Part two in series on residents’ reactions to Dolores Canyon proposal by Ilana Newman / Daily Yonder
STAR-STUDDED CAST: Zach Hively, Ted Williams, Ilana Newman, Lainie Maxson, Rob Brezsny, Jesse Anderson & Clint Reid
he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or monster powder
On the cover
The La Plata Mountains feature a fresh dusting of snow after last weekend’s storms, causing some locals to get excited and others to recoil in winter dread./ Photo by Alex Krebs
679 E. 2nd Ave., Unit 8 Durango, CO 81301
PHONE: 970-259-0133
E-MAIL: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com MAIL DELIVERY AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: $3.50/issue, $150/year
Durango’s airwaves are going to the dogs. Literally. This week, Hutton Broadcasting, based in Santa Fe, announced the launch of DoggyFM KKDoG, 99.7FM. As the name would suggest, the new station is “tailored for man’s best friend” (we would assume all other people are included in that generalization as well).
Given the timing of this press release, we are pretty sure it is not an April Fool’s or Snowdown joke. Plus, we actually went to the website, which appeared totally legit, and livestreamed the station. Songs included: “Dogs,” by Pink Floyd; “Who am I?” by Snoop Dogg; and “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo” by ’70s supergroup Lobo. (Bonus points if you already knew that one.)
Doggy FM is billed as the first (and probably only?) Durango radio station exclusively designed for dogs, featuring a “carefully curated playlist” of calming music, soothing soundscapes, informative content and even dog therapy.
“Recognizing the intelligence and emotional depth of our canine companions, Doggy FM aims to provide a unique auditory experience that caters to their specific needs and interests,” the press release asserts.
In addition to tail-thumping tunes and bark-worthy beats (their words), the station also plays relaxing melodies designed to reduce stress and anxiety in dogs (and their owners). In addition, it features nature sounds such as birdsong and running water and therapeutic sounds to help desensitize pets, like thunder, vacuums and sirens (please, just no doorbells or UPS trucks.) There will also be educational content including tips on dog care and training, and interesting canine facts. (Like how dogs sweat through their paws, which strangely smell like Fritos.)
“Durango loves their dogs. We believe that dogs deserve to enjoy the same level of entertainment and enrichment as humans,” Jack Llewellyn, GM at Doggy FM, said. “By creating a station specifically for them, we hope to provide a valuable resource that enhances their quality of life.”
Doggy FM is at 99.7FM or can be streamed at: visitfourcorners.com/kkdg-radio-station.
LaVidaLocal
Family fodder
I’ve just returned home from a distant state, where I spent an unspecified period of time with an undisclosed number of people to mark some major milestone date or other with an unnamed member of this vague party.
That’s it. That’s all I can write. As I said to several of the shall-remain-unidentified people in attendance when they each suggested I must be loading up on writing fodder at the event in question: No one could anonymize this many people in my family.
At least, not all at once – and most definitely not when several of them admitted, privately and quietly, to reading my work.
This revelation, that my unnamed family actually reads what I write, is really quite humbling. It’s also seriously terrifying. I don’t even know what I’ve written, let alone what they’ve read.
You see, you grow numb after a while, writing for the newspaper. This field is all about the clicks anymore, and the social media shares – or so I gather. I’d have to actually post to the socials in order to collect hard evidence on the matter. Yet any platform I’ve heard of is already out of fashion with the young people, those the age of my cousins’ and my sisters’ kids, of which there are several more in existence than I realized before counting them all in one place.
online for years. It’s a specific observation, too – not the “You do this writing thing, don’t you?” sort of bid for connection you get from certain, more immediate, family members. She means it.
However, you can’t very well write about THAT, because as soon as you include one of your cousins, you have to include them all. Unless you anonymize them. But you can’t, because you have only two cousins in the bunch, and they talk.
And, they read.
Even with print editions of the paper, you watch the people waiting for tables in sushi restaurants skip over your hard work and go straight to the horoscopes. It grinds you down. Your word count exists to create ad space for yet another pot shop, and that’s that. You submit your pieces, accept that they will light a lot of fires this winter, vote pro-cannabis and carry on.
This system works pretty well for you, until you are surrounded by 27 other people, all with some sort of genetic or matrimonial bond to you, and you’re overwhelmed by just how much they all look alike except, of course, for you. They TELL you you look like your father, but your father is many years older with much shorter hair, so you think maybe they are just being kind to him.
Perhaps you can write about all this. It’s not like anyone will call you out on it; after all, you’re not even sure they’re listening when they ask you how you’ve been and you talk for the next hour about your dogs.
But then, your cousin says something complimentary about reading your work
Thumbin’It
In happier animal news, state wildlife officials report two wild-born litters of critically endangered black-footed ferrets, a species that all but disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Maria’s Bookshop bucking the trend and staying alive for 40 years, despite the onslaught of Amazon and chain bookstores. Score one for the printed word, something near and dear to our hearts.
After a year and a half of construction (and a bit of controversy over potentially being located at Riverview), the new Miller Middle School is open for business.
You now feel you’re being monitored by Big Brother, even though a brother is the ONLY familial relation you don’t have out of the 27 people at your grandpa’s 90th birthday. You wonder, did you just say too much about your grandpa and his age? Too much to protect the privacy of your family (including, most importantly, yourself)? Did you just risk this piece being shared with everyone on your dad’s side of the family?
