By Rachel Gabel | Commentary, Denver Gazette
Much of the land around Vail that is now developed as resorts, ski slopes, and golf courses first belonged to sheep ranchers with Greek roots. By the 1960s, development was pushing them out of the valley and activists were bemoaning the negative effect on wildlife that took place when livestock grazing was replaced by progress.
In 1998, Vail Resorts was on the cusp of developing 2,2oo acres of backcountry. The plan riled activists, especially those devoted to preserving the habitats of elk and Canada Lynx that thrived before development came to town.
Members of the radical Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the now-defunct Rocky Mountain Animal Defense (RMAD) marched and chanted through Vail with police on their tails, wielding decibel meters. According to 1998 reporting by Alex Markels, RMAD activists spotted a woman emerging from a fur salon wearing a mink coat, and an altercation ensued. An RMAD member told the woman, “You’d look a lot sexier without 65 dead animals on your back!”
Nicole Rosmarino, the sole finalist for the director of the Colorado State Land Board job, was a University of Colorado grad student and the wildlife coordinator for RMAD.
She told the reporter she was one of the new breed of animal and environmental rights activists and said she had “absolute adoration, even quasi worship, for wildlife.” She, too, marched the streets of Vail and during and after the fur coat altercation, and reportedly refused to calm the other activist involved. She told a reporter she had “no problem with RMAD activists telling that lady off. That’s why the lynx are in the shape they’re in. And I’m disappointed in environmentalists who can’t see that.”
The fight to block the expansion continued until October 19 when daylight exposed the ground scorched by arsonists to the tune of more than $12 million in damages. Four ski lifts were damaged and the ski patrol headquarters and the $5 million Two Elk Lodge were no more than ashes.
Two days later, federal officials received an email: “Putting profits ahead of Colorado’s wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas. For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion.”
ELF claimed responsibility for what was called the most destructive act of environmental sabotage in U.S. history. It was the same group that claimed responsibility for the 1997 and 1998 attacks including the burning of a corral in Oregon used to round up and load feral horses for slaughter and the arson of a U.S. Department of Agriculture building where wild animals were reportedly euthanized.
Rosmarino called the Vail arson “one of the most beautiful acts of economic sabotage ever in this state,” and told the reporter she was, “jumping up and down with delight.” According to Markels’ reporting, Rosmarino called the arsonists heroes.
“This was not terrorism — it was economic sabotage. And it did more for the cause than anything that came before it!” Rosmarino said. “The reaction from those who purport to speak for wildlife is really a reaction of fear. If they don’t have the courage to light the match, that’s fine. But to attack those who did is sheer hypocrisy.”
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