CC will unveil "State of the Rockies" report next week

Colorado College will unveil its fifth "State of the Rockies" report Monday, an in-depth look by student researchers at immigration, housing, renewable energy, wilderness and timber and mining industries and river restoration.

The report covers eight Western states - Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Nevada.

It reports a "looming crisis" for housing affordability in the West, a rapid influx of immigrants and other trends.

The annual reports generally receive wide media coverage and attention from Western residents.

"I'm constantly hearing from county commissioners and local elected officials that they look forward to seeing the report," program coordinator Chris Jackson said.

Here are brief looks at each chapter of this year's report:

Housing

About a third of houses in the Colorado Springs area are too expensive for a family with the median-level income.
That makes houses here much more affordable than some other cities in the West. In the Las Vegas area, 80 percent of houses are too expensive for a median-income family. In the Phoenix area, 70 percent of houses are out of reach.

In Colorado Springs, the spread between house prices and paychecks got bigger from 2004 to last year. Median incomes climbed about 5 percent while median house prices went up nearly 20 percent.

"Communities in the Rockies suffer as policemen, teachers, bank clerks, street cleaners, cappuccino makers - members of the working class - are pushed out, unable to afford housing in their own communities," said the report, "Affordable Housing in the Rockies, Housing a Region in Transition," by student Wiley Rogers.

Immigration

A wave of immigrants transformed the West from 2000 to 2005, raising questions about their use of public services and effects on the economy.

The immigrant population in eight states that make up the Rocky Mountain West increased 27 percent during that time, while it went up 16 percent nationwide, says the report "Immigration in the Rockies," by student Simon Cataldo. The figures include legal and illegal immigrants.

The report identifies Colorado as one of four Western states where an estimated 48 percent to 54 percent of residents who were born in a foreign country are in the United States illegally.

"The arrival of the foreign-born in large numbers generates strong sentiments regarding national identity, social justice, economic opportunity and education," the report says.

Restoring rivers

Removing forest roads and old dams and cleaning abandoned mines could significantly improve many of the West's damaged rivers.
That's one conclusion of "Restoring Rivers in the West, Environmental Benefit, Economic Opportunity," by student Lucy Emerson-Bell.

About 40 percent of water bodies in the West are contaminated from drainage from old mines. The authors urge the passage of legislation to ease cleanup of these mines, including laws to remove liability for "good Samaritan" groups that undertake projects.

The study also suggested the closure of thousands of miles - up to 186,000 miles - of little-used forest roads, which cause erosion that damages rivers, and some of the 1,300 dams in the Rocky Mountain region that have exceeded their planned lives.

Wilderness and timber and mining industries

An emerging "New West" economy, made up of service-based jobs, has displacing the mining and agriculture that created prosperity in the West.

The new economy, combined with a rapidly growing population, create challenges and opportunities for managing the West's wildlands, says student Brandon Goldstein in "Wilderness and Extractive Industries, An Economic Transition in the Rockies."

More people in the West means more demand on rivers, reservoirs, lakes and other water sources, more demand for electricity and power plants, and greater strain on wilderness areas.

"Without proper preparation and attention to these risks, our national systems may show signs of increasing degradation," the report says.

Renewable energy

The West is an ideal area for producing energy from the sun, wind and other sources that do minimal harm to the environment.

Some are taking advantage of the opportunity - 86 percent of Idaho's electricity, for example, comes from hydropower. But barriers to wider use of renewable sources remain, money chief among them, says student Elizabeth Kolbe in "Renewable Energy in the Rockies, Responsibly Using the Resources of the West."

Kolbe raises a question that's likely on the minds of policymakers: "Why support a movement that until recently seemed to have trouble breathing in America's free market system?"

Combating global warming is one reason, as is preserving the natural environment. Another reason: "As relationships with oil-rich nations remain tenuous, it is only sensible to end our dependence on that which has become unreliable."


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Scott Rappold contributed to this report.

STATE OF THE ROCKIES CONFERENCE

The State of the Rockies Conference is Sunday to Tuesday on the Colorado College campus. It will include student-led discussions about immigration, housing, renewable energy, wilderness and timber and mining industries and river restoration. The events are free, and anyone may attend.

A film festival highlighting Western issues kicks off the conference at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Armstrong Theatre, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St. Former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton will talk at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Armstrong Theatre. For a detailed schedule, visit www.coloradocollege.edu/stateoftherockies.