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A unique grassroots effort to fund wildlife mitigation in a small town is underway and could become a model for other communities across Colorado.

"Eight years ago, or so I started to try to beat the drum to find a way to thin the fuels but it's a lot of work, and working-class town people just don't have the money lying around to pay for it. It can cost $1,000 for a big tree," said Alan Mueller, a Jamestown property owner.

Mueller and his neighbors can't keep up and he knows the risk of a high-intensity wildfire in Jamestown is high. He also knows a wildfire here would have impacts far beyond Jamestown. Water users within the Saint Vrain Lefthand Water Conservancy District have a stake.

"If we were to see a high severity wildfire move through here, we might experience those impacts -- landslides, all that debris and ash would flow into our water systems and go all the way down to Longmont and impact water users along the way," said Jenny McCarty, Water Resources Specialist for the Saint Vrain and Left-Hand Water Conservancy District

It was thanks to Mueller, the water district not only prioritized fire mitigation in Jamestown but provided $137,000 to get mitigation started.

"It was a headache when I was heading it up and if you know anything about small towns, you would know why. They live in the mountains because they're independent people and then if one of the locals is trying to get them to do something they don't want to do, they're naturally resistant," he said.

The process to get outside entities involved initially wasn't easy, but the Watershed Center, a local non-profit helped Mueller convince his neighbors to remove more trees.

"It took me to push it and push it and push it you know I was up to 7 property owners when I gave up," he said.

It took almost a year but the 47 property owners in Jamestown agreed, and this month, tree clearing began.

"This project has been amazing be a part of, to see the 47 landowners come together on something like this, has been incredible. People live in Jamestown because they feel a connection to the mountains and the forest and to think about altering that, can be really difficult for some of us," said Maria Pezza, Community Program Manager for the Watershed Center.

"We are physically going in leaving the ponderosa, removing those lodgepole and Douglas fir that are going to burn hotter. Keep the fire in the canopies and remove those to protect ponderosa but also to mitigate risk to home and ultimately water resources," said McCarty.

Many properties have already been mitigated. Mueller's property has yet to be cleared. While it's hard for him to lose the trees that give him privacy, he understands it's necessary.

"It's not like a fire won't come but what will happen now is the fire departments would be able to stage in this hazard zone and stay in the ember storm and put out all the little spot fires," said Mueller.

Getting to this point took massive collaboration. From property owners to the Watershed Center and the Saint Vrain Forest Health Partnership, to the water district.

"Boulder Valley and Longmont Conservation Districts dedicated their time to develop the forest management t plans for this project so individual plans for each property, which trees were to be removed and the Lefthand Fire Protection District is doing the actual implementation," said McCarty.

In addition to the funding to implement the Jamestown Fire Mitigation Project, a tax increase for all water users in the district will go toward projects for continued fire mitigation along with efforts related to improving and maintaining the quality of the watershed overall.

"It's really the collaborative process that has made this project a great model for other communities not only here in boulder county but across the front range and hopefully people realize that residents can make a big difference if they tap into their local resources," said McCarty.

For more information on the project, click here: https://svlhwcd.org/partner-funding-program/

JAMESTOWN — For the founders of Drift Prairie Brewing Co., it’s not just about creating beer. It’s also about good food and being a family-friendly place where you can stay all day if you’d like to connect with others, hang out, converse or play a game.

“For us and our perspective, we want to be able to create a space that provides for community and conversation, that the consumption of what we’re creating brings about community,” said co-owner Nick Bruns. “That the space is not just about the consumption of alcohol but it’s about those who you’re with.”

To foster that, they have a large capacity for seating and gathering; games that people can use, and a designated area for children to play while the adults spend time together.

“A gathering space, coffee shop vibe almost more than a bar vibe for sure is what we’re going for and what we’re trying to create with how we set everything up and what we provide,” said Emma Kleingartner, one of the co-owners.

Six households are founding owners of Drift Prairie Brewing Co. and there are also outside investors, mostly from Jamestown, Bruns said.

