Member-only story
Please Don’t Move to Our Beautiful Mountain Town
Environmental conditions are changing how we live. It’s up to us to co-exist in harmony.
The Facebook post was heartfelt. A woman living in Asheville, North Carolina was pleading with the public not to overwhelm her lovely little town. “Visit, then leave” was the message. We like our little town just as it is: Little. Homey. Just us’ns.
Listen, I can empathize. As someone who’s lived in the Denver area since 1971 — right about the time John Denver’s songs were enticing folks to move out West — I’ve seen what can happen when a small, unremarkable cow town is inundated by folks who suddenly discover the wonders of Colorado. We now have traffic issues and infrastructure issues, and we’re back to high pollution days. I no longer camp in the high country because there are too many inexperienced people who don’t know how to put out a fire. The I-70 in ski season is a parking lot. Bring your sleeping bag and plan to nap on the way home. All the lovely, soothing, horse-populated open land is now filled with ugly apartment buildings and tract homes. Ugh.
