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Crestone Performances Inc: Woody Guthrie tribute and poetry contest recap
By Sam Goering, Crestone Performances Inc
Strains of Woody Guthrie could be heard emanating from the Elephant Cloud Station as local musicians gathered in tribute to the famed folk singer’s lyrical messages.
The Woody Guthrie tribute and fundraising show, Nov. 15, featured amazing performances from youth poets and local musicians who came together to play some of Woody’s best-known songs in front of a packed room.
The event raised more than $1,700 for Crestone Performances, Inc., the non-profit that organizes the Crestone Music Festival and the annual Youth Grant program that purchases musical instruments and lessons for local youth. There were so many people that it was hard to park in downtown Crestone and the standing- and sitting-room-only audience loudly cheered and applauded throughout the night.
CPI Executive Director, Lydia Sprouts, posted on social media, “[I’m] so grateful to all who came out and sang along with all the great Woody hits. You might have been the best crowd of all time! Congrats to our poetry contest winners Oliwia and Zenna and thank you so much to our family of musicians who made this possible with your varied and wonderful talents. Big love to our faithful venue and Benji at the Elephant Cloud and thank you to my wonderful board of directors for all your support and friendship.”
Many of the musicians collaborated for their performances of hits like “Pastures of Plenty,” “Why Oh Why,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Hobo’s Lullaby,” “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “I Ain’t Got No Home,” and “Hard Travelin’.”
Sam Goering, known for his saxophone, moved to piano and vocals for “Hobo’s Lullaby,” “1913 Massacre” and “Lindbergh.”
Bruce Becker led a stirring rendition of “Deportee,” Guthrie’s song about unnamed migrants who died in a plane crash on their deportation flight back to Mexico.
Matt Lit, on vocals backed by Alixe Landry and Becker, of The Carefree Way, performed a rousing version of “Why oh Why” and Arlo Guthrie’s “Patriot’s Dreams,” ending with Lit singing “Bad Repetation (stet)”, a capella. Miranda Cecsarini and Marcus Daniels of Sol Mountain Riders brought the energy with “Rambling Around” and “Hard Travelin” and brought David Steele on stage for a tune.
Robin Chestnut did a solo rendition of “I Want My Milk (I Want It Now)”, calling it “the purest protest song” he’s heard.
Daya Scheide and Eli Dokson performed a lovely version of “Hard Times Come again no more,” which was originally written in the 19th century and covered by Woody Guthrie and his son Arlo Guthrie, among others.
Dokson led beautiful numbers with musician friends like Peter Taylor, Andy Skellenger, and Ellie Herod, including “Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad,” “Red River Valley,” and “The City of New Orleans.”
And finally, there were about fifteen musicians on stage for an all-ensemble performance of “This Land is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie’s most famous song and proposed national anthem, which ended the night.
Youth poets Oliwia Hines and Zenna Hess recited original poems (see their poems in this issue) that they had composed for the event as part of a contest sponsored by CPI. Both poets were inspired by themes or lines found in Guthrie’s songs and they showed great courage and composure standing up and reading their work in front of the packed crowd. In addition to the poetry, CPI Director Sprouts curated quotes, images and books about Guthrie’s life into an exhibit by CPI’s merchandise booth in the Cloud Station foyer. It was clear the musicians enjoyed diving into Woody Guthrie’s music and life history to learn more about the man who spoke for those who didn’t have a voice and the timeless lyrics and songs he wrote.
CPI debuted new shirts and stickers featuring the slogans “More Strings, Less Screens” and “This Machine Kills Boredom” to encourage turning off devices and picking up instruments as a much more nourishing use of time. There are still shirts and stickers available. Get in touch with a CPI board member or stay tuned at future events for your chance to purchase one. For more information visit https://CrestonePerformances.org.
SLVEC seeks crew members for valley-wide air quality monitoring study
By Kaitlyn Fletcher, SLVEC
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) was tapped to participate in the initial infrastructure of an expansive air quality monitoring network. SLVEC now seeks a compensated crew of multiple Community Navigators and Recruiters from across all six valley counties as part of the intervention initiative, under the Mountain West Hub. These positions will be the boots on the ground for recruitment and data collection for this initiative over the next three years.
The Mountain West Hub, based at the Colorado School of Public Health, is “a collaborative partnership to promote strong and healthy rural and urban communities.” It will move forward with Phase II of its environmental health monitoring throughout the San Luis Valley and West Denver Metro.
This second phase extends and continues with work completed in Phase I, which revealed the need for “culturally relevant, community-driven resilience strategies” to environmental air quality stressors, such as heat, drought, aerosolized topsoil, and wildfire smoke.