Drift Prairie Brewing Co. will have a soft opening on May 18-20 for Founders Club members only. People may join the Founders Club for a one-time fee at one of two levels: Settler ($75) or Pioneer ($150). The Settler membership includes a T-shirt, pint glass and $1 off of up to three items every time the member visits for life. The Pioneer membership includes the Settler items, a 10-drink punch card and an invitation to testing of new trial brews, Bruns said.

Founders Club memberships can be purchased at driftprairiebrewing.com . They can also be purchased at the brewery on the days of the soft opening and for a limited time when the brewery opens to the general public, Bruns said.

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“It allows them .. for life, (to) get discounts,” Bruns said of the memberships. “It’s really just an opportunity for those that are excited about the brewery to be able to buy into the process a little bit and be a founder of the brewery, help make it happen.”

The soft opening on May 18 will be only for Pioneer members; the soft opening on May 19-20 will be for both groups of Founders Club members. The business will open to the general public on Monday, May 22.

Space to gather

Drift Prairie Brewing Co. is located at 121 3rd St. NW, in the former Jamestown Sun building, which was purchased in August 2022. Jamestown Sun offices continue to be located on the west side of the building.

The brewery has a seating capacity of 170 inside the building and 50 on the designated patio behind the building. The brewery has 8,000 square feet of space; the outside seating space is 3,000 square feet.

Bruns describes the decor, which is being kept under wraps until the opening, as “very simple, black and white, clean, modern with some paying homage to the prairie, some aspect of old barn wood being utilized, some corrugated steel .... It’s a little rustic chic.”

A designated play area for children includes a playhouse, coloring station and toys. Items are expected to change to keep it interesting for them, Bruns said.

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest pieces is that young couples, young families, it’s hard to engage with one another,” Bruns said. “To find time because kids kind of dictate what your time looks like after work. A lot of times, it’s hard to go to a restaurant with kids because they’re kids, they don’t always behave and they don’t want to sit still and so we want to be able to provide a space where they can have fun, too, which allows for parents to be able to catch up with their friends just the same.”

The production area will be blocked off but still visible to people coming into the brewery. Drift Prairie Brewing Co. will be open from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

Growlers will be available to purchase and at some point, they plan to can their brews for people to take home, Bruns said.

John Rose is general manager and co-brewer and Noah Rosenberg is the front-of-house manager. Several part-time employees have been hired and the brewery is accepting applications for full- and part-time positions.

'Keep things fresh'

The process to make beer from start to finish is about three weeks, depending upon the type, Bruns said. Some brews take five weeks in the fermentation period, he said. Anton Goss is a co-owner and the brewmaster for the brewery and has been key to putting together the brewhouse, Bruns said. The brewery is using grain from North Dakota for its products.

"We’ll use a vendor for that," Bruns said. "Being able to take product from the state of North Dakota that’s grown here by North Dakota farmers, starting from literally bags of grain to a finished product all within our space will be pretty sweet.”

There is a capacity for 12 brews in the tap lines, Brun said. They expect to have at least three staple brews of their own, along with a nonalcoholic root beer, and eight seasonal or other brews created in-house or from regional breweries.

“We’ll want to keep things fresh so people want to come in and try something different,” Bruns said.

Wine from in-state wineries, mocktails (drinks with no alcohol) and pop will also be available. Bruns expects the food will also be a draw.

“I think our food is going to play a huge role in people (coming),” Bruns said. “The beer’s going to be good, the root beer’s going to be good. All the mocktail beverages that we’ll have are going to be delicious, but the food is just going to be things that you’re not able to get right now in Jamestown. And made kind of like a good old mom-and-pop aspect of things.”

Kleingartner, who had her own catering business for 15 years, Emma Rosie’s Homecookin’, said she curated the menu with the brewery’s chef, Hannah Kapp, and another co-owner.

“I call it basically small plates fresh, we do not have a fryer like a typical bar-and-grill setup,” she said. “We have some delicious stuff, I think.”

It includes hot and cold sandwiches, lavash, charcuterie plates, Jonny B’s Frozen Pizza and other items. Kleingartner’s small business, Emma’s Kuchen, will provide kuchen including kuchen shooter flights which are tiny glasses with custard and fruit in them that you eat with a spoon.