You decide to leave the reference in place. It’s always possible your readers will think you mean the OTHER grandpa on your dad’s side turning 90 this weekend.
Despite the plausible deniability, I don’t feel like I can write any of that stuff. Not only because my audience is half a dozen people larger than I ever suspected, but also because it wouldn’t be much fun to base an entire piece on a family function.
Sure, family foibles are highly relatable, nearly universal experiences. You’d think we could all connect over ragging on a brother-in-law or equivalent. (Not you! One of the OTHER brothers-in-law.) Practically every family has a paternal aunt and uncle who take on the ludicrous bulk of coordinating 28 people from across the country – on the same weekend, mind you – and welcoming them into their own, actual home.
And who doesn’t enjoy talking in hushed tones about the long-haired, bearded, childless writerly type in the family? No one knows quite what to make of him, except to say, “For a hermit, you’re doing pretty well this weekend.”
Really, though, I can’t imagine any reader (including my familial ones) wants to relive all their own awkward family experiences. Not when there are plenty of local pot shops to visit. Besides, my family, it turns out, is not half as awkward and strange as I expected. If I did write about them, I wouldn’t even have to anonymize them. But I would, because I cannot remember that many names. – Zach Hively
An aggressive bark beetle outbreak in the ponderosa in the Glade area, near Dolores, has foresters worried the beetles will move on to decimate Boggy Draw and beyond, transforming the forest into denser and less user-friendly Gambel oak.
Looks like La Plata County is going to have to tighten its belt by 25% in the upcoming year due to a drop in property tax revenues. The decline is not a result of lower home prices, unfortunately, but two state measures.
According to various polls and news sources, a majority of Americans fear election-related violence in the wake of the November election. Canada, here we come.
SignoftheDownfall:
School Stooping
Most people see the 400+ school shootings we’ve had in our country as tragedy, but companies like “Atomic Defense” and “Wonderhoodie” see nothing but opportunity. Both brands have started marketing brightly colored bulletproof products to parents via education fairs, but it’s a toss-up as to which company nailed the morbidity best. Atomic Defense came in strong with their $300 bulletproof backpack for kids (“Rainbow Unicorn” for girls, or “Dinosaur Green” for boys), but then Wonderhoodie took the lead with their promise to replace their bulletproof hoodie for free if your kid is shot, so long as you send the police report as proof. One can assume replacement children are sold separately.
WritersontheRange
Glypho-safe?
How a controversial herbicide saved a Utah lake
by Ted Williams
Ninety-five-thousand-acre Utah Lake is a major water source for the Great Salt Lake. If it dries up or sickens, so does the Great Salt Lake. Fifteen years ago, it was dying. But the controversial herbicide glyphosate saved it.
Virtually everything most Americans think they know about glyphosate – the active ingredient in products like Roundup – is probably wrong. That’s because social media and ads by lawyers offering to sue Bayer (owner of Monsanto, glyphosate’s original manufacturer) are rife with misinformation.
What most Americans don’t know about glyphosate is that it’s often the only option for saving native fish and wildlife from alien plants. When nonnative infestations replace habitat, the animals don’t go somewhere else. They die. That’s why boots-on-the-ground environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy depend on glyphosate.
But fear of glyphosate has created big business for lawyers and a fundraising bonanza for some environmental outfits.
In 2015, with no original research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an appendage of the World Health Organization (WHO), placed glyphosate on its speculative list of “probable carcinogens” along with “red meat” and “very hot beverages.” It did so, even though all scientific authorities that have done original research, including its parent WHO and the United States EPA, report no link to cancer.
Some studies that review existing research do report possible links to cancer. But the study subjects are farm workers who used large quantities of Roundup for years, frequently without protective gear. Roundup is applied by wildlife managers in relatively tiny amounts.
Still, based on IARC’s speculation, there have been glyphosate bans or restrictions in 28 nations as well as municipalities and counties in 15 U.S. states. And Bayer has paid $11 billion to settle lawsuits brought by cancer victims blaming their illnesses on Roundup.
California responded to the IARC review by requiring that glyphosate products carry cancer warnings. But a federal judge struck it down, ruling it as “inherently misleading …when apparently all other regulatory and governmental bodies have found the opposite.”
According to the international news agency Reuters, IARC “edited findings
from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that were at odds with its final conclusion.”
And this from Dr. Lee Van Wychen, science director for the National and Regional Weed Science Societies: “IARC’s review was such a crooked scam. I’ve never seen anything like it. IARC cherrypicked a couple studies and on top of that fudged the results … Now there are people on the conservation side who are afraid to use glyphosate.”
Utah Lake’s brackish water and extensive wetlands make it one of North America’s most important staging areas for migratory water birds. The watershed also provides vital habitat for other
birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, including the federally threatened June sucker.
Fifteen years ago, this biodiversity appeared doomed by an explosion of phragmites, a non-native, deep-rooted reed that spreads through wind-blown seeds and rhizomes. It grows out to 4 feet in water and all the way to the transitional zone of dry land.
So thick was Utah Lake’s infestation that wildlife couldn’t move through it, and people couldn’t access the lake. Phragmites created fire hazards, sucked vast amounts of water from the alreadydiminished lake and generated swarms of mosquitoes by blocking water flow.
Large infestations of phragmites can’t be cut or bulldozed, leaving herbicide as the only option. Dead stalks are then crushed or burned to make new growth visible for retreatment.
Spraying with glyphosate formulations began in 2009. “Each year, managers would focus on a different area,” reported the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Every area of the lake got three consecutive years of the sprayand-trample treatment.
