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In Brief: New surgery center in Basalt; Nordic trails closed; Aspen legends to discuss past, present, and future

Glenwood-based hospital opens surgery center in Basalt

Valley View will celebrate the opening of its new surgery center in Basalt with a grand opening on Wednesday, March 1, from 5-6 p.m. Behind-the-scenes tours and refreshments will be provided, officials said.

The Valley View Surgery Center at Basalt is open Monday through Friday and is now accepting patients. For more information about surgical services at Valley View, visit VVH.org.

The surgery center is located at 1450 East Valley Road, Suite 202 in Basalt. Part of the Midvalley Medical Center, the center occupies the second floor of the building, encompassing over 6,700 square feet.



The center will launch with orthopedic care as its focus including simple fractures, sports medicine, hand surgery, foot and ankle surgery, and outpatient knee and hip joint replacements.

The surgery center is integrated with the latest technology, which includes the Mako Robotic Arm that is available on-site, Valley View officials said. 




Nordic trails at high school close for races

The Raoul Wille Memorial RMN races is running through Saturday and Sunday on the Nordic trails at Aspen High School; the Loop 30 tracks have closed to the public during this event. Other trails in the Aspen-Snowmass system remain open, officials said.

Speaker Series: The Living Legends of Aspen

Aspen Hall of Famers Joe Edwards, Michael Kinsley, and Bill Kane will discuss in a panel presentation moderated by Aspen City Councilman Skippy Mesirow how in their view Aspen “got to now and what it teaches us about getting to tomorrow.”

Their discussion is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, at the Here House, 614 East Cooper Ave.

Organizers touted the session with these questions: “What did Aspen look, feel, and sound, like in the ’60s? What did Joe, Hunter, and the Citizens for Community want to change and why? How did they organize, deliberate, and build their platform of action — and what were the public receptivity to them and their ideas?” 

The event is free, and RSVP required to michaela@herehouse.club.

Eagle County seeks members for tourism panel

Eagle County is establishing a new Advertising and Marketing Local Tourism Citizen Panel, and seeks members.

Officials said panel members provide their time, knowledge, and expertise to support investments in the community through advertising and marketing local tourism. The Board of County Commissioners will select a panel of five members to administer the tourism dollars.

To qualify, applicants must be full-time residents of Eagle County and have experience in the tourism industry. Once selected, the panel members will establish bylaws and will meet at least annually to administer the dollars (expected to be $300,000 in 2023). Applications are due no later than Friday, March 3, and can be submitted by visiting eaglecounty.us/countycommissioners/boardsandcommissions.  For more information or to obtain a hard copy of the application, contact Abby Dallmann at 970-328-8611. 

Virtual presentation on hip arthritis

On Wednesday, March 1, at 6 p.m., ValleyOrtho will present “Hip Arthritis and Treatment,” a virtual discussion via Zoom with orthopedic joint revision surgeon Daniel O’Connor, MD. The presentation is part of Valley View University, a series of free educational webinars hosted by Valley View.

Hip arthritis is a painful and often debilitating disease that affects millions of adults. In this 30-minute webinar, followed by an open Q&A, he will explain causes of this degenerative joint disease as well as non-surgical and surgical treatments available to keep people living an active life.

Sky Mountain Park hunting lottery set March 20

A portion of Sky Mountain Park will again be open to limited hunting in the fall, but a lottery to choose five participating hunters will take place March 20.

The hunt — for cow elk only — will take place during the fourth season: Nov. 22-26. To qualify, hunters must have a Colorado hunting license and a tag allowing them to hunt for a cow elk in the fourth rifle season, in Colorado Game Management Unit 43.

New this year, in consultation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, youth hunters and first-time big-game hunters will have a slight advantage in the lottery to select participants – in effect, two chances at having their names drawn instead of one. A youth who is also a first-time hunter will have three chances instead of one.

Interested participants must go to bit.ly/3xMDalC to register for the drawing. The sign-up closes on March 17.

Pitkin County Open Space and Trails is conducting its lottery in March, so that drawing winners can put in for a fourth-season tag in Unit 43 and be ready to go, officials said. Open Space and Trails will check with CPW in June to make sure chosen hunters did in fact acquire the proper tag for the hunt and confirm their status as a youth and/or first-time hunter, officials said.  

This will be the 10th year a limited hunt has taken place at Sky Mountain Park. Last fall, three hunters on the property were successful in harvesting an elk.

Spotted owl proposed for threatened list in Sierra Nevada

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the California spotted-owl population in the Sierra Nevada as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency has determined that the California spotted owl is comprised of two geographically- and genetically-distinct population segments, the Coastal-Southern California population and the Sierra Nevada population. The agency is proposing to list the Coastal-Southern California population as endangered and the Sierra Nevada population as threatened.

As part of this proposed listing, the FWS is including a rule for the Sierra Nevada owls that exempts the prohibition of take under the Endangered Species Act for forest-fuels management activities that reduce the risk of large-scale, high-severity wildfire.

“Our goal is to help the California spotted owl recover across its range,” said Michael Fris, field supervisor of the agency’s Sacramento FWS Office. “Ongoing collaboration with a number of partners will result in positive conservation gains and put this species on the road to recovery.”

Cerveza, no firearms, on tap at Boebert’s old restaurant

Cerveza, margaritas, and enchiladas rancheras are coming to a downtown Rifle spot that formerly dished out burgers and fries by pistol-packing servers.

Tapatios of New Castle is currently in the process of opening a new location inside the vacant downtown Rifle storefront that used to house Shooters Grill. The former Shooters was owned by Silt Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

Rifle City Council on Feb. 15 unanimously approved a hotel and liquor license for Tapatios. Floor plans submitted with the liquor-license application show the new restaurant creating a large indoor seating area, a patio section out front, and full sitting bar.

“It’s a family restaurant,” Tapatio owner Esmeralda Cornejo told City Council members after the approval.

The former Shooters, which never served alcohol, opened in May 2013 and closed in July 2022 when building owner Milkin Enterprises, LLC — which also owns cannabis dispensary Rifle Remedies — opted not to renew Boebert’s lease.

Parking outage leads to free parking and losses for town of Vail

A number of lucky skiers, guests, and residents got free parking in Vail on Saturday, Feb. 4, when the town experienced an outage of its parking system.

The town experienced a widespread outage of the credit-card processor used for its parking operations. The town is estimating it lost approximately $50,000 in revenue when the system was down.

Greg Hall, the town’s director of public works and transportation, reported on Feb. 7 that Windcave, the credit-card processor used by the town’s parking systems, had experienced a “worldwide” outage.

All in, the system was down for around six hours, he said.

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