BOARD02415

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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curiosities. And the curiosity which led to Great Sand Dunes was some admittedly great sand
dunes. (LAUGHTER). But, you know, that's it.

And you go down to the San Luis Valley, go out from Alamosa in the morning, and watch the
sun come up over this valley. It's sort ofa scintiJIating white light that reflects off the crest of the
Sangre de Cristos covered with snow at 14,000 feet and begins a backlight across this valley.
And the sand dunes are nice. But there's a lot more there.

And now, in dialogue with the local communities we're saying "Shouldn't we have something
that is more adequate to the landscape?" Let's look at those sand dunes. First, look up. There's a
14,000 foot peak of the Sangre de Cristos range that you can almost reach out and touch, and an
entire ecosystem coming down the flanks of those mountains down to a four or five thousand
foot valley.

Then, let's go out to these sand dunes in the spring and watch the water bubbling out of the sand
and forming the tributaries that nourish the wetlands that form the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
And isn't it time in this generation, with all of these development schemes pressing in, to say
"We've gone from curiosity to landscape. We can begin to think of an ecosystem, and there's still
time to protect that ecosystem." And the process to say to the people of Alamosa "These water
export schemes have just acquired a new adversary. A built up adversary called The National
Park Service in charge of defending an ecosystem - an integral part of which is not just sand, but
water. And now the people of the San Luis Valley have an ally against all of these kinds of
schemes. So, that's the issue down there. Can we look up, see it whole, and get protection.

Now, I was down there in this continuing dialogue about a month ago with members of the
Colorado delegation. And there was legislation being drafted. And I'm hopeful we can get
something done. But again, I look over my shoulder at the Grand Canyon, remembering that
experience, I'm looking at my watch saying "It's February. It's a Presidential election year.
Congress will recess early and often." (LAUGHTER) "They will go home early." And we must
bring this discussion to the kind of resolution that's important for the people of Colorado and the
country.

Now lastly, back to Grand Junction. The story in Grand Junction is also interesting. It is a
magnificent landscape. It's named, of course, because it is the junction in that valley of the
Grand... and... actually... I get confused, because the Colorado River used to be narned the
Grand, and then Colorado woke up and said "No, it's grand, but it's Colorado." So they've been
renarning rivers over there. In that valley, the Gunnison and the Grand... No, that can't be right....
It's a junction of a couple of rivers over there okay! (LAUGHTER). And it's in some truly
remarkable... this is plateau country. The Morrison formation, all the Jurassic, Triassic
formations. Trek across the landscape and you'll trip over a dinosaur. The Colorado River begins
its course through the canyons moYing westward into Utah. We have a national monument there
because, clear back in 1910 a resident of Grand Junction used to take his horse and buggy out on
Sunday aftemoons to admire the red rocks immediately to the west of Grand Junction. And, in
the spirit of the time, curiosities... an Indian ruin, some sand dunes, nice red rocks right there...
and he was an early anti-sprawl guy I guess because he said "We ought to protect those red
rocks." And he contacted his Congressman and they got it done. So, we've got a national
monument there. But the remarkable thing is - go to the national monument and start looking
around. And you'll say "Hey, wait a minute. This isn't about the view from the visitor's center, it's
about the wilderness areas on the south bank of the Colorado that extend unbroken, undeveloped,