Today, fish, wildlife and human access have been largely restored. Glyphosate has eradicated 70 percent of the phragmites, and future applications will kill most of what’s left.
Revegetation started this spring. With help from local organizations, the Utah Lake Authority has planted 7,500 native seedlings. “Planting parties” of 400 volunteers will plant 10,000 more native plants by year’s end.
“For the lake,” said Luke Peterson, director of the Utah Lake Authority, “this is a turning point.”
Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He writes exclusively about fish and wildlife. ■
A crop-duster sprays glyphosate, aka Roundup, on the invasive reeds taking over Utah Lake, a major feeder for the Great Salt Lake./ Courtesy photo
Think before voting
My folks served in the Army during World War II, both of them. My dad was a general’s aid stateside and in France, and my mom was a decorated captain in the WAAC in England and France. Both were Republicans and proud of it. They thought Eisenhower was a god so much so that when he made a brief stop at Cleveland Hopkins Airport during his 1952 presidential campaign, they pulled my brother, sister and me out of school just to see him emerge briefly from his airplane to wave to the crowd. As a result, when I was old enough to vote (21), I voted Republican, and I was proud to do so.
About the time Watergate happened and Agnew and Nixon were forced out of office, I was getting pretty skeptical about the Republican Party. It felt like the party was losing its way and forgetting what it stood for and whom it served. The last Republican presidential candidate I voted for was Reagan, and when the GOP went on its wasteful rampage to run Clinton out of office for improprieties that should have been between him and Hillary, I wrote my congressman, Scott McInnis, and said if
the Republicans didn’t stop the stupid drama and get back to the people’s business, I would quit the Republican Party, join the Democratic Party and actively work to see him replaced. They didn’t quit the nonsense, but I quit the Republican Party.
Since then, the Republican Party has been slowly spiraling down to rock bottom. Now we are faced with an election in November that portends serious consequences for our country on almost every front.
Before you fill in the bubbles on your ballot. I am asking you to think really hard about this election – and then think again. Ask yourself who of all the elected officials, local, state and national, on your ballot are going to honor our American values, respect and uphold democracy, guard against the pervasive threat of dictatorship and autocracy, and provide you with a safe, healthy and reasonably comfortable future? Who has you and your family’s best interest at heart? Who is capable of providing a safe environment in which to live? Who is going to work hardest to protect and safeguard our planet, and who is going to recognize
and bring healthy dignity to your personal health issues?
Think, fellow voters. The consequen-
ces of this election more than ever before are going to have lasting effects not merely for the next four years but for
RainbowConnection: There may not have been a pot of gold at the end of this recent rainbow at Hillcrest Golf Course, but there were a few deer./ Photo by Missy Votel
decades to come. What takes place on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, will chart the future for you, your children and your grandchildren. Think hard about your vote and your loved ones.
Thank you for taking part in your constitutional right by voting this year.
– John Egan, Durango
Vote the educational ticket
As an educator who taught pre-school through grad school, I implore you to vote for teachers and friends of education in our political races. Term-limited, former teacher Rep. Barbara McLachlan served our community so well and brought significant funding to increase teacher pay and thus strengthen our public schools.
Looking up and down the Democratic ticket, from Candidate for State Representative Katie Stewart to Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz, it’s clear the strongest candidates are involved in supporting our local schools or have served as exemplary teachers and/or coaches.
Think back to a favorite teacher from your past. What do you remember most? Did they lift you up, give you hope, challenge you to push toward your best self, model the values by which you want to be defined and remembered?
That’s what we all need to unite behind now. Vote for the best candidates, vote for civil discourse, vote for education that brings the power to solve problems and improve all lives. I see these strengths on the Democratic ticket from top to bottom this election.
Please vote for an educated, thoughtful Colorado and America that strives to bring out the best in us all!
– Paulette Church, Durango
Salka serves all, not just a few
Recent comments about Paul Black have included only vague platitudes such as “believes in sustainable development, appreciates clean air and water” and mentioned his property a lot.
Guys, what do statements like this really say with substance?
Paul Black is a one-issue guy who feels that local government works against La Plata County citizens. Really? I feel these opinions are urged by possible suspect developers.
On the other hand, Commissioner Matt Salka loves action. During his term, he has:
1. Built a water station dock in Marvel when people had failed for years before him to get it done.
2. Received $70 million for expansion of broadband when others said “too complicated.” Services are being installed up Florida Road as we speak, thanks to Matt.
3. Addressed workforce housing in Ignacio, Rock Creek and Bayfield.
4. Helped facilitate the county’s new weather radar, road repairs and the public health dept. transition.
Matt Salka has only been commissioner for four years. This is what I call fantastic, unlike the empty platitudes that describe Paul Black. County commissioners answer to all types of citizens, not just multiple-acre land owners who seem bothered by regulations. I lived in a place where regulations were
weak, and a large dog kennel suddenly appeared across the road, with dogs barking day and night.
Why trade fantastic Matt Salka’s action for Paul Black’s zero experience? Single issue Paul Black will serve only a few instead of all.
Please vote wisely.
– Barbara Day, Durango
Trump’s stunning ignorance
During the 2020 campaign, GOP candidate Donald Trump tried to bamboozle the voters by stating that Biden’s economic plan would lead to a 1929-style depression.
