocky area. The sparks were enough to ignite the dry grasses in the area. Despite efforts to put out the small fire immediately, the uncommon winds spread the ignition like . . . wildfire. Flame lengths extended from the low grasses into the taller shrubs “laddering” their way into the low hanging limbs of the juniper trees. These trees were a complete loss as they torched, sending firebrands into taller trees and further out into the fields of readily available and volatile fuels.
“The wind was a mixed blessing,” reported Incident Commander Ben Brack. “Though the conditions were brutal to work in and challenged our efforts at containment, had the wind been blowing from the southwest like usual, the fire would have been pushed up San Isabel Creek into the trees and steep slopes rather than out into the valley. If that had been the case, we might still be out there and homes in the area would most likely have been lost.” As it was, the fire burned up to and around the ranch house and other structures while coming within 500 feet of homes east of the ignition point.
Rapid responses from numerous departments averted any loss of lives or any more structures that were threatened. The ability for
our small rural departments to call for assistance is known as mutual aid, and written agreements are in place for that purpose. Due to the severity of conditions mutual aid was implemented to get help from Northern Saguache County Fire Protection District (including Moffat, Crestone, Villa Grove, and Saguache Volunteer Fire Departments), the Baca Grande VFD, Mosca-Hooper VFD, Center FPD, and Alamosa County FD. Saguache County Sheriff’s Department and Baca/Crestone Ambulance Service were also on scene to ensure public and responder safety. The need and the arrival of assistance didn’t stop there as local contractors joined in the effort with heavy equipment, bulldozers, loaders and even a farm tractor from a responder’s ranch nearby. State and Federal agency assistance was also called in, including the Colorado State Forest Service, the United States Forest Service, and two Interagency Hot Shot crews.
By the time the Hot Shot crews arrived, our local forces, augmented with the local heavy equipment operators, had put in four miles of containment line that stopped the fire’s growth. Brack explained, “The first step in fire suppression for larger incidents is about achieving containment. Once the fire is kept from getting any bigger we can concentrate on extinguishment. The response and performance of our valley volunteers was exceptional. Under the worst possible conditions everyone pulled together to achieve the best possible outcome.”
Other favorable circumstances and support from the community at large also affected the effort. Logistical help from Neighbors Helping Neighbors, the Baca POA, the Scenic Country Station, Crestone Mercantile, Bliss Cafe, Chokurei Farm Store and the American Red Cross fed and housed firefighters throughout the two days of the fight. One of the Hot Shots from Arizona said, “It was incredible the way this community pitched in and worked together to help put out this fire. I wish more small towns had this same sense of connection and teamwork in the face of disaster. Crestone is an amazing place.” Additionally an unexpected snow storm after the first day helped decrease the fire behavior, facilitating more effective extinguishment.
“The willingness and ability of each organization and individual that participated or supported others in putting out this fire is a testament to the dedication, hard work, and cooperation of our extended community in times of duress. I encourage us all as part of that greater community to support efforts that will promote this kind of cooperation and capability on a daily basis.” Brack said. ”It comes down to individual choices that help or hinder the greater good.”
Fire news was updated several times a day during this event on the Crestone Eagle website. Breaking news events are posted on www.crestoneeagle.com

