Categories
Population

Express Your Opinion on the Land Swap–9-09

The article below may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.

Express your Opinion on the Land Swap
© Richard Grossman MD, 2009

I appreciate Representative John Salazar for taking an interest in the National Forest Land Swap, an important issue for residents of La Plata County. His request to lengthen the comment period had the desired result—the Forest Service will receive comments until October 30th. I hope that more people will express their opinions about this proposed swap. I also hope that they will identify any vested interest. Apparently this sort of transparency was lacking during the recent public meeting during which most people in favor of the swap had reason to benefit financially from it.
In general, this column is about balancing humans with the natural world. The proposed land swap is about balancing the benefits of preserving one beautiful tract with three others.
To review, the Glacier Club (still called “Tamarron” by Durangotangs) wants to extend its properties to the north. It has proposed a land swap with the National Forest to gain ownership of property south of Chris Park. In exchange, it would give the National Forest three privately owned parcels. Closest is the tract where two branches of Hermosa Creek join. It is largely overgrazed meadow where cattle have damaged the streams. I hear that the second, “Mitchell Lakes,” is beautiful. With Forest Service ownership, both parcels could be protected from development and further harm. They intend to exclude cattle and restore the riparian habitat and native cutthroat trout to Hermosa Creek. An old mining claim in the Weminuche Wilderness, the third parcel is above Silverton.
The official appraisals of these four parcels are available on the San Juan Forest site at: www.fs.fed.us/r2/sanjuan/projects/projects.shtml. This site also has maps of the four parcels, a map showing existing public trails that would be closed if Tamarron prevails, and a link to the huge Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Most important, there is information on how to contact the Forest Service with your opinion on the swap.
The National Forest has been trying to get the Hermosa parcel for decades. It would be wonderful for this to happen; on the other hand, I would hate to lose access to some of the National Forest closest to Durango.
One of the things I dislike most about the proposed swap is that some of this beautiful land would probably be used for nine new holes of golf. Tamarron is already audacious enough to have built some of its current golf course on National Forest land, and part of the swap is to legalize that arrogance. Golf courses are notable for their harm to the environment. Not only do they destroy the native species that once thrived on the land, they require vast quantities of water and toxic chemicals to maintain non-native grass.
Like it or not, I think the land swap is pretty much a “done deal.” We do have the opportunity to request that the impact on the Chris Park area be minimized. I have written Cindy Hockelberg at: comments-rocky-mountain-san-juan-columbine@fs.fed.us with my suggestions to minimize the harm to the land and people of La Plata County. Here is my list of requests:
1. The Forest Service should select Alternative 4 because it would maximize the land available to people and wildlife. The total land taken by Tamarron is slightly less than with Alternative 2 (the alternative currently preferred by the Forest Service—and Tamarron).
2. The Forest Service could make the land available to Tamarron smaller, providing a wider buffer from the Chris Park Campground.
3. The emergency access road and parking lot proposed in Alternative 2 would seriously interfere with the Rapp Corral business. The additional road would be detrimental to wildlife, is not needed and should not be built.
4. It is important to make sure that the present Chris Park Road is not used for routine access to Tamarron, although it could be used for emergencies when not snow-covered. It is especially important to me that this road not be cleared of snow in the winter. My wife and I support Durango Nature Studies, which takes hundreds of school kids on snowshoes each winter on this road. We teach them about life in the cold with the “Surviving and Thriving in Winter” program. The Chris Park Road needs to have a locked barrier where it connects to Tamarron; traffic will interfere with this important use of the Forest.
5. The land swap plan provides for replacement of current trails that will be on Tamarron land. We need a guarantee that the new trails will be completed within a year.
I encourage readers to contact the Forest Service with their opinions about the proposed land swap. This is an important matter and our opinions can change the end result.

Categories
Population

Immigration–8-09

Immigration
© Richard Grossman MD, 2009

Immigration is an important part of the study of human population. It is a part that I have tried to ignore because I have strong, but conflicted, feelings about it.
In December 2007 a large package arrived from our son Bryan and daughter-in-law before Christmas. They were here for its opening—and what a surprise it was! We marveled at a copy of a ship’s manifest dated August 28th, 1906, showing the names of my father (age 4 years) and grandmother. They had traveled to Ellis Island, New York aboard the SS Potsdam.
My father didn’t talk much about his childhood. Growing up an Orthodox Jew, he was disowned by his family when he married my mother, a Christian. Despite their rocky start, my parents were together sixty years. I am happy that our country had an open immigration policy last century.
Our family received another benefit from immigration when our son Bryan e-mailed us that he was “the luckiest person in the world.” Previously hesitant to share details of his personal life, he had just met Ianina, his future wife. He traveled to Ukraine partly because that is where “Papa Lou” (his grandfather) had been born.
Bryan returned to Ukraine a few months after his first visit with an engagement ring. It took several months to negotiate our country’s immigration laws, but Ianina received a 90-day fiancée visa. She flew alone to New York, where Bryan greeted her at the airport. It was the first time she had ever been on an airplane, and the first time outside of her native land.
The first time we talked with Ianina we knew why Bryan considered himself so lucky. She had just started to study English and still had a heavy accent, but she was outgoing and charming. In those first weeks in New York, Ianina improved her English by traveling around the city with a camera. She would stop strangers on the street and ask them to take her picture, and then strike up a conversation.
Immigrants coming to the USA bring with them many wonderful characteristics. We are lucky to be able to enjoy many different authentic foods and other aspects of diverse cultures. Recent immigrants perform much of the menial work that citizens are loath to do; just look in the kitchens of Durango restaurants. People who leave their native lands often are more enterprising than those who stay behind; my father was a good example. You can thank (or curse) him if you have ever had a root canal done, because it was he who perfected that technique.
Many rich countries are facing a problem caused by decreasing population growth rates. They lack people to do strenuous labor, and some countries even import “guest” workers for this reason. Although our government doesn’t approve of illegal aliens, parts of our economy depend on them.
There are several categories of foreigners who are granted legal admission to the USA. They include children coming to be adopted, a family member rejoining a family, people with needed skills (such as physicians), refugees and asylum seekers, and spouses or fiancé(e)s such as Ianina.
The down side of immigration to the USA is that already we are the most overpopulated country in the world, in a sense. We are not able to nurture all the people who would like to move to the USA. Yes, the land can hold more people, but our extravagant consumption has made our numbers unsustainable. The Ecological Footprint of the average person in the USA is the largest for any country, and it is many times that of a person in a developing country.
When people move to our country they usually increase their consumption, thus their impact increases. Fortunately, they also tend to have smaller families than they might in their home country.
Allowing some immigrants to enter the USA certainly serves our country’s purposes. Currently over a million people enter the country legally every year, and perhaps the same number enters illegally. What is the correct number of immigrants? I don’t know, but it is certainly fewer than the current million. The last time I wrote on this subject was 1998 when we allowed in 800,000 immigrants. I suggested that 300,000 would be a reasonable limit, and it still seems that way.
The United States does not have a population policy, but it clearly needs one if we are going to live within sustainable limits. Slowing immigration would be an important part of such a policy.

This article may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.