For the children’s menu, Kleingartner said there are standard options plus children’s charcuterie plates and “sushi,” which is not the typical sushi adults would consume.

“They’ll have to come in and see what that (sushi) means,” Bruns says.

A few weeks after opening, the brewery will offer a brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, featuring breakfast and a few lunch items.

The brewery’s root beer will also be sold at the General Store at Frontier Village.

Bruns said the brewery has already seen out-of-state visitors stop by before it was ready to open. He said it’s encouraging that Jamestown is able to get people off of Interstate 94 to visit the World’s Largest Buffalo and Frontier Village, “which are all phenomenal things,” and it’s important to get visitors downtown too, to see what’s available there as well. He said breweries are popular places for travelers.

“Brewery hopping is a big thing, being able to check the box that you’ve stopped somewhere,” he said.

For more information, visit driftprairiebrewing.com .

A pair of Colorado entrepreneurs are fighting the stigma around women’s sexual wellness through their Jamestown-based company Lark Love.

Rainbow Shultz and Corrie Bradley launched the business — which sells personal lubricants, body oils, perfume rollers, face care products and more — in 2019.

The business idea largely started as a joke between friends. As conversations deepened, “we realized we’d stumbled onto this hugely taboo subject,” 47-year-old Shultz said. “Even the most liberated, feminist, older women would get really embarrassed and shy and quiet about it.”

Americans are shelling out more and more money for sex-related products, creating a highly-profitable national industry. In 2021, the U.S. sexual wellness market was valued at $10.3 billion, and is predicted to hit almost $20 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research Inc., a market intelligence firm.

Much of its growing popularity is attributed to sex-positive movements, access to online shopping, a boost in industry investments and increased U.S. government initiatives around contraceptives. In particular, the personal lubricants segment of the market is attracting older consumers — a trend that Shultz and Bradley can confirm.

“It was not only a product that women really needed,” Nederland resident Bradley said, “but it was actually a space for the conversations that have been fully missed for so long.”

Colorado women who served as testers for Lark Love’s products embraced the opportunity to share their experiences around childbirth, menopause and more. “We learned that women didn’t know anything about menopause — even the women that were in it,” 42-year-old Bradley added.

Members of Generation Z are breaking down barriers around sexual stigmatization, and companies are following their lead, Shultz said.

“We’re kind of trying to bridge that gap by making a product that older women really love and embrace and need, but that is being fueled by this shame-free, sex-positive paradigm that the younger women are really showing us.”

Entrepreneurship is nothing new to Bradley, with her professional experience in product formulation and skin care, or Shultz, chef and owner of the Jamestown Mercantile, an establishment that dates back to the 19th century.

Their personal lubricants feature botanicals and hyaluronic acid, with their “Love” organic lubricant priced at $27, their “Romp” serum at $38 and more. The body oils currently sell for $48, the sheet sprays for $24 and the perfume rollers for $18.

“There’s definitely a lot of people who are realizing that it makes a difference to them if what they’re buying is organic and plant-based, rather than synthetic,” Jamestown resident Shultz said.

In Colorado, shoppers can find Lark Love products at:

They also sell in Maine and California, but are predominantly available on the company website and at online retailers like goop, the wellness and lifestyle company by actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

“It’s not scandalous to take care of your body,” Shultz said. “The time for it to be a shameful topic really should be over in 2023.”

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Resident and board member of the mobile home park Bobs and Jamestown Homeowners Cooperative, Gadiel Galvez, 22, poses for a portrait in his neighborhood on Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Lakewood, Wash. When residents learned the parks owner was looking to sell, they formed a cooperative and bought it themselves amid worries it would be redeveloped. Since becoming owners in September 2022, residents have worked together to manage and maintain the park. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

PORTLAND, Ore. – When Gadiel Galvez learned that the owner of his mobile home park south of Seattle was looking to sell, he and other residents worried their largely Latino community would be bulldozed to make way for another Amazon warehouse.

So, they decided to form a cooperative and buy their park in Lakewood, Washington. With help from a nonprofit that advises communities like theirs and helps them secure loans, they bought it for $5.25 million. Since becoming owners in September, everyone’s worked to make improvements.