photo by michaelaw and www.sxc.hu

by Keno
Despite some recent rains, almost the entire state of Colorado is once again in a drought, brought on this spring by the lack of precipitation this past winter. “98% of Colorado is in a drought”, noted Colorado climatologist Debbie Greenwald. “We expect to see water restrictions going into effect state-wide if things don’t change soon”, she added.
Drought conditions are rated on a scale from abnormally dry (D0) to exceptional (D4). As of April 1, readings across the state were as follows: Both the entire Four Corners area, along with the South Platte Basin, were rated D0, while a D2 zone covered the northwest part of Colorado. Parts of the Rio Grande and Arkansas basins have been at D2 and D3 since last summer. For the San Luis Valley, the Northern Sangre de Cristo
Mountains, and the entire Crestone area, all of which is a part of the Rio Grande basin, the reading is D2.
The snowpack up in the mountains, which the entire state of Colorado relies on for its water, has been at record low levels across the state since March, thanks to the lack of snowfall. The statewide average for snowpack was at 39% as of April 19 and has been falling rapidly, dropping on average of around 10% in just a week’s time. That 39% reading is even lower for that date than what it was at in 2002, the year of one of Colorado’s worst droughts ever, when the early April snowpack measured back then was at 52% of average.
Here are a few snowpack reports from locations in Colorado: the Gunnison Basin was at 47% of average; the upper Colorado Basin, 37%; the Yampa Basin 38%; the Arkansas Basin 44%; the South Platte Basin, 52%; and the Rio Grande Basin at 45%. The Sangre de Cristo mountain peaks did see a nice amount of snow fall in mid-April that did help a bit in slowing down the snow melt, but we need to see a lot more of that in the next several weeks before any real improvement can be noted.
Besides a lack of water for the state, the other concern with all of this is in what might lie ahead: destructive wildfires, which already have hit several parts of Colorado. This could bring an early and start to the fire season on the Front Range. “These kinds of conditions always make us very nervous, it reminds us of 2002,” noted Greenwald, speaking about a year which saw several devastating wildfires across the state.
The very warm temperatures, which the state has experienced since March, are not helping conditions at all. Most areas of Colorado saw temperatures 8 to 16 degrees above average, with eastern Colorado experiencing temperatures 12 to 16 degrees above the norm. These early warm temperatures bring with them yet another problem: most of the stream flow reports that came in the first week of April were mainly well above average. “Our snow is melting too fast, way too soon” said John Weiner, a Colorado Division of Water Resources engineer. As of April 1, 89% of the USGS stream gages recorded normal or above normal flows, while only about 11% were recording below normal flows. Again, this was directly being caused by the early snowmelt from the warm temperatures, and could mean much lower peak flows later in the season if the area doesn’t see above average snowfall for the rest of the spring.
While this year’s early snow melt is not unprecedented, it is unusual, according to another Colorado climatologist, Nolan Doesken, the National Director of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Doesken says the last time Colorado saw similar conditions was more than 100 years ago, during the 1910 historic drought, which was widespread across the West and also led to one of the most destructive wildfire seasons on record.
Is there any good in any of this? Well, if we reach a bit, we should see a lot fewer biting mosquitoes around here come June and July if the drought and these conditions continue.

by Matie Belle Lakish
What goes around comes around, they say. Suddenly, gardening is “in” again. Crestone gardeners are gathering for Saturday forays into the spring soil, and a special local Facebook page is devoted to gardening. A Crestone Garden Tour is planned for August 11 and 12. Dig out your gardening gloves and mark your calendar so that you, too, can participate in this “Back to the Future” event.
Crestone Holistic Living Alliance is the local catalyst for this newest collaboration on growing our own food, but Crestone is not alone in moving “back to the land” at a fast clip. Gardening has a new burst of energy all around the valley, as well as the nation as a whole.
What is motivating this interest in cultivating the soil? Health is a big driver. As more and more foods are chemicalized and genetically manipulated, many people, especially in urban environments, realize that the only way they can have any real control over their food supply is to grow their own. A clearer understanding of some of the healthful nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables, such as the anthocyanins, that were unknown a few years ago, now make fruits and vegetables an attractive aid to better health.
Economics is also influencing this trend. There is a pattern, of which today’s interest is no doubt a reflection, of relying on growing one’s own in times of economic downturn. In the San Luis Valley, national economic trends seem to have a lag time of a few years. Perhaps many more people are now realizing this downturn could last a while.
A tour of the internet reveals a number of websites focusing on growing food and storing seeds for hard times predicted to begin in 2012. These sites run the political gamut from New Age to hard-core Survivalist, and a number of them, as at the turn of the millennium, offer prepackaged food to last 25 or so years. Seeds form a big part of this, however. It is common now to see seed kits offering a “collection of all the seeds you need to plant a garden to feed a family of four”. The generic nature of these seed kits make them of marginal usefulness in a climate like Crestone, but they are indicative of a new interest in gardening for the sake of emergency preparedness.
Urban gardening is on the rise, as more and more people find themselves living their lives in cramped spaces. Gardening magazines and catalogs now have many pages devoted to the urban gardener’s needs. Dwarf trees and vegetables suitable for cultivating in pots on decks and balconies give urban gardeners options that were very rare twenty years ago. There are also a lot of experiments going on with growing in small spaces using creative and experimental methods. Recycled two-liter soda bottles with liquid organic growing medium hung on strings along windows gives a bit of nature to urban dwellers who may yearn for a little wildness and green in their lives. Growers, just like their farmer counterparts, watch their plants for signs of stress, infestations of aphids and white flies, and imbalances in the nutrient mix in their plastic plant environments.
Gardening in schools as a part of the science curriculum has emerged as an important connection to lessons in biology and natural history. This is seen as particularly important as educators discover that children in today’s urban culture have little connection to the natural world or to the way food is produced. We have all heard of the children who think milk comes from bottles at the grocery store. Fewer and fewer children have actually seen food growing, and school gardens give many of them their only opportunity to develop their “green thumb”, while the nutrient value of processed food in school lunches is also coming under fire from both parents and educators. A big focus of local food movements is getting wholesome, fresh local food into school cafeterias.
Speaking of local, many consumers are appalled at the idea of their “fresh” food traveling halfway around the world before it arrives in the produce section of the store. Along with this concern about distance is the lack of uniform health standards practiced in various countries. If your grapes come from Chile, your fish from Thailand, your lettuce from Mexico, and your quinoa from Bolivia, you hope that all those places have high standards of cleanliness and limit pesticides and fertilizers to the least harmful, but it is hard to tell. If your local farmer, or better yet, you yourself, have grown your produce, then you know what you and your family are eating.
So plan your gardening for the summer by participating in one of the local community gardening experiences, plant your own local food, or invite your neighbors in to share your garden space. Then plan to participate in the Crestone Garden Tour in August. This event, which took place for several years in the 1990’s, is being re-invigorated to help us all learn from each other as we try to improve our own health and accessibility to fresh, wholesome, locally grown produce. To be included on the Crestone Gardening Facebook page and find out what is going on where, send an email request to christinalakish@gmail.com.