Lisa C. Cicutto, PhD, is a co-investigator for this research. She serves as the Director of Community Outreach and Research at National Jewish Health, within the Department of Medicine.
“Twenty years ago, when I started coming to the valley, people would say, ‘Lisa, we have lung problems here because of the dust.’ This community insight was confirmed by the data,” Cicutto said. “Sure enough, emergency room visits, walk-ins and hospitalizations increased for lung issues due to dust storms.”
SLVEC will initially be responsible, in partnership with Adams State University, for installing and maintaining this new air-quality monitoring network of 10 sensors and five filter samplers. The network will collect real-time particulate matter in outdoor air sensors and physical dust samples for laboratory analysis. The results will be shared with valley communities via a web-based platform that is still under development, with an expected late spring launch.
“I am super excited about this opportunity to work with the community to set up an air quality monitoring infrastructure throughout the valley,” Cicutto said. “Each county will have one or more air quality monitors. All residents will be able to know the results in real time, as they are measured, by going to the SLV Air website.”
Cicutto further explained that this air quality infrastructure will forecast dust storms and allow communities to “take action to avoid or reduce exposures” when dust levels are high.
This initiative includes input from a large San Luis Valley advisory board, which is composed of community members, public health and medical practitioners, farmers and policy professionals working towards local climate resilience.
In 2012, SLVEC became involved in environmental health monitoring through a Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) project, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. Valley communities identified their top three environmental concerns as air quality, water quality, and illegal dumping. SLVEC conducted Environmental Health Risk assessments in 13 communities across all six counties, including the distribution of 500 free radon test kits.
https://www.slvec.org/post/slvec-seeks-crew-members-for-valleywide-air-quality-monitoring-study
Please get in touch with Kathy James, research investigator at Colorado School of Public Health, with any further questions about these roles (Kathy.James@cuanschutz.edu).
Deadline for applications is December 15th, 2025. They will be reviewed on a rolling basis until filled.
Baca Water: BGWSD plans for the future
By Lisa Cyriacks
Water users can expect to pay increased rates in 2026 with the approval of a rate increase.
The 2026 budget adopted by the Baca Grande Water and Sewer District (BGWSD) Board of Directors increases monthly rates for water and sewer and water consumption. New rates will take effect on Jan. 1.
Base rates for residential users will increase as follows: water will rise 5% (from $48.13 to $50.54) and sewer will rise 10% (from $40.73 to $44.80), for a new combined monthly base rate of $95.34.
The Town of Crestone, under the 2025 intergovernmental agreement (IGA), will also pay an additional 10% in fees starting in 2026. While the IGA extends over 20 years, the monthly fees paid by Crestone will be adjusted annually at the same time as rates for BGWSD residential customers. The 2025 IGA also provides for the district to receive an impact fee based on the district’s current wastewater fee amount for each new customer added to the town’s system.
Crestone will also pay a proportionate amount based on usage for any future capital improvements to the wastewater treatment plant and corresponding connection infrastructure.
The base rate will now include 2,000 gallons of water, which is half the amount previously covered. Additional tiers of water volume rates were added for usage above 2,000 gallons. Customers most likely to be impacted are those who irrigate gardens. The addition of these tiers is designed not only to capture more revenue, but also to address billing inequities between low-volume and high-volume water users and to encourage conservation of water.
Additionally, the board approved a temporary mill levy reduction for the year 2026. The reduction totals 4.25 mills, bringing the total mill levy down from 54.000 to 49.75 mills. This temporary reduction will be reflected on 2026 property tax bills. This reduction is part of property tax relief approved by the state legislature in 2024, which also limits how fast property tax revenue can grow.
The overall assessed valuation of the BGWS District increased by 13.56% due to a number of properties being reclassified correctly from vacant land to residential homes. This added approximately $107,000 to property tax revenue. Both the General Fund and Debt Service Fund benefit from this increase.
2026 capital projects
Water: the District’s Enterprise Fund will benefit from a combination of grants and loans in 2026. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs has awarded $750,000 from the Energy-Mineral Impact Assistance Fund for water system improvements. The district has also received an additional $823,000 through a combined grant and low-interest loan from CWRPDA (Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority), also for water system improvements. Of that amount, $530,353 will be forgiven, and the remaining balance will convert to a 20-year loan at a 1.5% interest rate.
These monies are to restore the Mobile Home Estates (MHE) well to operational status, renovate the existing storage tank and pumps, and build in redundancy systemwide. A bulk fill station will be built at the golf course allowing for dual purposes of individual customer fill-ups and a fire-fighting water source. Also, the two main wells—17 and 18—will benefit from pumping capacity upgrades.
