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| Sylvia Clark, U.S. Forest Service Boulder District Ranger accepts a Proclamation from Mayor Gierlach |
For our area, most of the gun debate has very little to do with the responsible gun owners in our own Peak to Peak region, and much more to do with irresponsible gun owners from the flatlands.
For over a decade, we've had a problem with flatlanders who dress up in full camouflage with high capacity AR-15's and shoot up old microwaves and small refrigerators in an area just outside of our town limits. Locals have found bullets lodged in child play structures and decks in their back yards. Other people in the neighborhood have complained about the noise pollution and referred to it as a "sonic water-boarding" torture on the weekends. Still others have found steel jacketed bullets being used which are a wildfire danger. In general, the reckless shooting practices have been a nuisance to our community.
The town passed Resolutions 2007-02, and 2009-07 taking positions against recreational shooting at the old Nederland dump site on Magnolia Road. Every Mayor in the past decade has tried without success to close the site to shooting.
In 2011, I signed a letter in support for a grant for Gilpin County to construct a shooting site in order to relieve the stress on our Nederland site. Since I took office, we have also made strides to create a positive relationship with the US Forest Service and the Boulder County Forestry Division.
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The area has now been closed to shooting since January, 2013. On April 2nd, I presented a Proclamation in Appreciation of the US Forest Service for Closure of the Magnolia Road Forest Site to Shooting.
It states that "the Board of Trustees finds this action to be vital in protecting the mental and physical health and safety of Nederland Residents near to the site".
We have also partnered with several organizations in the region to develop the Regional Mountain Trails master plan. The public comment period ends May 20. Click here for details.
This spring, as we hike and bike in the Magnolia/Big Springs area, it is hard to imagine what it was like when there was shooting. But if you see someone dancing along the trail, you'll know why.
[Here is a Video Valediction] This is "Love: Triptych" a jazz/pop project which won the Downbeat award for the best jazz arrangement in 2010. – Performing "Come Dance" featuring Ann Di on vocals. [What is a Video Valediction?]
