Clark – As the exodus of neo-hippies has begun from the Rainbow Family gathering in the woods north of Steamboat Springs, local officials are beginning to see the impacts of 15,000 renegade campers.
At the encampment, a spider web of new trails wanders everywhere through the sagebrush, trees have been stripped of their lower branches, fire pits dot the terrain and barren earth marks high-traffic areas and campsites.
And in town, officials are tallying the financial costs of providing services and stepped-up law enforcement.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been a positive or a negative,” said Routt County Commissioner Doug Monger. “Basically, it was an add-on, people-wise, to an already stressed-out infrastructure. … But when we got chosen, I don’t think we had any opportunity to tell them that we can’t have them.”
The annual Rainbow bacchanal, which portends to be a spontaneous festival of peace and love in a primitive setting, operates without leaders and attracted thousands of counterculture celebrants to Routt National Forest, about 35 miles north of Steamboat Springs.
The gathering culminated with a prayer circle on the Fourth of July, and thousands have already departed Big Red Park in converted school buses and late-model sport utility vehicles, by hitchhiking with local ranchers and bumming rides in Volkswagen vans adorned with Grateful Dead stickers.
While many Rainbows patronized local businesses on their way to and from their gathering, in their wake they leave a significant mess that may offset any economic benefits. Among the costs:
The Yampa Valley Medical Center will have provided more than $100,000 in medical care that probably won’t be repaid.
The Routt County Humane Society scrambled to vaccinate dozens of dogs after an outbreak of the deadly parvovirus, and officials fear there could be as many as 200 pets abandoned.
And the Forest Service, which spent nearly $800,000 just for its incident-management team, will be left with the task of rehabilitating the land.
Numerous Rainbows are staying behind to help with site recovery, but it could take years for Big Red Park to look normal again.
“One of the philosophies the Rainbows espouse is taking care of the Earth, so the hope is they do that during the rehabilitation phase. That’s something we’d like to see,” said Rick Cables, the regional forester based in Denver who toured the site during the height of the gathering last week.
In the past, Rainbows generally have earned high marks for helping restore camps, and 19-year veteran Richard Reames said the old-timers know what to do.
“You won’t know we were ever here by next summer,” he said.
Some of the other impacts are being felt throughout the community.
“It’s very safe to say that this has had an economic and a staffing impact on our (Yampa Valley) hospital,” said spokeswoman Christine McKelvie, who estimated the cost of unpaid bills from 54 Rainbows who visited the emergency room will top $100,000. “It’s been a real interesting few weeks for all of us.”
Lisa Archer, vice president of the Routt County Humane Society, said the volunteer organization paid $800 to rush 200 doses of vaccine to the gathering after five confirmed cases of parvo were reported.
“It was a good hit to our budget,” she said.
The organization gave shots to only 30 dogs, however, because most of the owners said their animals had been vaccinated.
“Based on what I saw, there were a lot of people who really cared about their animals,” she said.
Of greater concern now is the number of abandoned animals – estimated to be anywhere from 10 to 200 – that may have to be shipped elsewhere because the local animal shelter already is full, Archer said.
Additionally, any animal found will have to be quarantined, so volunteers may have to camp with them for a week or more at the site.
The organization picked up a ferret that had been paralyzed, apparently from someone swinging it by its tail.
A volunteer quickly adopted it and built a cart with wheels from a toy so the animal can move its hindquarters.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