Quite the opposite happened: the stock market reached all-time highs; millions of new jobs were created; businesses flourished; real estate values increased; the number of people owning stocks increased; and poverty was reduced.
Mr. Trump wants to install higher tariffs on most Chinese imports. One of the major factors leading to the 1929 depression was “tariff wars!”
I was born in the early years of the 1929 Great Depression. My grandfather and father’s families, along with millions of other families around the world, suffered dire economic hardships.
Mr. Trump’s stunning ignorance of economic history is now front-and-center because of his tariff proposal, his tax breaks for the wealthy and other “backward looking” examples!
Kamala Harris’ economic plans would build on the Biden presidency’s positive economic gains.
– Hal Mansfield, Green Valley, Ariz.
Who speaks for the land?
West End residents voice concerns over creation of Dolores monument
(Editor’s note: The following is the second installment in a two-part series by Mancosbased reporter Ilana Newman focusing on the reactions of residents on the proposed creation of the Dolores Canyons National Monument. The monument would cover about 600 square miles in an area of western Colorado stretching from Nucla and Naturita to close to Grand Junction.)
by Ilana Newman / The Daily Yonder
Historically, the West End has been a boom-bust region. From uranium to coal, the communities have gained and lost economic traction over the years. In 2019, the coal-powered Tri-State Generation plant in Nucla closed three years ahead of schedule, halting the coal mining and power industry. The region has been in economic transition ever since.
The Dolores River traverses what is known as the Uravan Mineral Belt, an area full of deposits of uranium, vanadium and radium. The former company town of Uravan, now a Superfund site, supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project in World War II. In the 1980s, the town was razed, as much of it was built with or on radioactive materials.
With uranium prices rising and interest in nuclear energy growing, the potential for renewed mining in the Uravan Mineral Belt is on the minds of community members in the West End.
For Templeton, mining and ranching are a key piece of the West End, and a national monument feels like it would threaten this tradition – the opposite of protecting the land that he grew up on.
The WEEDC is already working to transition away from coal and create more economic diversity. Gordon, the executive director, said that the economy is currently “very small-business driven.” Outdoor recreation is a seasonal industry,
with highs during hunting season and during summer holidays.
“Outdoor recreation, while it is very productive and it has a lot of sales-tax generation and a lot of spending in it, it doesn’t always relate to high-wage jobs,” Gordon said. “Mining could assist with some of those higher-wage jobs that don’t always equate to sales-tax development.”
Scott Braden, the executive director of Colorado Wildlands Project and a member of Protect the Dolores, agrees that mining is an important industry for the West End. “That’s why it’s so impor-
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tant to get the boundaries (of the monument) right, which we can do by coming to the table and having these conversations,” Braden said.
Community Connected to the Land
Later that Tuesday afternoon in May, in Nucla Town Park, former mayor of Nucla, Richard Craig, wandered over to join a conversation with Katey Herland. Craig wore a tie-dye shirt and switched back and forth between his family’s barbeque and the conversation with Herland. Herland’s family bought the ranch that would be surrounded by the pro-
posed national monument in the 1980s. Now she worries that a national monument designation could lead to being forced into selling her property.
Forcing a landowner to sell part or all of their land that is surrounded by public land is known as an inholding acquisition. It is primarily done in wilderness areas (to maintain continuity of land management), which the area surrounding Herland’s property is not.
Herland has other concerns about the national monument proposal, but not because she’s “opposed to conservation and
A “Halt the Dolores” sign sits on a fence overlooking the San Miguel River near Naturita. The San Miguel River meets the Dolores River in what could become Dolores Canyons National Monument, before flowing north to join the Colorado./ Photo by Ilana Newman/Daily Yonder
environmentalism. We’re talking about the principles of how things like this need to be done. These movements need to be locally led.”
She would rather just have the resources to take care of the area locally. “This is a community that is very much connected to the land,” Herland said. This connection is exemplified by the way community members showed up for firefighters on the Bucktail fire, which started on Aug. 1, 2024, northeast of Nucla. Residents, including some interviewed for this story, came together to make tacos and other meals and deliver it all to the firefighters – showing up for the land they love.
“We need to be having a different conversation about conservation and environmentalism, which is how do we better support local communities in these efforts?” Herland said. “We have probably … two dozen people that would willfully want to be involved in maintaining this area. If we need to come up with an improved management plan, we have the boots on the ground here that are willing to do that.
“When you have people who are not connected to an area coming into an area, whether they like to recreate or not, that doesn’t mean that they have the area at heart. They don’t have an affinity for the area the way that the locals do,” Herland said.
Scott Braden lives about two hours from Nucla and Naturita in Grand Junction, the “big city” of the Western Slope of Colorado (population 68,000). Braden is the executive director of Colorado Wildlands Project, a nonprofit that works to protect and advocate for Bureau of Land Management land in Colorado. Braden and Colorado Wildlands Project is a part of Protect the Dolores, the coalition working to do just that – protect the Dolores River and the land surrounding it.
In May, Mesa County, home of Grand Junction, passed a resolution opposing the national monument, because it “did not adequately consider local needs and input.” A survey of Montrose and Mesa County residents found that 60% did not support a national monument.
In July, Mesa and Montrose counties proposed an alternative to Dolores Canyons National Monument in the form of a National Conservation Area (NCA). The proposed NCA would be 29,806 acres, less than a 10th of the currently proposed size. Proponents of the national monument say that the NCA is not enough pro-
tection for the land around the Dolores River.
