Regarding the Hard Rock Main Pit expansion, I submitted the following comment to the Bureau of Land Management:
The decision about whether to allow this expansion of an existing mine should be based on what’s best for the City and its residents. Certainly, the mine owner will be able to make money and builders will be able to get their gravel to continue building, so there’s a benefit. But Salida hasn’t become a destination because of the gravel you can get there.
Salida is on the map now. When I moved there in 2000 it was a sleepy little town with lots of the downtown boarded up. We used to talk about the shoulder seasons; between the ski and rafting seasons there was nothing going on and restaurants would often close either until there was something to bring people to town or permanently. I haven’t heard anybody use that term in at least a decade.
My point isn’t just about the lost trail. Trails are a huge amenity to Salida residents and visitors, so it’s a big deal. I think a bigger deal is the loss of the viewscape and the dust and traffic of the operation.
Salida is a big deal now, so put the darned gravel pit somewhere else. Let it play out, and let the operator get busy finding a new site. But put that new site out of town. There are LOTS of places around here that aren’t right in what has become an upscale resort town. The loss of the viewscape and the dirty operation takes a little bit out of everybody’s pocket just so the operator makes money and the development community gets a slightly cheaper source of aggregate.
Poor bargain.
Tom Purvis
Coaldale
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