Dear Action Line: My husband and I were enjoying a bike ride up on our Horse Gulch trails yesterday afternoon (Oct. 12). We came up from Carbon Junction and headed onto Sidewinder. Much to our dismay there were four-wheeler tracks the length of Sidewinder. Rocks kicked into the trail, bushes bowled over, cryptobiotic soil gone forever. What the heck is going on? Mr. Action Line, please tell me there was a logical reason for the trespasser. – Trying Not to Blame Texans
Dear Trying: Texans can be very nice people. Now, moving on. ...
Action Line spent some time getting to the bottom of this. Not sure the bottom has been gotten to, but here are a couple of information tidbits.
The land in question is owned by the Bureau of Land Management, your friendly federal folks who manage a lot of land in the West. Sidewinder is not open to motorized transportation, and even the latest fat bikes do not have tread as wide as the tracks left on Sidewinder.
Amy Schwarzbach, natural resources manager with Durango Parks and Recreation, contacted the BLM to see if it authorized the use of four-wheelers for any maintenance or emergency purposes. As of Wednesday there was no indication that it had.
Meanwhile, if you’ve been in the Three Springs area in the last week you may have heard what sounded like engine-powered machines using the nearby trails. Upon closer inspection (Action Line needed a workout over the lunch hour), it turned out there were orange-helmeted folks using chain saws to thin the oak and other brush on the hillside and ridge just east of the Sidewinder trail.
They weren’t out there collecting wood or stealthily building a cabin, so Action Line assumed they were hired by the BLM to do some thinning for fire mitigation. They arrived nearby in a van driven up Grandview Ridge road, which also seemed legitimate. Schwarzbach was able to confirm with the BLM and Durango Mesa Park Foundation that this was all hunky dory.
“The van and chain saws are authorized by the BLM to do fire mitigation. They are not using an ATV though,” Schwarzbach said. “So, we’re still looking into if any branch of the BLM had a four-wheeler out there.”
That is what we know at the moment. Oh, we also know that Action Line has been in better shape in years past, but you don’t really care about that.
Next question.
Dear Action Line: Where are the lovely art panels that were made to replace the ugly piece at the intersection of highways 160 and 550? No one would install them for the money that was available. Perhaps we could have a community fundraising to get them installed. They would look great! – Arc of Mystery
Dear Arc: As we learned in my buddy Jim Cross’ Oct. 21 Durango Herald column (tinyurl.com/ybts5ntc), the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve can be very disorienting at our lofty elevation. We also learned that the city of Durango not only has plans for the “lovely art panels,” also known as the Common Threads, but also has plans to replace the “ugly piece” (your term, not Action Line’s) known as the Arc of History. Please understand these are two different projects.
Art is hard, and Action Line is loathe to criticize. If Andy Warhol can make a living by making silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe and painting soup cans, then the arc of what passes for art expands immeasurably. A few stacked stones definitely fits in this arc, but history shows that many Durangoans did not accept this.
So, back to the art factory.
If funds are approved for 2023, the city’s Creative Economy Commission will ask artists for proposals to replace the long-departed Arc of History at the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection next to the DoubleTree Hotel.
Also if funds are approved in next year’s budget, Common Threads will be installed along the Highway 550 median on both sides of that intersection. Common Threads is a series of 20 laser-cut steel panels that depict wildlife and scenes that relate to Southwest Colorado. The panels have been ready to install since 2019, and Action Line’s math says that was three years ago.
As our reader stated, the money set aside for installation did not match the bids the city received. Tommy Crosby, the city’s economic opportunity coordinator, said that this time, the bid on the installation project will be put out at $75,000, in comparison with $45,000 and $50,000 the first two times the city asked for bids.
“Since this project involves working with (the Colorado Department of Transportation) and is relatively small compared to many of the other CDOT-involved projects, it has proven difficult to find a contractor willing to move forward at the $45K-50K range,” Crosby said. “With a larger budget for the project, the city is optimistic 2023 will be the year Common Threads is installed.”
There is a feeling out there that the Common Threads panels might be distracting, especially at night with headlights flickering through and off them. Action Line hopes that CDOT and the city will look into this before installation occurs.
Yay art!
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Speaking of Warhol, there’s a new Lou Reed album out featuring early demos in honor of his 80th birthday. As you fans out there know, Reed died nine years ago Thursday.