by Robin Blankenship

On the east side of the main curve coming into Crestone, where Jimmy the llama can keep a supervisory eye, several neighbors are working together to once again experience the simple marvel of a prolific garden and the pleasure of a considerable harvest. What could be more satisfying?

Across our country and around the world in “developed” societies, decades have passed where our hunting and gathering activities have been confined to the aisles of the nearest supermarket.

“The times, they are a changin’ ”, as the desire to eat fresh, local food feeds (pun intended) a peaceful revolution. Thirty some years of build-up have resulted in a culture-wide movement of self-sufficient, sustainable, local activities, centered on a return to gardening and community food production, as well as independent home building, thoughtful energy use and cooperative governance.

Many folks are eager to join the band wagon; however, a few generations of living dependently on modern society’s systems and services leaves us ill-prepared, and frankly downright ignorant, of how to feed and water ourselves sans supermarket (let alone build our own affordable homes or live comfortably without expensive energy systems requiring

specialized maintenance). Interestingly enough, while modern societies analyze, chart, predict and struggle with how to live sustainably, how to possibly get back to basics, folks all around the world outside of developed areas are engaging in the daily, ancient life patterns of “doorstep” gardening, hand home building, simple plant medicine and life free of “super wattage” support from coal, gas, hydro, wind or active solar sources.

A simple, accessible start towards self- and community-sufficiency, sustainability, and resilience can be as easy as growing something you can eat! Luckily for us, it is hard to keep a good weed down! Things grow! Life wants to be. So your part of the deal is simply to provide a happy environment for Life. A little earth and water is all you need to grow food to grow and sustain yourself. A small, “just off the doorstep” space can provide good quantities of food and medicine. Many of the yummy kitchen herbs and spices most folks use can be grown easily in our outdoor environment.

If preparing growing space in the earth around your doorstep seems too difficult, use containers instead. Many people here have garden space but don’t have time or energy to do the growing. Neighbors who cooperate can grow a lot of food. Some of us have money for land, water, fencing, soil amendment, seeds; others have time to use the shovel and trowel. Working together with a few neighbors within walking distance addresses many issues that receive a lot of lip service: community building, self sufficiency. local healthy food production, environmental impact, personal physical health and mental well being . . . geez!

The Crestone Curve Cooperative Garden started with several neighbors pooling resources. It is a good example of successful gardening in a difficult environment; a working testament to local, environmentally beneficial food production that unifies community members. Big or small, any kind of food-growing efforts in our community benefit all of us. Get started with a few containers of salad greens and herbs or a small manageable ground garden and invite your closest neighbors to participate. You’ll be surprised at what grows out of your efforts!

No plans to garden this season? You can still participate in the Curve Cooperative effort by sharing your compost! Help us build soil, keep your own trash odor-free and unattractive to dogs and bears this season, and reduce landfill mass! Turn your food scrap into beautiful growing soil. A Crestone Community Compost pile is set up in the southwest corner of the property along the roadside. You can pull to the right side of the road as you head toward Crestone, just after the first big curve heads north and before the red gate, and dump your compost into the pile right over the the three-strand wire fence. There is a sign that says COMPOST HERE. Do not enter the enclosure, just dump your compost right over the wire fence, and be sure to say “Hi” to Jimmy the llama and his four horse companions when you come by!