Codes of West detail rural reality
By George Merritt, Denver Post Staff Writer
September 7, 2004
No, we can't plow your road, much less pave it. We're not coming to pick up your trash either.
And by the way, where there are cows, there are cow patties.
Welcome to the great outdoors, city slicker.
Rural county officials across the West, fed up with newcomers' demands for big-city services, are using a Colorado code to explain life in the country.
The code is meant to be a straightforward, how-to guide for folks who trade urban living for a quiet life on the frontier.
Judging by some of these "Codes of the West," sometimes the transition does not go smoothly.
"Occasionally, cattle may get out on the road," Gunnison County's Code of the West warns. "Avoiding hitting an animal is healthy for both you and the animal."
Larimer County's Code of the West explains that "Animals and their manure can cause objectionable odors."
Officials say the codes are rudimentary because they have to be. New residents have to deal with problems that they have never experienced.
"A lot of newcomers don't understand that a rural county like this doesn't have the resources to provide the services they might be used to," said Sean O'Callaghan, a planner in Gallatin County, Mont. Gallatin adopted its Code of the West two years ago.
O'Callaghan said one Montana man recently bought a large piece of property next to a dairy farm, only to be surprised by the foul odors the cattle produced. Since then, the man has tried again and again to have the farm closed.
"He basically called every agency he could think of to get that place shut down," O'Callaghan said. "But there was nothing wrong - nothing that wasn't there when he bought the place."
Al Jones, a real estate broker in southern Colorado, said some of the same elements that attract people to the country - rustic lifestyle, seclusion - eventually drive them away.
"People go out there to get away from it all, then they realize it is too secluded," Jones said.
"Their friends don't want to come all the way out to the house, and all of a sudden (the buyers) don't want to be there."
And then there are those unrealistic expectations, said Lee Provance, road and bridge superintendent for Gallatin County.
"Yeah, it's fun for these people to drive their SUVs on a gravel road every now and then," he said. "When they have to drive it every day, ... all of a sudden they want the road paved."
That kind of forehead-slapping naiveté is what inspired the original Code of the West in 1995.
John Clarke, a Larimer County commissioner at the time, recalled being fed up with newcomers who would move next to farms, only to complain about the noise from farm equipment.
Clarke wrote the first Code of the West as an olive branch to what he calls the "gentrification of the countryside."
"If your road is unpaved, it is highly unlikely that Larimer County will pave it in the foreseeable future," Clarke wrote. "In extreme weather, even county maintained roads can become impassable. You may need a four-wheel- drive vehicle with chains for all four wheels to travel during those episodes, which could last for several days."
There are other tips, too. Calling 911? It will be about a hour - hopefully. Don't like septic tanks? Too bad. Recycling? Be happy if there's even trash pickup. Clarke covered it all.
"I have been told that some of the wording is a little harsh," Clarke said. "I just don't have sympathy for people who move into an area then want the area to adapt to them."
Since Larimer adopted the code in 1996, counties in Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Kansas and places in Canada have adopted a similar, if not identical, code. Counties in Indiana and Ohio also have picked it up.
And while there are plenty of tales of misunderstandings and squabbles, many newcomers eventually learn the ways of the West - with or without a code.
Scott Ellis lives in Bonner Peak Ranch, north of Fort Collins, where posh homes spread out over rolling hills with mountain views. He said "most people get the picture pretty quick."
"A lot of people go through a little bit of surprise - particularly in their first winter," Ellis added.
"But if they want to stay here at all, they have to adapt."
Sophie Sawyer, a Colorado resident since the 1960s, said it takes a different mentality, even in an enviable place like Bonner Peak.
"Last week, there was a mountain lion over on that ridge," she said. "Last year, I was bitten by a rattlesnake."
And the weather - "You're just crazy to pay cash (for a house) one spring day and think that is how it always is."
That's why Clarke's Code of the West begins with a simple point: "It is important for you to know that life in the country is different from life in the city."