Speaking for the coalition, Braden sees a national monument as a way to protect the future of the region by getting ahead of future issues like over-visitation –which Braden sees as an inevitability whether or not the monument designation goes through.
“I really think a national monument is a way to get ahead on that and make some intelligent choices around building out infrastructure on the public land as appropriate, and just making sure that this landscape is well positioned to most resiliently face that future,” Braden said.
Dolores Canyons National Monument would border
the proposed National Conservation Area if Congress approves the NCA. The conservation area legislation was introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, to Congress in 2023. In July, after community meetings in the West End, Bennet and Hickenlooper released a joint statement on the proposed monument that supports many community concerns.
For the Protect the Dolores coalition and Braden, cohesive land management through a monument designation would protect the region from future development and protect biodiversity while supporting outdoor recreation including hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, off- highway vehicles and more.
“Monument designation is specifically intended to protect those resources,” Teal Lehto, who advocates for land and water protection through her platform Western Water Girl, said. “The folks that are working toward that protection have the same goals in mind. They want to make sure that that place stays the same way that it is right now. As the current management stands, that is not necessarily always going to be the case. There is a possibility of those lands being disposed of, leased or developed in the future.”
“Accessible, Protected & Beautiful”
Members of the Protect the Dolores Coalition and community members in the West End said repeatedly they want the same thing: for the landscape around the Dolores River to remain accessible, protected and beautiful for future generations.
Braden with Protect the Dolores said that community input would be necessary for future resource management plans for a potential monument, and that no decisions have been made about future management. He wants to connect with the community and make sure that everyone’s definition of “protect” is met. “We’re really happy to talk to anybody about their concerns,” he said.
But Herland would rather leave that discussion up to the locals. “What we need to be building on and empowering is the small, locally led, community-driven groups that want to protect and preserve this for future generations,” she said. “They have everything invested in this.”
This story was produced with support from the LOR (“Livability, Opportunity and Responsibility”) Foundation. LOR works with people in rural places to improve quality of life.
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LocalNews
Writing the book on community
Maria’s turns the page on 40 years as hub for local culture and connection
by Missy Votel
Turns out, the death of the printed word has been greatly exaggerated.
Just ask the owner of Maria’s Bookshop, Evan Schertz. The venerable downtown Durango institution celebrates 40 years this week – no small feat given small, independent booksellers began getting written off some 30 years ago.
“People have been saying small bookstores are going away since the ’90s,” Evan said this week. “Bookstores really got destroyed by Amazon and chain bookstores … the numbers just dwindled.”
But Maria’s is bucking that trend. According to Evan, the bustling store is not only surviving, it’s kicking some Amazon, uh, hardback.
“We are here after 40 years, because the community has intentionally supported an independent bookstore through all kinds of hard times and all kinds of crazy things that many bookstores didn’t survive,” said Evan. “It’s all thanks to the support of the community.”
Bear in mind, Schertz, at the age of 27, was barely out of diapers when Amazon and big box bullies like Barnes & Noble came on the book-selling scene. But, he speaks with an introspection and wisdom that belies his Gen Z birth ranking. Maybe that is because books are in his blood. His parents, Peter Schertz and Andrea Avantaggio, owned the store for about 20 years prior to selling it to Evan in 2019.
Perhaps the greatest example of community support during Evan’s time at the helm was during the pandemic – which struck less than a year into his tenure. As luck would have it, the store was already scheduled to close down for a few weeks for a remodel in the spring of 2020. Of course, as these things go, the remodel ended up taking two months, so there
Maria’s Bookshop is celebrating 40 years as Durango’s hometown book store this Sat., Sept. 28. The store was started by Dusty Teal in 1984 and moved to its current location in 1994./ Courtesy photo
was a bit of serendipity.
“It actually worked out really well,” said Evan of the forced closure.
And when Maria’s was back open for business, it was buoyed by the support of its diehard local fans. “It was so heartwarming and impressive to see how customers supported us and wanted to engage,” Evan said. For a while, when congregating in indoor public spaces was frowned upon, Evan would deliver books to people by bike and leave them on their front porches.
“People were really intentional about supporting us,” he said.
Evan said Maria’s is not an outlier in respect to community support, either. Small independent bookstores across the country have been experiencing a rebirth
of late, particularly due to the support of communities that value such an amenity, he said. According to the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association, group
JusttheFacts
Who: Maria’s Bookshop’s 40th anniversary party
When: Sat., Sept. 28, 4-9 p.m. Where: 960 Main Ave. What: Live music from People We Know and special Ska beer, “ESB: Extra Special Bookshop”
membership has grown 30% since 2020.
“There’s been a real resurgence in the last decade,” Evan said. “Most of those
stores that are opening – there are a lot in cities – but there are a lot in small towns. I think part of it was around the pandemic, when a lot of communities had to rethink their values and rethink where the heart of the community was. And that’s what a bookstore can be. A lot of communities didn’t have one, and that’s when somebody realized that they needed one.”
For Durango, the realization that the town needed a small independent bookstore came in 1984 when Dusty Teal opened Maria’s down the street from its current location, in the spot now occupied by Eureka Dan’s. In 1994, when the store outgrew that spot, it moved to its current location at 960 Main Ave., which offers 2,200 square feet of retail space. As
Evan Schertz
Maria’s lore goes, Teal (who, BTW, is rumored to be the basis for Edward Abbey’s character Seldom Seen) employed the help of friends to shlep the books down the street.
