S T E A M B O AT
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
JULY 8, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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Vol. 21, No. 162
RO U T T
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Highlands denied again Other base area amendments get council’s OK at Tuesday meeting Page 11
SPORTS
MATT STENSLAND/STAFF
Emerald challenge Page 31
Clarification Emerald City Opera will not sell alcohol during its August productions at PerryMansfield Performing Arts School and Camp. The new location allows the opera to hold its Diva Gala event — a pre-performance reception where alcohol is available, but not sold, to patrons — on the same premises as the performances. A description of when and how alcohol would be available was incorrect in an article previewing the opera’s 2009 season on page 2 of Tuesday’s Steamboat Today.
Tallying the tubes
Data collection efforts reveal significant July 4 river usage, littering Zach Fridell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
More than 1,000 tubers, rafters and kayakers floated the Yampa River on July 4, a number that could underscore a need for improved management techniques. Steamboat Springs resident and avid fly fisher Scott Ford
■ LOTTO
■ INDEX Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Classifieds . . . . .38 Colorado. . . . . . .26 Comics . . . . . . . .36 Crossword . . . . .37 Happenings . . . . .7
Steamboat Springs Community Service Officer Scott Schaffer explains the rules of the Yampa River to tubers, from left, Barbara Shortle, Alex Shortle, Mario Russo and Margaret Shortle on Tuesday at the Rotary Park parking area. The increasing popularity of tubing has created issues related to littering, alcohol consumption and conflicts between Yampa River user groups.
Horoscope . . . . .36 Mountain News .21 Nation. . . . . . . . .27 Sports. . . . . . . . .31 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .25
Tuesday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 16-22-23-28-31 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
surveyed the river’s Fourth of July usage as part of an effort to quantify the use of the popular waterway. The need for such statistics was raised this spring as local officials and Yampa River advocates discussed how best to manage the river. Although Ford said Tuesday that the popularity of tubing and river recreation is a good thing for those enjoying
■ WEATHER
Plenty of sunshine. High of 80.
Page 25
the trip, he thinks it means the river should be managed as an amusement park. In the past, fishers and tubers have sparred over river usage, but Ford said the massive number of tubers should be a clear indicator that user groups should instead work together to clean up the mess left behind. Ford said he saw hats, sun-
glasses and flip-flops float by as tubers’ “unintentional littering” accumulated through the day. “It’s really gotten to be — and there’s nothing wrong with this necessarily — to be an attraction we need to manage more and more as an amusement,” Ford said. “I saw a lot of people having See Tubing, page 17
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