By George Merritt, Denver Post Staff Writer
September 7, 2004
No, we can't plow your road, much less pave it. We're not coming to pick up your trash either.
And by the way, where there are cows, there are cow patties.
Welcome to the great outdoors, city slicker.
Rural county officials across the West, fed up with newcomers' demands for big-city services, are using a Colorado code to explain life in the country.
The code is meant to be a straightforward, how-to guide for folks who trade urban living for a quiet life on the frontier.
Judging by some of these "Codes of the West," sometimes the transition does not go smoothly.
"Occasionally, cattle may get out on the road," Gunnison County's Code of the West warns. "Avoiding hitting an animal is healthy for both you and the animal."
Larimer County's Code of the West explains that "Animals and their manure can cause objectionable odors."
Officials say the codes are rudimentary because they have to be. New residents have to deal with problems that they have never experienced.
"A lot of newcomers don't understand that a rural county like this doesn't have the resources to provide the services they might be used to," said Sean O'Callaghan, a planner in Gallatin County, Mont. Gallatin adopted its Code of the West two years ago.
O'Callaghan said one Montana man recently bought a large piece of property next to a dairy farm, only to be surprised by the foul odors the cattle produced. Since then, the man has tried again and again to have the farm closed.
"He basically called every agency he could think of to get that place shut down," O'Callaghan said. "But there was nothing wrong - nothing that wasn't there when he bought the place."
Al Jones, a real estate broker in southern Colorado, said some of the same elements that attract people to the country - rustic lifestyle, seclusion - eventually drive them away.
"People go out there to get away from it all, then they realize it is too secluded," Jones said.
"Their friends don't want to come all the way out to the house, and all of a sudden (the buyers) don't want to be there."
And then there are those unrealistic expectations, said Lee Provance, road and bridge superintendent for Gallatin County.
"Yeah, it's fun for these people to drive their SUVs on a gravel road every now and then," he said. "When they have to drive it every day, ... all of a sudden they want the road paved."
That kind of forehead-slapping naiveté is what inspired the original Code of the West in 1995.
John Clarke, a Larimer County commissioner at the time, recalled being fed up with newcomers who would move next to farms, only to complain about the noise from farm equipment.
Clarke wrote the first Code of the West as an olive branch to what he calls the "gentrification of the countryside."
"If your road is unpaved, it is highly unlikely that Larimer County will pave it in the foreseeable future," Clarke wrote. "In extreme weather, even county maintained roads can become impassable. You may need a four-wheel- drive vehicle with chains for all four wheels to travel during those episodes, which could last for several days."
There are other tips, too. Calling 911? It will be about a hour - hopefully. Don't like septic tanks? Too bad. Recycling? Be happy if there's even trash pickup. Clarke covered it all.
"I have been told that some of the wording is a little harsh," Clarke said. "I just don't have sympathy for people who move into an area then want the area to adapt to them."
Since Larimer adopted the code in 1996, counties in Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Kansas and places in Canada have adopted a similar, if not identical, code. Counties in Indiana and Ohio also have picked it up.
And while there are plenty of tales of misunderstandings and squabbles, many newcomers eventually learn the ways of the West - with or without a code.
Scott Ellis lives in Bonner Peak Ranch, north of Fort Collins, where posh homes spread out over rolling hills with mountain views. He said "most people get the picture pretty quick."
"A lot of people go through a little bit of surprise - particularly in their first winter," Ellis added.
"But if they want to stay here at all, they have to adapt."
Sophie Sawyer, a Colorado resident since the 1960s, said it takes a different mentality, even in an enviable place like Bonner Peak.
"Last week, there was a mountain lion over on that ridge," she said. "Last year, I was bitten by a rattlesnake."
And the weather - "You're just crazy to pay cash (for a house) one spring day and think that is how it always is."
That's why Clarke's Code of the West begins with a simple point: "It is important for you to know that life in the country is different from life in the city."
They should also add that if you build a house on every acre that you will no longer see the wildlife you did before the houses went up!
