Durango ... again ...

[I_LUVNM]

Originally Posted by kateg

My husband and I visited Durango several years ago as a potential retirement spot. I haven't seen any mention of those oil? pumps in people's backyards. We asked about them in town. We were told that oil, gas companies etc. have the right to place a pump on anyone's property without permission from the homeowner. Many told us people wake up in the am or return home from work to find these rigs in their backyard and they make a lot of noise. Check it out. It deterred us from relocating there.

Lately things are changing with lawsuits and such being won to compensate owners and the Colorado lawmakers are working to change that to give owners more rights and compensation to Colorado owners, it isnt just a Durango issue but a Colorado issue.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by I_LUVNM

I dont mean any disrespect to Wyoming or you Jazzlover. I just feel that your forecast for Colorado, although I am sure is from the heart, isnt based on the way things are now. Tourism used to be a major part for Durango but with the new light industries moving in, (Farmington, 50 miles to the south in New Mexico, has become one of the biggest cities in NM), only Albuquerque and Las Cruces are bigger, and yes oil is a part of this area but it keeps the taxes low and offers jobs to roughnecks who otherwise would be out of luck. But what I am trying to make a point at, but I guess not clearly enough from my NM education, my language is not the best, but your forecast for America, if true, would affect ALL the west. So I dont understand why you are singling out only Colorado. Wyoming would suffer just as much if not more since they rely more on tourists, ie Jackson Hole, Yellowstone. So I dont understand why you are saying that Colorado is going to suffer, but then you need to look in your own backyard and say Wyoming and all the west would suffer too, so the point is mute. If their is an economic slowdown out west, ALL the states suffer, not just Colorado. I can also understand your concern on growth but the flipside to growth is stagnant and stagnant isnt good either. Colorado just has to learn to balance growth.

Dear ILUVNM,

Believe it or not, on many points I believe you and I agree. A downturn as I describe would definitely affect all of the West--all of the United States in one way or another, in fact. Nor would my adopted state of Wyoming be left out. Ironically, your area of New Mexico and much of Wyoming are two places that exploding oil and natural gas prices might benefit, though their residents would certainly feel the pain on the other end (at the furnace and gas pump, along with wildly inflating prices due to transportation costs). The truth is no one will be spared some serious economic pain if my prediction comes true. I really hope that I'm wrong about all of this, but my experience and intuition tell me that I'm not.

The "worst case scnenario" or "perfect storm" for the West would be a concurrent crippling recession/depression caused by the bursting of the real estate "bubble," a significant energy shortfall (there is PLENTY of current potential for that), and the continuance of the multi-year drought affecting much of the West (whether that is "natural" or man-caused because of global warming). Any one of those circumstances alone could potentially put a pretty big hole in the Good Ship Lollipop, but were they to converge at a single point in time--well, that could decimate the West.

Since this thread is about Durango, my only inference here is that I don't think it would be a good place to be were that kind of scenario to occur. There are certainly a plethora of other places in the West that would also not be on my "desirable" list.

One last thing, ILUVNM. Do not sell yourself short. I find your posts very readable, logical, and intelligent--even if I do not necessarily agree with everything you say.

[I_LUVNM]

Thank you Jazzlover. I appreciate your post. I do think we agree on if global warming is real and I think it may be, even many scientists are on board too, then the west is in trouble. I notice ponds and lakes that used to freeze over and we would ice skate on are long gone. The water doesnt freeze over them anymore. I would think places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, LA and San Diego could suffer major droughts and water could be costly to have there. People there will have to pay big time for water. I think if anyone out in those desert cities are reading this, I would seriously first and foremost get a xeriscaped yard, get rid of water hogging yards, if you are landscaping new homes, plant arid region plants. One thing really going for Durango and even my city Farmington is our rivers, there are many here in the area plus many, many creeks and lakes so that helps this region. I would be concerned living in a town with no river of good water. We all know LA has the LA river and nobody wants what is in that.

[jazzlover]

I have spent my entire life in the Rocky Mountain West, and I have never seen so many more or less consecutive years of drought. Here in my adopted state of Wyoming, 2003 was the last year of "normal" precipitation over most of the state. Since then, all or most of the state has been in drought.

As I have posted before, I spent a lot of years in western Colorado. My ex-inlaws were fourth generation in southwest Colorado. Their opinion was that the last few years in southwest Colorado were as dry as many years in the "Dust Bowl" days in the 1930's, which--in fact--did affect southwest Colorado. Now, the big question is whether this is a natural drought cycle, a global-warming caused change in weather patterns, or a combination of both. My personal opinion, as an amateur climatologist, is that it is a combination of the two.