“There’s some great old photos of them moving all the books … they just wheelbarrowed all the books down to the new store,” said Evan.
It was around this time that Evan’s mom, Andrea, started working for Teal. When word got out that Teal, who now lives outside Mancos, was ready to sell, Andrea approached him about buying it.
“Dusty said, ‘Yeah, you and Peter should buy it,’” recalled Evan.
The two eventually bought the store in 1998, keeping the name which was a tribute to New Mexican pottery artist Maria Martinez. The store’s bird logo pays homage to Martinez (although you would not be faulted if you thought for years, as I did, that Andrea was the “Maria” in Maria’s.)
After 20 years, Peter and Andrea were eyeing retirement and approached Evan about buying the family business. But at the time, he was at Colorado School of Mines studying mechanical engineering – a far cry from bookstore proprietorship – and thought he was going to become an engineer.
“I was never interested in buying it, and neither was my sister,” Evan said. However, like any good story, the more he thought about the proposal, the more intrigued he became. After college, disenchanted with engineering, he started entertaining the idea more seriously.
“It turns out – nothing against engineers – but it was just not what I was into. It didn’t feel like it was going to do it for me,” he said.
After talking with a friend, he decided to take his parents up on their offer.
“I realized it was an incredible opportunity,” he said. “It just took me a while to get up the confidence to bring it back up with my parents, because I knew once I did, there was no turning back.”
And fortunately for us book lovers and purveyors of solitude out there, he has no plans to turn back. Although there has been a learning curve in running the store, Evan said he enjoys the challenge and variety the job offers. “There’s always something new to try or a problem to solve.”
But the best part, he said, is getting to engage with the community and people who walk in Maria’s door to peruse the towering wooden stacks. He also gives huge props to his dedicated staff of 20 booksellers and longtime righthand gals, Julie Shimada and Jeanne Costello.
“Every day is special,” Evan said.
From hosting book signings and donating to nonprofit fund-raisers to selling
Top photo: Maria’s former owner Peter Schertz enjoys retirement by helping to stir the mash for Ska’s “Extra Special Bookshop,” an ESB, of course. Above: Customers peruse the stacks during the party marking the store’s changing of hands from Dusty Teal to Peter Schertz and Andrea Avantaggio in 1998. Strangely enough, fashion trends were eerily similar to today./ Courtesy photos
the works of local authors on its shelves, Maria’s also strives to pay it forward.
“We think of our inventory as reflective of the community’s interest,” Evan said. “You can come in and see what other people are reading.”
Because when it comes down to it, books are all about connection.
“Our mission has always been to enrich life through books. Maria’s is a place to find a connection to the community in so many ways, from running into friends in the store to having a great conversation with a bookseller or browsing the shelves.”
And hopefully, it will be that connection and enrichment that allows Maria’s to continue to thumb its nose at the Amazons and Barnes & Nobles of the world for another 40 years.
“There has been a real awareness over the last decade about community values and the value of places like bookstores, coffee shops and libraries and what those can offer,” said Evan. “That’s true for every independent bookstore in the whole country. It takes a community that values what the bookstore provides.”
For more info., follow @mariasbookshop or visit www.mariasbookshop.com. ■
Thursday26
Manhattan Shorts Film Festival, presented by DIFF, 4 & 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Ska-B-Q with music by Ethan J Perry, 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
“Healing US,” free screening of film on universal health care, 5:30-8 p.m., Durango Public Library
Green Drinks, 5-7 p.m., 11th Street Station. Hosted by Grand Canyon Trust, The Wilderness Society and Four Core
Trivia Night, 5-7 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main Ave.
Live music by The Badly Bent, 6-9 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Live music by Kirk James Blues Band, 6-9 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito
Live music by Devin Scott, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Terry Hartzel, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music with the Pete Giuliani Band, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Merely Players presents “The Book of Will, a
Sparkling Ode to Shakespeare,” 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
“Hammers & High Heels” fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, 7-10 p.m., Ska Brewing
Playa’s Ball, 7 p.m., The Suberrain, 900 Main Ave.
“Wait Until Dark,” 7:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Unsought Theatre presents “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties,” 7:30 p.m., 1129 Narrow Gauge Ave. (building behind 11th Street Station)
Elder Grown with Eli Emmitt Band, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Sunday29
Wines of the San Juan Harvest Festival, 12 noon – 6 p.m., 233 NM 511 Blanco, N.M.
Whole Expo, 10 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Live music with Devin Scott, 12-3 p.m.,11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Irish Jam Session, 12:30-3 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Merely Players presents “The Book of Will, a Sparkling Ode to Shakespeare,” 2 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Board Game Sundays, 2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Weekly Peace Vigil & Rally for Gaza & Palestine, every Sunday, 4 p.m., Buckley Park.
Faculty Recital, 3 p.m., FLC Roshong Recital Hall
Live music by the Blue Moon Ramblers, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by José Villareal, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Monday30
Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30 p.m., in person at Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste. 109, or online at durangodharmacenter.org/
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Leah Orlikowski, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Singo with Devin Scott, 6 p.m., Grassburger South, 360 S. Camino Del Rio
AskRachel Cold comfort, car nanny, and shut up and hike
Interesting fact: Car insurance tracking apps can reportedly track how often you use your phone while driving. I like this for every single person on the road but me.
