Time Machine: 30 years ago, wildlife officials say wolf reintroduction will be difficult in Colorado
Vail Daily archive
30 years ago
June 9, 1995
In a story about how coyotes have proliferated in Colorado despite efforts to eradicate them, the Vail Trail reported that wildlife officials suspected that reintroducing wolves to Colorado “would be difficult partly because the coyote has filled the predatorial niche wolves once occupied.”
After decimating wolf populations in Colorado, humans tried to do the same to coyotes to no avail, the Trail reported.
“The coyote not only defies extinction, it thrives,” the Trail reported. “The spine-tingling sound these creatures make is only part of what drives people to dread an animal significantly smaller than many domestic dogs, but whose omnivorous foraging takes in everything from mice and insects, to deer, garbage and sheep. Its pesky resilience is another source of the fear and loathing.”
The Trail shared stories about coyotes from Eagle County residents and also shared a story from Ken Frost, the Ute liaison for the White River National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management.
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“One morning in the early ’70s, (Frost) was hunting in the pre-dawn hours on the Southern Mountain Ute Indian Reservation, his home at the time, when he crested a hill to find a ring of coyotes encircling a wolf in the draw below,” the Trail reported. “‘The wildlife people will tell you that wolves didn’t live in the state at the time, but this was definitely a wolf in the middle of that circle,’ says Frost. ‘I looked through my scope and shot down there above their heads, and the coyotes took off. The wolf stayed a minute longer, and he looked up and gave a big howl — like a howl of thank you.'”
40 years ago
June 14, 1985
One wealthy Texas family named Bass was in the running to purchase Vail Associates from a different wealthy Texas family named Bass, the Vail Trail reported.
“If Vail Associates is to be sold, it will probably be sold within a month,” the Vail Trail reported. “VA president Harry Frampton said this week that Goliad Oil and Gas, the Texas company that owns the biggest part of the ski resort and development company, will be receiving final offers from bidders by the end of June.
Those who have were involved in early negotiations to buy Vail Associates included George N. Gillett Jr., a Wisconsin banker and former business manager of the Miami Dolphins; Sea Container Corp., a British shipping firm that owned The Lodge at Vail; and a group of investors led by Sid Bass, a Texas businessman who was in no way related to Dick and Harry Bass of the Bass family that owned Goliad Oil and Gas.
50 years ago
June 12, 1975
Gov. Richard Lamm’s appointment of a citizens’ committee to assist the State Division of Planning in drawing up a winter resource management plan for the state of Colorado should have included a representative from Eagle County, the Eagle Valley Enterprise argued in an editorial.
“Members of the 17-member committee include a Vail councilwoman, a representative of Vail Associates, commissioners from Pitkin and Gunnison counties, the mayor of Aspen, representatives of environmental organizations, and representatives of skiing-promotion organizations,” the Enterprise reported. “But somehow, among that mixture of environmentalists, developers, and local officials, Eagle County has been left out. Not one person named to the panel specifically represents the interests of Eagle County.”
Eagle County should have had a voice in the formulation of the winter resource management plan because the ski industry had been playing an important role in the county, the Enterprise wrote.
“And with the Beaver Creek project and plans for another major ski area, Adam’s Rib, looming ahead, (the ski industry) promises to become even more important in the future,” the Enterprise wrote.
60 years ago
June 10, 1965
Several hundred veterans of the 10th Mountain Division were set to return to Eagle County for the Division’s 20th Anniversary Reunion on July 4, the Eagle Valley Enterprise reported.
“Several hundred former members of Colorado’s own famed 10th Mountain Division from throughout the nation will gather atop Tennessee Pass near Red Cliff to pay tribute to nearly 1,000 comrades who died in Italy during the closing days of World War II,” the Enterprise reported. “The solemn memorial ceremonies will climax the 10th Mountain Division’s 20th Anniversary reunion, July 1-4 at Vail, Colorado’s newest year-round resort complex, and Eagle County’s newest and most promising town.”
The focal point of the memorial services will be a massive monument of polished Italian marble, bearing the names of 10th Mountain Division troopers killed in action, the Enterprise reported.
“Listed among the names are many of America’s most prominent skiers of the 1940s, including the great Torger Tokle,” the Enterprise reported.
