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Enviros score some PR

Don Rogers

Ah, our newsies fell for the enviros’ “report card” again, with Page One lead headline coverage. A coalition of the usual politicized suspects glum on each year to the special interest grab for media attention by ranking this and that by their own unique criteria.The national Chamber of Commerce and like groups give their favorite Republican politicians sterling marks for their business-friendly legislation. And anti-biz groups do the opposite.The various ski and snowboarding magazines basically do the same thing. Vail is No. 1 or 2, according to a certain class of skiers. So perhaps the thing is just to take all this in stride.But why does the media bite so hard? This coalition bemoans the very things skiers and the folks who have to live here delight in: improvements in the “experience,” economic resurgence, more acres to ski, rebuilding town. Bad, bad, bad. OK.The Aspen Ski Company writes better press releases, and their enviro officer sucks up to Colorado Wild better than mean ol’ Vail Resorts, which basically does all the same enviro things as Aspen – for better and for worse. Both foster economies that attract people. (Sorry.) Both expand. And the enviros still haven’t figured out that the biggest problem is that the forests have grown too thick, so almost any thinning actually is a good thing.But hey, we have a story that sounds like news, even if it really is just part of a PR campaign. And hey, it worked. Vail, Colorado


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