Dear Rachel,
I’m reading this spy novel written before the end of the Cold War and the updated foreword talks about the end of the Cold War. Isn’t the whole point of a Cold War that it was never officially declared in the first place? Did it really end? Isn’t Russia still spreading disinformation and using bots to influence our election and media? Aren’t we likely doing the same to them?
– Not Out of the Cold
Dear Comrade,
We do not question whether the Cold War came to an end. All things are sunny and bright for the great United States of America, where we are fed on great American wheat and milk, none of which is ever imported from inferior lands. What could be greater than our prosperity? What could we have to fear from Russia, as long we go along with its designs for our future?
– The cold shoulder, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
My dad is a horrible driver who makes me carsick. He got this tracking app from his in-
Tuesday01
Mornings at El Moro Networking & Learning featuring Durango 9-R Superintendent Karen Cheser, 7:45 -9 a.m., El Moro, 945 Main Ave.
The Ballot Issues, via Zoom, 12 noon-1:30 p.m. Register for link at laplatadems.org/events
Pain Care Yoga, free class series, Tuesdays 4:30-5:45 p.m. thru Nov. 19, Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave., innerpeaceyogatherapy.com
Rotary Club of Durango presents retired professor and historian Mike Gallaher speaking about Lewis and Clark, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
Author Event & Book Signing with Pam Houston, 6-8 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
Live music by Blak Velvet, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Live music by Darryl Kuntz, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Joel Racheff, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Man 2 Man Prostate Cancer Support Group, 6-
surance company that monitors his driving in exchange for possibly better rates. He now drives like an angel with smooth accelerations, reasonable braking distance, turn signals, the works. I’m usually anti-anything that reeks of tech bros, but this seems like a positive development. Is this tech surveillance good, or am I just a bystanding victim of Siri and Alexa and all the rest?
– Along for the Ride
Dear Little Brother,
I also don’t want too much tracking of my personal habits, but I do kind of like how Amazon has customized my algorithm. Life really has gotten better for me, or at least easier, which feels like the same thing. Besides, maybe now your dad won’t kill you! Give me privacy or give me death! Unless you want to give me neither along with a discount.
– Like a good neighbor, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I am all for being friendly to other people. To a freaking point. Sometimes I go for hikes on our more popular trails, and there are just so many people. Not as bad as going to Sedona where the hikes are basically like lines at Disneyland. But every person I pass insists on saying hi, and I’m fine for the first few, but after the 20th “hi” I just want to enjoy my hike in peace. My wife thinks I’m grumpy, I
7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, Meeting Room 1, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Four Corners Poetry Event, 6-8 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 801 E. 2nd Ave.
Open Mic Night, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Wednesday02
Word Honey Poetry Workshop, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 5:30-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Terry Rickard, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
This is the real Cold War: the forced friendliness we exude on the trails. Not even joking. I don’t want one more line about how it “doesn’t get better than this” or the “views don’t suck.” Even worse are the jokes about how far we have left to go. Just let me get some peace and quiet away from it all, in a designated space for other people to also get away from it all.
– [silent nod of acknowledgment], Rachel
Wranglers, 7 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio
Karaoke Roulette, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Ongoing
Durango PlayFest is accepting submissions through Oct. 25 for the 2025. www.durangoplayfest.org
“On the Daily: Coffee & Tea” a juried exhibition, thru Sept. 28, Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.
Recovery Yoga, free class series, Thursdays, 4:305:45 p.m., Oct. 3-Nov. 21, Smiley Building. Registration at innerpeaceyogatherapy.com
Ezra Bell in concert, Thurs., Oct. 3, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
“The Thanksgiving Play,” presented by FLC Theatre, Oct. 4-6 & 10-12
Durango Open Studio Tour opening reception, Fri., Oct. 4, 5-7 p.m., Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave. Sept. 26, 2024 n 13
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here comes the Hating and Mating Season. I want to help you minimize the “hating” part and maximize the “mating” part, so I will offer useful suggestions. 1. Dissolve grudges and declare amnesty for intimate allies who have bugged you. 2. Ask your partners to help you manage your fears; do the same for them. 3. Propose to your collaborators that you come up with partial solutions to complicated dilemmas. 4. Do a ritual in which you and a beloved cohort praise each other for five minutes. 5. Let go of wishes that your companions would be more like how you want them to be.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Many fairy tales tell of protagonists who are assigned seemingly impossible missions. Perhaps they must carry water in a sieve or find “fire wrapped in paper” or sort a heap of wheat, barley, poppyseed, chickpeas and lentils into five separate piles. Invariably, the star of the story succeeds, usually because they exploit some loophole, get unexpected help or find a solution simply because they didn’t realize the task was supposedly impossible. I suspect you will soon be like one of those fairy-tale champions. They often get unexpected help, because they have previously displayed kindness toward strangers or low-status characters. Unselfishness attracts acts of grace.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are in a phase with great potential for complex, unforeseen fun. To celebrate, I’m offering descriptions of your possible superpowers. 1. The best haggler ever. 2. Smoother of wrinkles and closer of gaps. 3. Laugher in overly solemn moments. 4. Unpredictability expert. 5. Resourceful summoner of allies. 6. Crafty truth-teller who sometimes bends the truth to enrich sterile facts. 7. Riddle wrestler and conundrum connoisseur. 8. Lubricant for those who are stuck. 9. Creative destroyer of useless nonsense. 10. Master of good trickery. 11. Healer of unrecognized and unacknowledged illnesses.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Tanzanite is a rare blue and violet gemstone that is available in just one place on earth: a 5square-mile region of Tanzania. It was discovered in 1967 and mined intensively for a few years. Geologists believed it was all tapped out. But in 2020, a self-employed digger named Saniniu Lazier located two huge new pieces of tanzanite worth $3.4 million. Later, he uncovered another chunk valued at $2 million. I see you as having resemblances