Wastewater: in September this year, a USDA loan application was submitted for $6.6 million for the rehabilitation and improvements to the existing wastewater collection and treatment facility. The board and staff considered multiple approaches as it evaluated and eventually selected this alternative.
Evaluation factors included design criteria, environmental impacts, land requirements, construction problems, operational aspects and overall cost.
A no-action alternative was quickly dismissed along with consolidation with the nearest municipality with an existing treatment facility (Town of Saguache). The Town of Crestone relies on the BGWSD for the treatment of its wastewater.
The decision to rehabilitate the existing 24-plus-year-old plant includes multiple upgrades and revisions to address existing health and safety issues for staff and the public with the added benefit of expanding capacity utilizing a range of pre-treatment options. The result will add years to the life of the plant and bring it up to current codes, according to the board.
The loan application is currently under review and due to restructuring of the USDA on the federal level, the district anticipates approval and funding will not happen until the last quarter of 2026.
These capital improvement projects were approved unanimously by the board after months of review at the 2026 Budget public hearing.
BOCC adopts new land use regulations: Motion passed with one dissenting vote; concerns remain
By Lisa Cyriacks
New fees, short-term rental requirements and subdivision rules are coming to Saguache County. Saguache County Commissioners voted 2–1 to adopt an updated Land Use Development Code. The new code has raised concerns among citizens and led to one commissioner dissenting.
The adoption followed a public hearing on Nov. 17, ending with the commissioners voting to adopt the changes, as published on the website with only minor exceptions.
Commissioner Lynne Thompson cast the sole dissenting vote.
When Commissioner Liza Marron asked her to explain her position, Thompson responded, “Because I did not agree with more than I disagreed with in the code changes. I feel like the planning commission’s hard work and the many hours they put in was completely ignored.
“I felt like anytime during the process, anytime I objected to anything, my input was ignored. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience approve the land use changes. As far as I am concerned, these are land use changes that were derived from only two commissioners and that’s it. The public was not really considered. The planning commission wasn’t considered,” she stated in part of a longer response.
Her comments went unaddressed as Marron—after a pause—made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, Planning Commission Chair, Richard Drake, made the request that the county commissioners table the vote on the changes; suggesting instead a meeting between the commissioners and the planning commission to revisit public comments before adopting final changes.
Commissioner Tom McCracken declined, noting that the moratorium on subdivisions has expired and the commissioners would like the new regulations enacted as soon as possible. He added that regulations are a “work in process” and could still be reviewed and amended at a future date.
A number of people attended the hearing. Several raised questions about the new permitting requirement for short-term rentals (STR). Tied to this discussion were queries about the changes in the fee structure. In particular, starting with the lowest $500 fee for STRs accommodating one to five people. County staff said that fees are designed to reflect actual administrative and enforcement costs.
When a couple of attendees argued that the new STR fees were too high, Land Use Administrator Amber Wilson suggested the county consider a prorated monthly application fee rather than charging the full annual fee to applicants considering seasonal short-term rentals, or STRs only when long-term renters could not be found. Commissioners agreed to discuss the idea.
McCracken explained that enforcement has been difficult because many bed-and-breakfast operations have not registered even as home occupations. Currently, only 31 Airbnb properties in unincorporated Saguache County are properly registered. To address widespread noncompliance, the county hired a firm to identify unpermitted rentals by name and location. The firm found more than 170 lodging establishments operating without the required home-occupation permit. The county will use this information to enforce regulations and require delinquent properties to obtain home occupation or short-term rental permits to continue operating. McCracken also noted that, in the future, failure to collect sales and lodging taxes could result in revocation of permits.
Other public concerns included agricultural subdivisions. For example a property owners’ ability to subdivide allowing family members to build a home on a “sprinkler corner” on agricultural property. In other instances, a conditional use permit for an accessory dwelling unit may suffice, rather than subdividing.
While there were only a few objections in the public hearing, many attendees expressed concern over significant increases to a range of fees.
Additionally, County Attorney Brad Crowell shared his research on violation enforcement. The proposed, published changes to violation enforcement (Article 10) were revoked by the county commissioners. Instead of using law enforcement to issue citations—a civil infraction method—the attorney advocated reverting to a county court method which allows for the land use office to work with county residents to remedy infractions. McCracken read for the record the language from C.R.S. 30-28-124.5 which allows for collection of unpaid, assessed fines in the same manner as property taxes.
For specific requirements in the newly adopted Land Use Development Code, please contact Saguache County Land Use office at 719-655-2321.
Help Wanted: Full-time Maintenance Technician & Heavy Equipment Operator
Now Hiring
Full-time Maintenance Technician & Heavy Equipment Operator needed at Baca POA.