A nasty side effect of the drought and a century-plus of fire suppression is the poor health of most of the montane and subalpine forests all over the region. It pretty much all is a tinderbox. Both mountain pine beetle and spruce budworm infestations are epidemic. The die-off in the southwestern forests is especially obvious. I have photographed several areas there each year for about 10 years now, and the difference from year-to-year in the number of dying and dead trees is just stunning. Worse yet, the die-off seems to have accelerated over the last 3 or 4 years.

The fires around Durango a few years back were, I'm sorry to say, just a preview of coming attractions. I had business contacts who were at "Ground Zero" for that one, as well as the Hayman fire near Denver. These people are old-line Colorado natives, and their description of how those fires ran through that diseased timber was chilling. Unfortunately, fire is one of the few things that will clean out all of that overcrowded, diseased timber. Problem these days are all of those fancy houses built in the way. I think that it is reprehensible that brave firefighters have to put themselves in harm's way to protect houses that NEVER should have been built where they were.

The local governments who allow residential development in severely fire-prone areas (and I know from direct personal experience that most of them don't have the "backbone" to stand up and say "no" to developers) are about as responsible as the the guy who hands a 14-year-old a quart of whiskey and a loaded handgun and assumes everything is going to be "OK."

A forester friend of mine, who got to "enjoy" the Yellowstone fires in '88 put it real well, "These days there are only two kinds of pine forests in the West--the kind that are going to burn, and one's that are burning." I don't think that he's far off of the mark.

[I_LUVNM]

I know the local officials in southwest Colorado are thinning out areas and doing alot of controlled burns lately despite people protesting. People dont want roads and trails for the forestry officials to be able to truck up to those thick areas and let them thin it out. I wonder though if the protestors prevail, if it would have been better to just have the road and trails and have trees or have a fire barrel down and take everything. Something to think about. I personally like pastureland like around Bayfield. I also would ideally like to live by a natural break like a creek or a river. It helps some. Anyway, something all western states need to consider seriously - fire prevention.

[I_LUVNM]

Originally Posted by kateg

My husband and I visited Durango several years ago as a potential retirement spot. I haven't seen any mention of those oil? pumps in people's backyards. We asked about them in town. We were told that oil, gas companies etc. have the right to place a pump on anyone's property without permission from the homeowner. Many told us people wake up in the am or return home from work to find these rigs in their backyard and they make a lot of noise. Check it out. It deterred us from relocating there.

Kateg, you will be happy to know the city of Durango just passed it, that they cannot build any oil pumps in the city within 350 feet from any structure and if anyone knows Durango, everything is build very close together, the only thing having that much space would be a park and that would be off limits too, so that was wise thinking on the city. Oh in the city itself, there is only one pump in the whole city. You can read more in the Durango Herald online.
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_p ath=/news/07/news070422_5.htm (broken link)

[DgoNative]

Well, I've been reading these forums for a part of the day today and frankly I am so tired of hearing from the IloveNM and jazzwhatever persons. Give me a break, neither of you know enough about Dgo to be giving advice on it. One has never lived there and the other lived there a century ago. Sure Durango is getting bigger, it's expensive and blah blah blah. You both know nothing about the place. Cortez and Farmington come nowhere near to Durango. They are like comparing crap to a jewel. It's expensive because people want to live there! Growth comes of it, and I'm proud the Durango proper are taking it into their own hands and buying more and more open space around the city. Get off your wanna-be, high horses and accept that you both don't actually know what you're talking about. Reading phone books does not make you an expert. Passing through does not make you knowledgable. And having some extraneous friends there does not make you one to tell others what Durango is about. Know what you're talking about before you voice your opinion. Assuming makes an ass of you and those who read this and believe you guys.

[samjovic]

I am considering moving from Oregon to Durango. I would like to hear the pros and cons, anyone?

Thanks very much

[brightdoglover]

When I went horseback riding up above Vallecito Lake last summer, we rode through a major burn area from five years ago. Very sobering. The scope of the burn, and imagining how it was for people living below- one two-lane road out. It's like living on a peninsula.
I believe the folks who say it's only a preview. And yes, I agree that firefighters shouldn't risk their lives for property built in major fire zones.
I gather, in the Lake Tahoe fires last year, that there are home association covenants against cutting down trees, etc., that is, the rules are that the houses built in these fire zones must be more vulnerable to fire, not less. ??