to Lazier in the coming weeks. You will tap resources others have not been able to unearth. Or you will find treasure that has been invisible to everyone else.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Marathon foot races are regularly held worldwide. Their official length is 26.2 miles. Even fast runners with great stamina can’t finish in less than two hours. There’s a downside to engaging in this herculean effort: Runners lose up to 6% of their brain volume during a race, and their valuable gray matter isn’t fully reconstituted for eight months. Now here’s my radical prophecy for you. Unless you run a marathon soon, your brain may gain volume in coming weeks. Your intelligence will be operating at peak levels. It will be a good time to make key decisions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is there a greater waste of land than golf courses? They are typically more than 150 acres in size and require huge amounts of water. Their construction may destroy precious wetlands, and their vast tracts of grass are doused with chemical pesticides. Yet there are only 67 million golfers in the world. Less than 1% of the population plays the sport. Let’s use the metaphor of the golf course as we analyze your life. Are there equivalents of this questionable use of resources and space? Now is a favorable time to downsize irrelevant, misused and unproductive elements. Reevaluate how you use your resources.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): On the morning of Jan. 27, 1970, Libran songwriter John Lennon woke up with an idea for a new song. He spent an hour perfecting the lyrics and composing the music on a piano. Then he phoned his producer and several musicians, including George Harrison, and arranged for them to meet him at a recording studio later that day. By Feb. 6, the song “Instant Karma” was playing on the radio. It soon sold more than a million copies. Was it the fastest time ever for a song to go from a seed to a successful release? Probably. I envision a similar process in your life, Libra. You are in a prime position to manifest your good ideas quickly, efficiently and effectively.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You have passed the test of the First Threshold. Congratulations! Give yourself a kiss. Then begin preparations for the riddles you will encounter at the Second Threshold. To succeed, you must be extra tender and ingenious. You can do it! There will be one more challenge, as well: the Third Threshold. I’m confident you will glide through that trial not just unscathed but also healed. Here’s a
tip from Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Those who do not expect the unexpected will not find it.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): What development are you so ready for that you’re almost too ready? What transformation have you been preparing for so earnestly that you’re on the verge of being overprepared? What lesson are you so ripe and eager to learn that you may be anxiously interfering with its full arrival? If any of these situations are applicable to you, I have good news. There will be no further postponements. The time has finally arrived to embrace what you have been anticipating.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn screenwriter and TV producer Shonda Rhimes has produced 11 prime-time TV shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bridgerton.” She’s in the Television Hall of Fame, is one of the wealthiest women in America and has won a Golden Globe. As you enter a phase when your ambitions shine extra brightly, I offer you two of her quotes. 1. “Success, fame and having all my dreams come true would not fix or improve me. It wasn’t an instant potion for personal growth.” 2. “Happiness comes from living as your inner voice tells you. Happiness comes from being who you actually are, instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I have performed in many poetry readings. Some have been in libraries, auditoriums, cafes and bookstores, but others have been in unexpected places: a laundromat, a bus station, a Walmart, a grocery store and an alley behind a thrift store. Both types of locations have been enjoyable. But the latter kind often brings the most raucous and engaging audiences, which I love. According to my analysis, you might generate luck and fun for yourself in the coming weeks by experimenting with nontypical scenarios. Brainstorm about doing what you do best in novel situations.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I have two related oracles for you. 1. During the unfoldment of your mysterious destiny, you have had several homecomings that have moved you and galvanized you beyond what you imagined possible. Are you ready for another homecoming that’s as moving and galvanizing as those that have come before? 2. During your long life, you have gathered amazing wisdom by dealing with your pain. Are you now prepared to gather a fresh batch of wisdom by dealing with pleasure and joy?
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.
(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.) Ads can be submitted via: n www.durangotelegraph.com
n classifieds@durango telegraph.com
n 970-259-0133
n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2
Approximate office hours:
Mon-Wed: 9ish - 5ish
Thurs: On delivery
Fri: Gone fishing; call first
Classes/Workshops
Learn to Dance Fridays 6pm, 7pm, 8pm VFW. Get on notifications list at durangodancing.com
HelpWanted
Heartwood West Tree Service LLC seeks skilled trades people. ISA Certified preferred. Send letter of interest to: Heartwoodwest@gmail.com
Nonprofit Seeks FT Coordinator
Wildfire Adapted Partnership seeks a full time Operations & Outreach Coor. to work out of WAP’s Durango office, assisting the Executive Director with the dayto-day operations of the organization and conducting wildfire preparedness outreach. For the full job announcement please visit: www.wildfireadapted.org or call 970-385-8909 .
ForRent
Functional Medicine Office
Seeking professionals to join our Integrative Clinic. View of Buckley Park, natural sunlight, licensed and insured only. $900 970.247.1233
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213
Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.
ForSale
Mobile Home for Sale
Located in Hermosa/Durango, at Lone Pine Trailer Park. See website for details: sanjuanhighlands.com $65,000, lot rent per month $600. Near hot springs, Purgatory ski mtn, golf course. Ready to move in
Reruns Home Furnishings
Lots of new furniture/cool furnishings for home, office or dorm. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
