Keep it Flowing

WHEN IT COMES to traffic, I’d rather be stuck behind cows than cars. Colorado gained 80,000 new human residents from 2017 to 2018, so when I hit hooved traffic upon entering the town of Carbondale, at the head of the Crystal River Valley, I tended to relax. The land just upstream of town remains in agriculture—mostly smallish cow-calf operations—and each summer, the valley turns bright green as fields drink from the Crystal River. Those fields produce the grass-fed beef that ends up in stores like Whole Foods. They also host bald eagles sitting in cottonwoods, and elk grazing during the winter months.

For a significant portion of the valley, that will not change. People who care about preserving open space, scenic views, and wildlife habitat learned decades ago that they had allies in private landowners. Pitkin County, located