Pay starts at $26/hr plus full benefits. Requires CDL and drug test. Operate and maintain equipment for year-round road and facility upkeep and support facility and grounds maintenance. Apply by 12/22/25.
Contact Angie: hrmanager@bacapoa.org or 720-256-4781. Full details at www.bacagrande.org
Housemate Wanted
Private room with separate entrance.
Shared kitchen & bathroom
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$600 month plus utilities ( appx $100 )
Last month rent $150 security deposit
Dec 1st to May 1st
Jan start possible
Basic 5 month lease
Month by month assessment
530-362-8264/ 719 628 9539
Request for Proposal: Project Manager (Saguache County Land Use)
Saguache County Land Use is soliciting a project manager under the designation of the Land Use Administrator for 1041 application proposals submitted to the Saguache County Land Use Office. The project manager shall provide insight and expert advice from firms that are expert in environmental impact studies, as well as other matters of State interest contained in the Saguache County 1041 Regulations. This shall include, but not be limited to, a review of the Saguache County 1041 Regulations for analysis of matters of State interest contained therein to include whether sufficient information has been provided by applicants for a complete analysis of all matters of State interest and complies with Saguache County’s 1041 regulations. The proposal will include to be able to manage the project from the beginning to the end of the application process, orders and determines the fees in the pre-application and application submittal, both on-site and off-site collaborations with Saguache County, weekly to monthly updates to the Land Use Administrator and/or the County Commissioners, collaboration with the Land Use Administrator ,the third party reviewer and applicant, Management and Review Prep, Review of Applications to make sure for completeness, Additional Reviews for the Application as needed, Lead Agency Referrals, Staff Report Preparation, Hearing Preparation and Attendance. Please direct your questions to Amber Wilson, Land Use Administrator at atorrez@saguachecounty-co.gov or 719-655-2321. Businesses with expertise in environmental impact studies for large projects are encouraged to respond.
Saguache County Landfill
Provides An Environmentally Sound Carcass Disposal Pit
Your local Saguache County Landfill reminds everyone that we provide a safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible solution for the disposal of animal carcasses. This announcement is being provided as a result of recent discussions across the county concerning the introduction of wolves in Colorado chronic waste disease management efforts, local agricultural needs, and roadkill management strategies.
One of the most important things to remember is that wolves are opportunistic scavengers, and the scent of a rotting carcasses will attract them, a key consideration when individuals dispose of carcasses on their private property. We encourage those who currently practice this way of carcass disposal to consider how you can make your place less attractive to them by disposing of them at the local landfill and/or making sure that you follow best management practices for on-site burial as issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division. Having a disposal plan in place will keep future depredation events to a small number.
The Saguache County Landfill carcass pit operates in strict compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations, with key environmental protection measures that include:
- Strategic Location: The pit is situated at least 300 feet away from any standing, flowing, or groundwater sources and is not in a floodplain to prevent water contamination.
- Engineered Design: The facility is designed with appropriate containment systems to minimize environmental impacts.
- Operational Protocols: Carcasses received at the landfill will be covered with soil or other daily cover materials on the day of arrival to control odors, prevent access by scavengers, and minimize public health risks.
The Saguache County Landfill offers a vital, permitted disposal option for residents, ranchers, hunters, and agricultural producers, ensuring that animal remains are properly managed. Please notify the landfill attendant in advance when transporting a carcass for disposal by calling 719-221-1956. The fees associated with large animal carcasses over 400 lbs. are $20.00, and small animal carcasses less than 400 lbs. are $10.00.
Standard hours of operation are Tuesdays, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm; Saturdays, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm; and we are closed on Sundays and Mondays. A notice of holiday closures and hours can be found on our county website at saguachecounty.colorado.gov and click on the Landfill & Recycling page.
The Saguache County Landfill & Recycling facility is dedicated to providing safe, compliant, and sustainable waste management solutions for the residents and businesses of Saguache County. We are committed to protecting human health and the environment through responsible operations and community engagement.
Colorado River District Board Appointment
The Saguache County Board of Commissioners is accepting letters of interest for appointment from an individual who would like to serve as the Saguache County representative to the Colorado River District Board of Directors.
Letters of Interest may be addressed to the Board of County Commissioners and submitted to the Saguache County Administration office at 505 3rd Street, Saguache, CO or mailed to PO Box 100, Saguache CO 81149 by 3pm on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2025. Letters of interest may also be emailed to wmaez@saguachecounty-co.gov.
The deadline for letters of interest is THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2025, at 3PM. The Board of County Commissioners will review comments and make a decision on this appointment at their regular meeting on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2025.