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“Everybody thought, ‘You know what? ... I’m going to make this place the best that I can,’” said Galvez, 22, who is a co-op board member. “Some people painted their homes, some people remodeled their interiors and exteriors, and some are working on their roofs.”

With rents rising at mobile home parks nationwide, advocates tout the cooperative model as a way to preserve one of the last affordable housing options for people with low- or fixed-incomes and to give them a greater voice in managing their parks.

So far these resident-owned communities are proving to be a reliable option. None of the more than 300 in the network of nonprofit ROC USA have defaulted or closed. One decided to sell back to the county housing authority it originally purchased from.

“They have a 100% track record of success, which tells you that it’s working for the residents,” said George McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, think tank. “Resident ownership is an absolute bulwark against the intrusion of institutional capital in the market.”

The push to promote resident ownership comes as parks have become a favorite target of investment banks, hedge funds and other deep-pocketed investors.

Nearly a third of mobile home parks in the U.S. have been bought by such investors since 2015, lured by reliable cash flow and high returns from raising rents at nearly double the general rental market rate, McCarthy said.

“They’re trading on the desperation of people living in the parks,” he said. “There’s no place that they can take their homes if they can’t afford to keep paying the increasing rents.”

Park residents often own their home but rarely the land beneath it. So if a landlord raises rent, residents can be evicted or forced to sell their home. If a park is sold to be redeveloped, mobile homes that can’t be moved are demolished.

“Homelessness is really what residents are facing" if investors aggressively raise rents, said Victoria O’Banion, ROC Northwest’s marketing and acquisitions specialist.

At Rimrock Court in the central Oregon town of Madras, rent increased from $350 to $495 over five years. When the owner notified residents he planned to sell, they feared further increases — or worse, that it would be torn down to make way for apartments. So they decided to buy it.

“We were really worried about being forced out of our homes,” said Shawn King, who lives there with her husband on a fixed income and had experienced homelessness before.

To pay off the purchase loan, residents now pay $520 a month — a stretch, but one that comes with reassurance, King said.

“Just to have that peace of mind, to know that our rent is going to be locked in for awhile and not keep going up, and also knowing that our rent monies ... are going back into the property, that is the cool part,” she said.

The required rent increase to go co-op was even steeper in Evergreen Village Cooperative in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, — from $460 a month to $750 to pay off the $12 million loan.

Still, more than two-thirds of residents voted in favor, figuring their rent would stabilize in the long run.

“We are not for profit. All the money that we get has to go back into the village and pay the mortgages off," said Stephen Laclair, board president.

Evergreen Village has earmarked funds for improvement projects for the next decade, and this year plans to enhance the sewer plant and fix electrical issues, he said.

Co-ops can also provide social support to residents. At Liberty Landing Cooperative in Missouri, residents started a food pantry to help neighbors in need.

“If there's a hardship, we're willing to work with somebody. ... It's emotional when you find out that somebody's lost their job, their child support ... and they don't know what to do,” said Kristi Peterman, the board vice president. “Our president likes to say: ‘If it doesn’t work for the poorest of us then it’s not going to work for anybody.'"

Despite the talk of better management and stronger community, most parks aren't co-ops.

The country’s roughly 43,000 mobile home communities are home to 22 million people, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, a national trade organization. But only about 1,000 are resident-owned, according to Carolyn Carter, deputy director at the National Consumer Law Center.

Some resistance comes from residents, many of whom are seniors and people with disabilities who may not want the responsibility of managing their park. Others argue rent control or stricter zoning regulations protecting mobile home parks from redevelopment are more effective.

“Zoning is critical. ... That is what we ought to be fighting for everywhere,” said Jan Leonard, who lives in a park in Walla Walla, Washington, and worked with other residents to successfully push the city council to amend zoning codes to add mobile home parks as a land-use type.

Other residents considering buying their parks are running up against the same forces that make them popular with investors — a red-hot market and competition from private equity firms and other prospective buyers.

Sarah Marchant, vice president of Community Loan Fund, ROC USA’s New Hampshire affiliate, recalled Tara Estates, a 380-home park in Rochester. The steep $45 million asking price discouraged residents from organizing.

Another challenge is that few states provide funding for residents looking to buy their parks. The lack of grants can make it difficult for residents to finance large loans.

New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Colorado and Oregon are among states with laws that have been effective in helping residents buy their parks, the National Consumer Law Center said.

A new bill in Oregon would allocate $35 million in grants to help residents purchase their parks. Washington passed a bill last month requiring that landlords offer tenants a chance to compete to purchase their park. It also requires two years' notice if a park will be closed, although that can be reduced if landlords financially compensate residents.

Mobile homes are “an important and affordable housing option for a lot of folks, especially older people aging in place, and we need to make sure it’s preserved," said state Sen. Noel Frame, the Washington bill's prime sponsor.

Some real estate groups and park owners argue the bill places an undue burden on landlords.

“If you want tenants to organize and make offers to purchase their communities ... they should not wait until there's a clock ticking,” said Robert Cochran, property manager of Contempo Mobile Home Park in Spokane.

Housing advocates say they hope that $225 million in recently approved federal funding may provide some relief for mobile home park residents. Starting this year, the money will be funneled through grants to states, resident-owned parks, nonprofits, and local and tribal governments to preserve mobile home communities and improve infrastructure.

King cherishes the mobile home that going cooperative at Oregon’s Rimrock Court saved from rent increases and a potential buyout by investors.

“It’s so hard to find affordable housing when you’re low income. To be able to own your own home is so empowering,” she said.

“It’s 600-square-feet. It’s not much, but it’s a castle to me.”

___

AP writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (WKBW) — Labyrinth Press Company has established itself as a go-to spot for great food and a welcoming atmosphere in the heart of Jamestown, but the now full-service restaurant started with a much different vision.

"We started as a live music venue with a late night coffeehouse vibe," says Jeffrey James, who founded Labyrinth Press Company in 2007, "I found out that most of my income was coming through the lunch crowd, so we developed our menu to stay open so we could keep having these cool live music shows at night."

The live shows have stopped, but the evolution over the last 15 years at Labyrinth Press Company has been music to the ears of the Jamestown community.

The popular restaurant is now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Labyrinth Press Company also boasts a full espresso bar and a creative vegan and vegetarian menu.

"Our food is more like vegetarian soul food. Nice and hearty. People come away full and happy," says James.

"We make it fresh in house every day," says Alexis Smith, Barista Manager at Labyrinth Press, "We put love into it and that is really what is keeping us going."

Smith says that the flatbreads, veggie burgers and salads are among the popular menu items. She says the cozy environment at Labyrinth Press only adds to the experience for customers.

"It's a perfect meeting place for travelers and community members. Good food, good vibes and nice music," said Smith.

The 'something for everyone' approach has created quite the following. To keep up with demand James and his team decided to expand the establishment's offerings by opening a full craft beer and wine bar right upstairs at Brazil Lounge.

"We brought a diverse selection of beers to Jamestown 10 years ago," says Alex Speer, Bar Manager at Brazil Lounge which opened in 2013 as 'Chautauqua County's Original Craft Beer and Wine Bar."

Visitors to Brazil Lounge can not only have their pick of 18 beers on tap, but also 100 different varieties of beer in bottles and cans, and more than 40 different types of wine sold by the glass.

"It's a great place to meet up with family and friends. A lot of dates. Just somewhere chill to catch up with people."

Great food, great drinks, and in the summertime outdoor seating for up to 50 people. It's an experience the team behind this ever evolving Jamestown staple is proud to serve up.

"When I think of our establishment, I think of us as a cornerstone of the community," said Smith.

"I've watched the town change so much over the last 15 years," said James. "When I first decided to open people were like 'oh really downtown? I haven't been downtown for years'. It just seems like it's really blossomed since then. It's great to be a part of it over the years."

Labyrinth Press Company and Brazil Lounge have continued plans to expand. So the next time you are in Chautauqua County make sure you take the time to enjoy this locally owned hotspot for yourself.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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